It is currently 15 years since I was first posted to Bangkok. I have now spent 15 years devoted to entrenching the Hakuhodo Way, which I learned in Japan, throughout Asia. Hakuhodo Institute of Life and Living ASEAN (HILL ASEAN) was launched in 2014, and began spreading “sei-katsu-sha”—a term developed by Hakuhodo in Japan—and sei-katsu-sha insight—a way of thinking that sees people not simply as consumers but as flesh-and-blood individuals (i.e. sei-katsu-sha)—in the ASEAN market. Since then, the advertising business in Asia has changed markedly due to digitalization and other shifts. In the next 15 years, perhaps a new Hakuhodo Way will emerge from new technologies and new ways of thinking developed in Asia and be exported back to Japan. And maybe Hakuhodo’s headquarters will not be in Japan but in some other country in Asia. I go about my everyday work while dreaming that such a day may come.

New surprises from Asia.
For the happiness of all sei-katsu-sha.

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