Everything About Wakamon [47]They're not apathetic! Today's youth actually want to get fired up! ~ Dentsu Inc. Internship in Chubu ~
Every year, Dentsu Inc. Chubu branch holds an 8-day internship for Nagoya university students. This year, themed "Solving Nagoya's Challenges," Wakamon members from the Chubu region produced the entire curriculum, with 12 students who passed the selection process participating.
The reason for choosing this theme stems from previous Wakamon research indicating a high proportion of "responsible, hometown-loving" young people in the Chubu region. To create an internship that would resonate with these students, each program element was carefully designed.
This time, we introduce the internship's content and the realities of today's youth revealed through it.
Eight days of genuine engagement for both instructors and students
First, after five days of advertising lectures by Dentsu Inc. employees, the students split into two teams to develop plans, culminating in team presentations on the final day.
The lectures featured creative workshops by Tetsu Tsuzuki and Michihito Tsuchihashi, leading creators representing Dentsu's Chubu Branch.
Mr. Tsuzuki lectured on "Imagination and Creativity," while Mr. Tsuchihashi presented on "How Did the Idea for the Cannes Grand Prix-winning Mother Book Come About?" Both covered Dentsu Inc.'s core business approach of solving problems through ideas.
Additionally, strategic planner Maki Sato lectured on social communication under the theme "Dentsu Inc.'s Solutions from a Regional Branding Perspective." The mass media lecture included a tour of a radio station, providing interns with a broad education on advertising.
Beyond the Chubu Branch, the program also featured lectures and workshops led by top-tier professionals from Dentsu's Tokyo headquarters: copywriter Kotaro Abe, planner Nagaaki Onoe, and creative technologist Seitaro Miyaji. They shared cutting-edge case studies from their own work.
The final day's presentation task was a community-focused theme fitting for the Chubu Branch internship: "Develop a plan to promote the Nagoya-based idol group OS☆U nationwide."
For presentation preparation, four members of OS☆U were invited to participate in person. Under the supervision of art director Hikaru Nishida, the interns created posters. During the actual presentations, the OS☆U members also joined as judges.
Don't young people these days get really passionate?
In this presentation, to let them experience the harshness and fun of the advertising industry, we deliberately decided on a winner and loser. We gave feedback on what the winning team did well and what the losing team lacked. While some students on the losing team shed tears of frustration, many cited reasons like "Because I could get serious, because I could get passionate" as why participating was worthwhile.
We Wakamon members had one hypothesis when planning this internship. It was this: today's youth don't get passionate about things easily, and that's why they're called the Yutori generation or the Satori generation. But is that really true...?
Today's youth were born during recession and raised in deflation. Since the "Bubble Collapse," they've experienced economic crises like the "IT Bubble Collapse" and the "Lehman Shock." Combined with this growth background, the sense that "hard work pays off" – something more easily felt during the high economic growth period – has become harder for today's youth to hold onto. Consequently, we're seeing more young people who feel, "I really want my hard work to pay off, but since the chances of that seem low, I can't quite bring myself to push forward."
This sentiment was reflected in the findings of the 2015 Youth Survey released this past April. While a majority of young people expressed anxiety about their future, the survey also revealed that they possess a mindset where they want their generation to take the lead and drive change.
The genuine passion that moves young people
Deep down, they actually want to give it their all. They want to believe that genuine effort will be rewarded, and they want to feel passionate about what they do.
To truly move these young people, we need to engage with them sincerely. We must first show them, without pretense, that we working adults are genuinely committed to our work.
They are neither the "Yutori" generation nor the "Satori" generation. Through this internship, I could feel the genuine passion deep within their hearts. Isn't it our role as working adults to draw out that passion, which is never visible just by looking at the surface? At the Dentsu Inc. Chubu Branch internship, following the theme of solving challenges in this area, I hope we can continue delivering passionate, heartfelt lectures.
As Dentsu Inc. Wakamon, we also consider it our mission to confront the real circumstances and mindsets of young people and work towards building a better relationship between youth and society.
What kind of young people are around you?
【WAKAMON Profile】
Dentsu Inc. Youth Research Department (nicknamed Wakamon) is a planning team that engages with the real lives and mindsets of young people, primarily high school and university students. We explore hints to brighten and invigorate the near future, starting from their "now." By anticipating the future through their insights, we realize new businesses that foster better relationships between young people and society. Currently, 14 project members are based across our Tokyo headquarters, Kansai branch, and Chubu branch. We also share updates on the Wakamon Facebook page.
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Author
Masayasu Furuhashi
Dentsu Inc.
After working as an integrated planner handling everything from digital-centric communication design to planning and execution, I have been engaged in developing new youth-oriented businesses at my current agency since 2020. I have experience from business launch through sale. Additionally, as the representative of "Wakamon," Dentsu Inc.'s youth research division—a cross-functional internal lab I've been part of since 2014—I also conduct research on youth insights.
