An Attempt at Social Value Creation

Dentsu Design Talk Session 2 (held September 1, 2005) featured two Dentsu Inc. alumni: The theme of the talk session was "Attempts at Social Value Creation."

Mr. Soichi Ueda
Director, Think the Earth General Incorporated Association
Producer

Takuya Tomohara
President, Battery Inc.
Creative Director

The Think The Earth Project: Building from Scratch Ourselves

After leaving Dentsu Inc. in 1996, Mr. Ueda worked as a freelance documentary filmmaker while also serving as a planner and director. Inspired by his coverage of the 1995 Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake and NPO activities in international conflict zones, he was moved by people "who sow new seeds in such places, even at the cost of themselves." He wondered, "Can't socially conscious work be highlighted with more creativity in society?" In 2000, he established Spaceport, a planning and production company dedicated solely to social and environmental themes. Beyond creating work based on client briefs, he launched the Think The Earth project in 2001 as an "original project" created entirely from scratch by his team, subsequently establishing an NPO.

 

The Birth of the "Earth Watch": A Product with a Message, Not Just Convenience

The first project that led Ueda to establish the NPO was the productization of the "Earth Watch" wristwatch. Inside a hemispherical dome, a small Earth slowly rotates, allowing the wearer to experience the time of the planet. This project stemmed from Ueda's deep impression of the 1988 photo book 'Earth/Mother Star' when he was a student. He felt "a perspective reflecting on ourselves from space is important" and contemplated "whether we could restore humanity's sense of time, now greatly disconnected from nature's rhythms, back to Earth time." After creating a prototype using technology from NTT's research lab, the project was commercialized over two years in collaboration with Seiko Instruments. "At that time, the idea in everyone's mind who shared this vision wasn't about selling this watch to make money. It wasn't a product development proposal focused on creating convenience for society; it was a project aiming to release products carrying a message. So we devised various challenges to achieve both ecology (environmental conservation) and economy (economic activity), like creating a system where a portion of sales revenue is returned to the Earth and using the internet to sell globally," Ueda recalls. The Earth Clock launched in March 2001, generating significant buzz, and became a stepping stone for advancing the subsequent Think The Earth project.

 

Various Projects Generating Social Value

Other initiatives included publishing the photo book 'A Century of Foolishness' (2002 NY-ADC Silver Award), compiling 100 photographs depicting humanity's misdeeds against the Earth and itself over the 20th century. There was also a project supporting photographer Bruce Osborn's initiative to establish the fourth Sunday in July as "Parent-Child Day." As an example handled by Dentsu Inc. and sponsored by NTT Data, we introduced "Orca Live," which live-streamed video and audio from a wild orca research institute in Canada worldwide, and its sister project—an educational initiative where high school students on Okinoerabu Island took the lead in live-streaming sea turtles. Following this, a talk session with Mr. Tomohara explored how these project plans are actually realized and how advertising agencies can engage with NPO activities and corporate social responsibility (CSR).

 

Bringing semi-finished ideas to collaborate with companies

Mr. Tomohara asked, "We also come up with ideas for social contributions, but getting them to fruition is quite challenging. What's the secret to realizing these projects?" Mr. Ueda replied, "You have to visit many companies until you finally find someone who finds it interesting. Then, that person has to convince their company internally, which is another hurdle. Next comes securing the budget and setting the schedule. There are many realities you must overcome, and ultimately, realizing it isn't easy." "However, I remember being struck by something when I pitched to one company. They told me, 'Don't bring us a finished proposal.' They said that would leave them with no choice but to respond, 'Do whatever you want.' Instead, they wanted 'something a bit more like a work in progress. That gives us room to think about what we can contribute.' That might indeed be a key tip," he shared.

 

What Advertising Agencies Can Do to Convey Personal Passion

Drawing from his experience, Tomohara stated, "Dentsu Inc. has power and strong organizational capabilities, but for social activities, I feel the strength of individual passion is more important." Responding to this, Ueda added, "Rather than a company-to-company relationship, when someone really trusts us and finds us interesting, we both feel like we can entrust each other with various things. As the relationship matures, the feasibility also increases." On the other hand, drawing from his experience concurrently serving in Dentsu Inc.'s Social Contribution Department, Tomohara noted, "Think The Earth is incredibly creative, with outstanding design and linguistic sensibility. However, most Japanese NPOs are overflowing with passion but struggle to communicate effectively and lack the funds to utilize media. Since an ad agency's job is to facilitate communication, we can help NPOs that genuinely want to improve society with their 'messaging,' or conversely, coordinate for companies wanting to contribute socially—helping them figure out who to partner with and what to do."

 

The documentary's words convey genuine passion

Mr. Ueda shared that through his experience proposing social contribution ads and projects at the advertising agency, he felt that "the people working on the project with me would probably forget about it once the project ended and the team disbanded." "The real issue is probably sincerity. When I was at Dentsu Inc., a senior told me, 'You should know more than the client.' That meant Dentsu Inc.'s strength was knowing things the client didn't. But when it comes to social contribution and responsibility, clients are overwhelmingly more knowledgeable than advertising agencies." He pointed out, "In this field, the language of documentaries is just as important as advertising language." He then expressed his hope for the advertising industry: "What I want advertising people to strive for is to seriously consider what kind of advertising can genuinely have a positive impact on society. I want each case to become an example, building upon one another, so that Japanese society improves."

Eight years have passed since this talk session. Following the Great East Japan Earthquake, corporate social contribution has matured, and numerous distinctive case studies unique to each company are emerging.

(End)

(Planning & Production: Dentsu Inc. Human Resources Bureau, Aki Kanahara & Article Editing: Sugatsuke Office, Composition Support: Eiji Kobayashi)