My client is my teacher:　

There are lots of things in the world you can’t understand without experiencing them yourself.

I have been fortunate enough to have learned a great deal from my clients.

Since I started working at Hakuhodo Cheil in 2000, I have shared a passion for advertising with my wonderful colleagues. But that passion was not satisfied 100%.

I have a client that I have been working with for 10 years. I have learned a great deal through this client and I, too, have continued to grow, and this has helped me to contribute more to the client.

Playing golf. It’s a practice that I’ve implemented for the last decade to gain client insight. I play often golf with this client. In the time it takes to do 18 holes, the client gives me a lot of inspiration.

I’ve learned that rather than enumerating knowledge such as trends in advertising and the latest marketing methods, rather than any kind of information, the key to creating great advertising is to search for what’s in the client’s heart, that which they themselves don’t even know, and to talk to them eye to eye and listen carefully to what they say. I’m convinced that looking for client insights is the most important thing someone in advertising can do.

Searching for client insights satisfied my passion for advertising. These insights all lead to better results and outcomes for the client.

Once again today, I will be honing my inspiration by walking myself onto the frontlines, sitting knee to knee with my client, talking with them eye to eye and listening to them with my ears.

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