At a time where change is the only certainty, our clients face challenges never known before. Globalization and digitization have made our worlds closer and smaller than ever, breaking barriers and demanding integration in everything we do NOW. Business as usual devalues brands into commodities. Clients need partners that can fully commit to their business objectives.

The times call for a renaissance. A celebration of our craft. An art of thinking, making and being that truly gets our audience and enables our clients’ brands to connect with them in meaningful ways with the purpose of making a genuine difference in their lives.

Do we “get” our audience?
The term “consumer” is an immediate callout.
Hakuhodo is embraced for our Sei-katsu-sha Insight philosophy. Our deep respect and regard for sei-katsu-sha allows us to know sei-katsu-sha beyond their acts of “consumption” and instead see them as people—alive, each with their own aspirations, worries and dreams. Our approach to data-driven marketing honors the realities of each sei-katsu-sha in his or her everyday life, every day.

Are we making meaningful connections?
Not all connections are the same. Fully understanding sei-katsu-sha allows us to leverage intelligence to assess not only messaging content and touchpoint planning, but frequency and timing as well, to ensure that connections are optimized to be meaningful for the targeted sei-katsu-sha.

Are we making a genuine difference to the lives of sei-katsu-sha?
This is my favorite conversation starter with every CEO.
There is no need for another product but always a need for another point of view.
What is the purpose of your brand? Its raison d’être? If it doesn’t create a flutter in your heart telling it, there’s a challenge. Gone are the days when USPs were enough. Everyone loves a great story. A narrative with a soul. But they deserve more. Tangible experiences that bring the story to life in believable ways. Every brand purpose must honor why and how it will make a genuine difference in the lives of its target sei-katsu-sha, then deliver it consistently over time, at every touchpoint, in aspirational ways.

As the Corporate Officer tasked with global branding and overseeing Hakuhodo’s business in the USA, UK, Germany and Russia, it is my role to ensure that the Hakuhodo brand not only stands out but stands for something unique in every market.
We are makers. Makers of Invention.
Tasked with the mission of supporting clients to achieve their business objectives in creative and innovative ways.

We challenge the realities and constraints of the status quo.
We question all the whys and the what ifs.
We dream of a world that could and should be.
We invent ideas, big and small.
Ideas that change how we perceive the world.
Ideas that change our world.

In every corner of the world, we deliver inventive thinking, making and doing that moves people.

Roles and titles current when this article was published in September 2017.