Cheer up, Europe!　

Europe is in a dark mood. Brexit, right-wing nationalism across the continent and lack of confidence in democracy and the rule of law are all symptoms that have Europeans losing hope in progress. The future is no longer a brighter place, but a gloomy corridor with threats lurking in the dark: climate change, migration, robots stealing our jobs. In this climate of fear, the decline of Europe becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. What Europe needs now is what my colleague Irfan Ramli, President Director of Hakuhodo Indonesia, calls  “Positivity, the new energy”

Here at Hakuhodo Deutschland, my colleagues and I are desperate because we can’t change the mood of an entire continent. But we are uniquely placed to make a contribution. With our understanding of sei-katsu-sha, looking at the whole person and not just the “consumer,” and our mission to promote happiness, not just the satisfaction of needs, we have the scope and the tools to instill a little bit of positivity with every campaign we create and every message we spread on behalf of our clients. I wake up every morning looking forward to making great things happen with talented colleagues from different cultures, and think to myself: times have never been better. Cheer up, Europe!

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