Web Dentsu Inc. News: First Appearance! Mr. Oka, what do you see when you go independent in the advertising industry?

Previously on...

Izawa learned that Advertising Week (AdWeek, referred to as "AdWeek" in this series) would be held for the first time in Japan over four days starting May 30th. He directly interviewed Yoshihiko Kasamatsu (CEO of Ignite), Secretary General of AdWeek Asia, as well as Shintaro Tabata from LINE and Tetsu Ishii from Google, both sponsors of the event. Through these interviews, he uncovered what would happen at AdWeek Asia and what topics would be discussed there. With the event finally approaching, he visited an office in Omotesando to meet a heavyweight in the advertising industry who promised to deliver killer content on AdWeek Asia's opening day.

That person makes their debut on the 'Web Dentsu Inc.' report!

Ikegami: I'm definitely nervous today. Even our senior seems a bit more low-key than usual...

Izawa: Knowing he always rocks a suit for work, I kinda chickened out... But look, the piercing is making a statement!!

Ikegami: You're really going to wear those earrings, Hiyo? That's something only you would do!! (← Not exactly a compliment)

Izawa: Alright, let's get going then. Whoa, they're glowing!!

Ikegami: Infiltration successful!! They haven't noticed us yet, perfect timing!!

Izawa: No way, no one's gonna listen if they don't notice us! Hey! Hey!!

Ikegami: Whoa! Don't yell like that!

Voice: We've been waiting for you, Izawa-san, Ikegami-kun. Please come in.

Izawa: Ah, Yasumichi Oka!! N-nice to meet you.

Ikegami: H-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-

Mr. Oka: If I were still at Dentsu Inc., I wouldn't be meeting you for the first time, but I'm glad we could meet like this. Thank you for today.

Izawa/Ikegami: Thank you so much!! We look forward to working with you today!!!

Izawa: Right off the bat, I heard that you and the Tagboat team will be holding a special seminar at AdWise Asia. Please tell us about that.

Tagboat's "First" Official Workshop

Mr. Oka: It's a full-day course called the "Advertising Week Creative Academy." It will be held on May 30th, the first day of AdWeek Asia, from 11:00 AM to 6:00 PM.

Ikegami: That sounds like it'll be an incredibly packed day. What kind of content will it cover?

Mr. Oka: It's divided into three parts. Kawaguchi Kiyokatsu, Art Director (AD) at Tugboat, will lead a session titled "New Art Direction by Women," focusing on female ADs. Recently, there are more female ADs, and more are making notable contributions. We'll invite such guests to hear about the thoughts behind their work and explore perspectives unique to women.

Izawa: Since Tagboat doesn't have any female members, this session should be interesting precisely because of that. Unexpected chemistry might spark!

Mr. Oka: I've left it to Kawaguchi and don't know the details, but I think there's a certain kind of fun in him doing it, someone who's completely unconnected to girlishness. Something you wouldn't understand unless you were there.

Ikegami: I'm already excited! What other sessions are there?

Mr. Oka: CM planners Taku Tada and Tetsuro Aso will host a session titled "Gathering. This is How I Make Commercials," exploring the raison d'être of CM planners. They'll invite CM-obsessed planners as guests. Including Tada and Aso, seven CM planners will take the stage to discuss their respective CM philosophies and methodologies.

Izawa: Besides those two, who else will be there?

Oka: We've invited Takaaki Yamazaki from Watson Click, Yoshimitsu Sawamoto from Dentsu Inc., Shinichi Fukusato from One Sky, Shigehiro Gonpachi from Singata, and Shumpei Murata from Dentsu Kyushu Inc.

Izawa: Wow, quite the lineup—from super veterans to the hottest young talents right now.

Mr. Oka: It's extremely rare in advertising history for people like Sawamoto-kun or Fukusato-kun to keep working on the front lines as CM planners as they get older. Typically, as people age, they become Creative Directors, or if they're in their 50s, they usually move into management roles within the organization. But recently, it's become an era where staying on the front lines as a CM planner is permitted. To remain a CM planner, you must have a well-established philosophy. What exactly is a CM planner? I think we'll be discussing their position and way of thinking.

Ikegami: What kind of session do you have planned, Mr. Oka?

Mr. Oka: I'm planning to have a conversation with our guest, Kentaro Kimura from Hakuhodo Kettle. The main theme is "Is globalization necessary for craftsmen?" The big themes large companies champion these days are usually "Digital & Global," right? While I accept that digital is necessary because analog alone won't survive, I've long questioned whether global really is an essential value. Many people feel they must go global, but I don't think that's necessarily true in the advertising world. I'd like to take this opportunity to talk with Mr. Kimura, who has a global perspective. I'm thinking of doing a dialogue with Mr. Kimura and then having a live Q&A session with the audience using Gmail. Please enjoy an interactive 1.5 hours.

Passing the Baton, or Not

Izawa: What prompted you to do this Academy? I saw in a past interview with Mr. Oka that you said, "I won't pass the baton," so I wondered if you were against teaching others...

Mr. Oka: It's true I always feel like "I won't pass the baton." But actually, at the same time, I have two conflicting feelings: "I want to pass it in a way that makes it as easy as possible for them to run." It's not just me—all four of us feel this way. It's not that we don't want to teach; it's just that until now, there hasn't been an official place to do it.

Ikegami: What do you mean by "official forum"?

Mr. Oka: The four of us left Dentsu Inc. together in 1999 and founded Tagboat. Back then, I was the department head, and Kawaguchi, Tada, and Aso were my subordinates. I was pretty well-liked by the company and even got some special treatment, so when I suddenly quit, both the company and the industry were shocked (laughs). What happens then is you end up with no juniors at all, and no points of contact with juniors whatsoever. Leaving Dentsu Inc. gave us many things, but we also lost things. The biggest loss was our juniors.

Ikegami: I see. So without juniors, you have no official opportunity to teach them.

Mr. Oka: It's not like I can get that back, but I do hope that through opportunities like this, I can leave some kind of inspiration for the younger generation.

Ikegami: But at Tagboat, have you ever considered hiring new members to create "junior colleagues"?

Mr. Oka: It's like musicians – we started this with the intention of being a four-piece. It wasn't originally designed as an organization meant to recruit new members for perpetuity. Well, that's something decided by the four of us, so we might suddenly change course. I can't really say for sure right now.

We were supposed to be the first penguins...

Izawa: If you compare it to musicians, what roles do the four of you each play?

Mr. Oka: That's the first time I've been asked that (laughs). I'm not sure, but since the CM planner is the flashiest, I guess Tada and Aso are the lead vocalist and guitarist. Then Kawaguchi is the drummer, maybe? And I'm the foundational bass or something?

Izawa: When you mention musicians, differences in musical direction often lead to breakups. Have you ever faced a crisis like that?

Mr. Oka: We were on the verge of breaking up from the start (laughs). I mean, we knew each other was talented, but the four of us weren't close friends in our private lives. But we respected each other, and as we overcame the difficulties of going independent, we gradually became more united. We were completely independent, so we could partner with Dentsu Inc. or any other ad agency. But partnering with Dentsu Inc. meant becoming rivals with Hakuhodo, and partnering with Hakuhodo meant becoming rivals with Dentsu Inc. That would make us a threat to everyone, leaving us isolated, or rather, surrounded on all sides. So, we had no choice but to unite.

Differences in musical taste are like preferences for the finished look in advertising. They vary slightly from person to person, but we generally align with the songwriter's vision or try to respect their intent as much as possible. It wasn't a rule we set, but it just happened naturally. We're not creating alone.

Ikegami: But why did you decide to go independent? You were at a company like Dentsu Inc...

Oka: There were various reasons, but a big one was that management roles just weren't for me. Beyond that, I wanted to test my own idea: what would happen if I started an independent creative agency in Japan?

Izawa: How did that experiment turn out?

Mr. Oka: I think we've achieved a degree of success since we're able to make a living from it. What's disappointing is that we aimed to be the "first penguin," but ended up as the "odd penguin." No one followed in our footsteps.

Izawa: So you took the risk and dove in headfirst...

Mr. Oka: No one else followed suit (laughs). That was a bit different from the future I had imagined.

Ikegami: But there are plenty of creative boutiques that spun off from Dentsu Inc., right?

Mr. Oka: They basically have Dentsu Inc. capital invested, right? From the outside, that's no different from not being independent. Because they can't take on work from Hakuhodo. As far as I know, the only completely independent agencies founded by former Dentsu Inc. people are us and, more recently, Watson Click.

Ikegami: Just listening to you, it sounds like quite a lonely battle.

The "inspiration" of future stars

Izawa: Mr. Oka, you'll be turning 60 this year, but you're not planning to put down the microphone just yet, right?

Mr. Oka: Of course not. Well, I'd probably stop if the orders dried up. Creative work is commissioned work, so as long as people keep asking, I won't stop.

Ikegami: Would you feel differently if you were still at Dentsu Inc.?

Mr. Oka: Probably. I'd likely be preparing for retirement by now.

Izawa: But there's no mandatory retirement age now, right? For you, Mr. Oka, who will keep creating ads, what does "advertising" mean?

Mr. Oka: When I joined, I decided to go to Dentsu Inc. just by looking at the salary rankings, so I didn't have any deeper attachment to it. But now, I've only ever done advertising. For over 30 years since I started working on advertising expression, that's all I've thought about. These past 17 years, I haven't even thought about career advancement. So, I guess... I can't separate advertising from my life. They've become one and the same. Maybe all four of us feel that way.

Izawa: Wow, getting the chance to "learn" from a master like you, Mr. Oka, is truly exciting! But can creativity even be taught?

Mr. Oka: No, I don't think so. It can't be taught. It's not know-how; ultimately, you have to develop it yourself. But I believe you need some kind of stimulus to grow. Until now, you haven't been in an environment that provided that, so you couldn't even get that stimulus. I'd be happy if a future star of the advertising world said decades from now, "Hearing that tugboat story back then really inspired me." That's the goal, I guess.

Ikegami: Then I'll be the first to become that star's little piece!!

Izawa: You don't call a minor player a star! It has to be right at the center!

Ikegami: Senior, you're so strict! (laughs)

Mr. Oka: That spirit is great. Keep it up.

Izawa &Ikegami: Today has already been "inspiring"! Thank you so much!

Sign up for the Advertising Week Creative Academy, where you can experience firsthand the inspiration of the four members of Tugboat , here ⇒ http://www.advertisingweek.asia/academy/

Next time, we'll bring you a report on AdWeek Asia!