Interview with Osamu Iguchi "Now is the Time to Aim for the Fusion of Advertising and PR" Part 1

Issue 1

Several years after the term "strategic PR" first appeared in Japan, it is gaining renewed attention as a strategy to fundamentally enhance communication effectiveness. Mr. Osamu Iguchi of Dentsu Inc., who handled PR campaigns like Hokuto's "Kinkatsu" and Kumamoto Prefecture's "Kumamon's Lost Cheek Incident," states, "The momentum for realizing strategic PR is rising right now."

It's been over half a year since I started the serialized column "New Clear Explanation: 'Strategic PR'" in Web Dentsu Tsūhō. While I've introduced timely examples of strategic PR, I recently wrote about fundamental PR mindsets and techniques in the last couple of installments. To my surprise, the page views for these articles grew just as much as the case studies. This experience made me realize that the term "strategic PR" is prompting even those who previously had little interest in PR to start seeing it as a potential solution to their challenges.

I often observe how the advertising and marketing industries constantly propose new terms to represent emerging concepts and methods. While some view strategic PR—a term gaining traction for about five years now—as just another buzzword, I firmly believe it is distinctly different. PR inherently places the greatest emphasis on strategy. It's better understood that the term "strategic PR" was deliberately coined to differentiate it from traditional PR, which was primarily seen as publicity.

I define strategic PR as "an integrated plan that not only seeks publicity but also fuses with advertising and promotion to drive overall communication." Initially, however, it was understood in a very vague way. For instance, it was often misinterpreted as a framework consisting of steps like building pre-interest in the information you want to convey, then timing an ad to sell the product. As a result, the case studies at the time were all about creating hype beforehand. Ultimately, many companies quickly pulled out, concluding that creating hype alone doesn't sell products, that they shouldn't dabble in unfamiliar territory, and that this was a failure.

But I believe everyone somewhere deep down kept feeling that advertising alone wasn't enough, that integrating PR was still crucial. Even at Cannes Lions, which began as an advertising festival, outstanding examples of integrating PR with advertising and promotion to design holistic communication strategies started being showcased one after another. The expectation of someday trying this kind of integrated PR surely remained deeply rooted among creative professionals and corporate advertising departments. I too constantly felt this enthusiasm firsthand, which is why I have consistently researched and advocated for PR that maximally contributes to the integration of overall communication, as part of Dentsu Inc.'s strategic PR approach.

This effort is gradually bearing fruit, and momentum is now building in Japan to truly embrace strategic PR. Companies taking it seriously are even initiating organizational restructuring to break down walls between advertising and PR departments, or between business units, enabling all departments to work together toward implementing strategic PR. Seeing this situation, I strongly feel we've finally reached the starting line.

[ Continued in Part 2 ]