The Japan Advertising Agents Association (JAAA) announced the winners and finalists for its 44th Contest on March 12, covering the categories "Thesis" and "What I Want to Say <General> <Newcomer>". The thesis theme was "Challenges in the Advertising Business". From 81 entries, the Gold Prize went to Fumiaki Nitta (Dentsu Digital Inc. Business Bureau; affiliated with the Media Convergence Promotion Office at the time of entry) for "Doubling the Advertising Business: Challenging the 'Demand-Side Market' Through 'Democratization of Marketing'". The Silver Prize was awarded to Bungo Matsuoka (Dentsu Marketing Solutions Bureau) for "Toward Becoming Strategic Partners Co-Creating the Next Generation: The Challenge of New Advertising Business Pioneered by 'Future Orientation'," and the Bronze Prize went to Kazutaka Kobashi and Yasumasa Yamaguchi (both Dentsu Inc. Marketing Solutions Division) for their jointly authored paper "Advertising Agencies Transitioning to 'Market Creation Platform Businesses': The Future of the Communications Industry Seen Through B to B Marketing."
Mr. Nitta's gold-winning paper was highly praised as "a challenging paper that energizes the advertising world. It is the most fitting for this year's theme." Upon receiving the award, Mr. Nittō commented, "I am deeply honored to receive an award that has existed since before I was born. While I feel somewhat cornered by winning with such an ambitious declaration—to grow Japan's advertising market from 6 trillion yen to 12 trillion yen—if even a few people resonate with this vision, I would be grateful for their cooperation in this advertising business doubling plan."
The award ceremony will be held during the commemorative ceremony for the 2015 Annual General Meeting on June 1st.
The winners of "What I Want to Say" (total entries: 541) are as follows.
