AdWire Report: Mr. Oka, give us "inspiration" we can put to use tomorrow.

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. Since March, he had been conducting surprise interviews with key figures from AdWeek Asia, gradually uncovering what AdWeek Asia truly represents. With anticipation building, the event day finally arrived——.

May 30th, Opening Day!

Izawa: Wow! I heard the opening gala was at Zojoji Temple, but this is gorgeous! The rain just stopped, so the light reflecting off the pavement creates such a solemn atmosphere!

Ikegami: Hey, Senpai! Found you! Are you enjoying the party?

Izawa: Oh, Ikegami-kun. Adwi has finally begun. Hey, hey, is that saxophonist playing on stage right now... is that Ravi Coltrane, son of John Coltrane, the giant of 20th-century jazz?

Ikegami: That's right. You noticed, huh? Wait, did you sneak a peek at what was written on Adwe's release?

Izawa: Ahaha, you caught me.

Ikegami-kun: But seriously, senpai, that's a lot of luggage.

Izawa: Of course it is!! I've been covering the event since morning. After all, today was the launch of AdWise Asia's killer content, TUGBOAT's "CREATIVE ACADEMY"!! I'm still buzzing with excitement! Want to hear what it was like? Want to hear?

Ikegami: This senior's energy level is off the charts! You just can't say no, can you? (laughs)

Izawa: First off, the venue was billboard Live TOKYO, a live house inside Tokyo Midtown. I love that venue, so that alone got me hyped!

Ikegami: What was the content like?

Izawa: The agenda was in three parts, just as I heard when I interviewed TUGBOAT's Yasumichi Oka recently. First was the session "Do Craftsmen Need Globalization?" with Mr. Oka and Hakuhodo Kettle's Kentaro Kimura. Next was "New Art Direction by Women," moderated by Kiyokatsu Kawaguchi, featuring three prominent female art directors. Finally, "Gathering: This Is How I Make Commercials," hosted by Taku Tada and Tetsuro Aso, was a talk session with seven commercial planners. Man, it was amazing! Wait, didn't you say you were looking forward to it, Ikegami-kun? You didn't listen?

Ikegami: Well, I'm part of the PR office staff, so I couldn't really listen to everything properly (tears). Please share it with me, for my poor self!

Izawa: Oh, come on, what can I do?

Going overseas is fine, but not going is also fine

Izawa: What surprised me during the first session with Mr. Oka and Mr. Kimura was when Mr. Oka explicitly stated that people in the advertising world don't necessarily need to go global, despite the title posing the question, "Do Craftsmen Need Globalization?"

Ikegami: In a world where everyone's preaching globalization left and right, that's pretty bold, in a way.

Izawa: Exactly! I've already summarized the session—give it a read!

Mr. Oka: It might be because of my age now, but aside from people who are already good at English, I wonder if those who struggle really need to spend time studying English just to pitch overseas. Rather than forcing yourself to study English, I feel like there are other things you should be doing as a creator. With that time, you could watch a considerable number of movies.

Kimura: Back in my student days, I backpacked around. Crossing borders to influence people or build mutual understanding became my personal theme. That's why I find romance in global advertising and communication planning. So, it's crucial to ask yourself if you genuinely want to work globally. But Mr. Oka, you've also challenged yourself with overseas pitches, right?

Mr. Oka: After leaving Dentsu Inc., I wanted to try working overseas too, so I opened a Tugboat office in London. For large-scale global simultaneous campaigns in overseas pitches, it's not the client directly recruiting participating agencies. Instead, 5-6 agencies are selected by specialized coordinators who constantly monitor which creative agencies are currently the hottest globally.

So, first, we needed to make sure they knew we existed. That's why we sent our portfolio to the coordinator every month. Then, one time, we got invited to pitch. We made a graphic comp as usual and presented it, but they got angry and said, "You can't bring something that looks like a finished product. Just show us the idea first – just a rough sketch and copy, like a doodle." And we got eliminated in the preliminary round.

Kimura: Mr. Oka got eliminated in the preliminary round?

Mr. Oka: Yeah, I didn't understand the rules at first. But after doing it a couple more times, we started making it to the finals. Still, no matter what we did, we couldn't win in the end. I think part of the reason we lost was because we were based in Japan. I mean, if that London client suddenly asked us to come in, it would take us a full day to get there from Japan, whereas a Creative Director (CD) in Europe could be there in a few hours. If Tokyo were a major market, that'd be one thing, but physically, it's tough to base the CD for a massive global campaign with huge budgets in Tokyo.

Not that this proves anything, but I tried pitching for a global campaign by a Korean company. And I won. Because I could get there faster than a European CD. But even winning in Asia didn't feel satisfying to me, so I stopped pitching overseas. So my overseas record is 1 win, 7 losses. Maybe if I moved to London, I could win. I'd get fluent in English too (laugh). But I realized it's not that easy—you need to be prepared to put down roots abroad.

Ikegami: Even Mr. Oka has a 1-7 record overseas? That's kind of shocking in a way.

Izawa: But Mr. Oka isn't pessimistic at all. His view is that those who want to ride the current wave of globalization should go for it, but there are other options too. There's no need to dismiss the idea of mastering craftsmanship in Japan. To put it another way, if people around the world see the "ultimate screw" made by a Japanese craftsman, they'll naturally understand its greatness.

I don't try to speak well

Ikegami: What else was inspiring?

Izawa: There's so much I can't possibly cover it all, but what I found interesting was the presentation talk.

Ikegami: What kind of talk?

Izawa: It started with what kind of presentation wins, then shifted to whether speaking techniques are even necessary in presentations...

Mr. Oka: Personally, I don't try to speak well. I give presentations every week, so of course I know the key points and could speak well, but I think being too smooth might make you unlikable.

But if the idea is interesting, it's actually harder to make it boring. If the idea isn't interesting but you manage to make it sound interesting, that's a scam. It'll be exposed eventually. So maybe speaking too smoothly isn't a good thing. I think as long as people understand what you're trying to say, you don't need clever rhetoric.

Kimura: If you genuinely want to make your project happen, that desire naturally comes through, right? It's about the substance, not presentation skills. First and foremost, it's crucial whether you truly believe in the project yourself.

Izawa: Exactly. Sometimes, presentation techniques can make even mediocre ideas look great, and it's easy to get caught up in those short-term tricks. I kind of reflected on myself after hearing that.

Ikegami: I'm reflecting too... I always end up wanting to make the proposal document look cool.

Izawa: Yeah, exactly. Anyway, it was full of learning and laughter. Things like Kimura-san's "10 YES/NO Questions" for Oka-san really showed Oka-san's human side and were fascinating.

Ikegami: Ah, I wanted to hear that!! How were the other sessions?

Izawa: Kawaguchi-san's session featured three prominent art directors (ADs) in their 30s—Eguchi Rika, Yoshida Uni, and Uenishi Yuri. As a woman of the same generation, it was really inspiring. Women go through various life stages, and I personally had some anxieties about the future. But seeing their strength of conviction, their solid core, made me think it'll be okay.

Ikegami: I see.

Izawa: I was genuinely shocked to hear that Eguchi-san, who creates such edgy work, is raising two kids.

Ikegami: Really?!

Izawa: Everyone has their own ideas about work-life balance, but I thought it was really cool. Uenishi-san said her goal was "to be in a position where quitting the company wouldn't be necessary," but I feel like being in a position where work comes to you by name is one direction working women should aim for going forward.

Is making commercials a slow-moving job?

Ikegami: And finally, it's a gathering of CM planners, right?!

Izawa: Exactly! That was really worth listening to. Anyway, it's not often you get to gather such a group of super busy people who handle famous commercials all in one place, so everyone on stage seemed to be having a great time.

Ikegami: So, so, what was the secret to making hit commercials??

Izawa: More than specific know-how, I realized it's really about your "attitude" – how you approach the work. I thought star planners were more about flashes of inspiration or thinking smart, but I couldn't have been more wrong.

Ikegami: Like what?

Izawa: When asked about the secret to making hit commercials, Mr. Yamazaki said "perseverance without giving up," Mr. Sawamoto said "grit," and Mr. Fukusato said "thinking about it every day." According to Mr. Fukusato, coming up with commercials is apparently "a slow and steady job."

Ikegami: S-slow and tedious! That's a totally different image from what I had. But maybe the things that look glamorous on the surface are the ones that require the most steady, hard work...

Izawa: That's exactly it. Mr. Gonpachi also said, "Every time is incredibly tough." He said the key to creating something good is "approaching it with everything you have—your knowledge, your world, everything."

Ikegami: Hmm, that really hits home... I've been reflecting on whether I'm putting that much effort into my daily work!

Izawa: Murata-san added a bit of know-how: "Don't copy others." Aso-san said, "Don't turn yourself into a manual." And Tada-san mentioned, "Rely on your staff and clients."

Ikegami: Hmm, hmm.

Izawa: I think the "inspiration" Mr. Oka wanted to leave for his juniors really struck a chord with everyone in different ways.

Ikegami: That's right.

Izawa: Murata-san, the youngest among the gathered CM planners, said, "I admire and respect my seniors, but I won't go to the same place." That's exactly it. How we make use of this academy experience is up to each of us.

Ikegami: That's right. Whether you felt "Wow, that's amazing!" or thought "Stars are surprisingly ordinary," what's more important is how you feed that emotion back into your own work.

Izawa: Exactly! Whether it was truly "great teaching" depends not just on the content itself, but on how you transform the "emotion" you felt upon hearing it into your own "guiding principle" or "yardstick" and act on it. That's what comes after being taught. That's what "being inspired and putting it to use" means.

Ikegami: You're being serious today, senior.

Izawa: This is the result of that "inspiration"!!

Ikegami-kun: Keep it up! Looking forward to continuing our Adwi coverage!

Izawa: Whee!!

Next time, we'll report on events and seminars held at Adwi.