Don’t be an ad agency, be an advertiser! 

In China, advertisers and advertising agencies are usually known by the codenames jiafang (甲方, “Party A”) and yifang (乙方, “Party B”), respectively.

Jiafang often complain that their agency’s strategy and creativity are not realistic or effective. Yifang also often complain that despite working through the night, their “great” plan and work were rejected by the advertiser. This happens on a daily basis.

If agencies could instead be jiafang, they could consider the brief and examine their own creativity from the advertiser’s perspective and explain the plan and how to implement it to them before being told by them how to do it.

Since Hakuhodo has Partnership as its philosophy, the two parties in the advertiser-agency partnership are not treated as jiafang and yifang, but work together as one. We actively become members of the advertiser to design and manage their brand and come up with great creative that produces real results.

That’s why I don’t think like an ad agency. To win the trust and respect of my clients, I strive to be like a jiafang, the advertiser.

Roles and titles current when this article was published in June 2019.