Self-Serving Advertising! The Case for Ego Ads (Part 1)

The recipient of the 49th "Give It a Try Keizo Saji Award" is Ryo Fujii, Art Director at Dentsu Inc. Kansai Branch. Fujii's signature strength is his "craftsmanship" – thoroughly pursuing details that advertising agency art directors typically wouldn't. Senior colleague Keita Kusaka interviews Fujii. Fujii's latest works are also unveiled!

Incidentally, while she doesn't appear in the article at all, this piece was written by Kansai CR's Aya Fukui.

Kusaka: Congratulations on winning the 49th "Give It a Try Keizo Saji Award" (※).
*An award hosted by the Osaka Advertising Association honoring creators who produce works brimming with a spirit of challenge.

Fujii: Thank you.

Kusaka: They said "his hands-on 'craftsmanship' was highly evaluated."

Fujii: Yeah, that's what the award citation said.

Kusaka: So, in this interview, I'd like to ask you all about your work and your "craftsmanship." Let's get started!

Fujii: I look forward to it.

Specialty Product "Ishida Mitsunari"

Kusaka: First, let's talk about the " Ishida Mitsunari CM " that recently became a hot topic. What was the brief like from Shiga Prefecture?

Fujii: They basically asked us to create a regional PR video, and the idea was to see if we could use Ishida Mitsunari as the theme. Well, at first I thought it would be tough. Showing his upbringing or life story would probably flop. But I figured a commercial featuring a Sengoku warlord could be weirdly interesting.

Kusaka: So that's what you thought as you researched it.

Fujii: Yes. I thought if we just embraced it and made it like a commercial for a warlord, we could create something completely unprecedented.

Kusaka: Was it a competitive presentation?

Fujii: Since it was a publicly announced project, it was kind of like a competition. We had the creators present with a "We'll let this guy handle it" vibe, and then we decided, "Alright, this is the person." So, we started after the creator was decided.

Kusaka: It got a lot of TV coverage too, right? Like on "Mezamashi TV."

Fujii: We got featured on over 20 TV programs. Even NHK covered it.

Kusaka: That's amazing. It must have been huge PR for Shiga Prefecture. Why did you go with a parody style, or rather, a local commercial vibe?

Fujii: We thought it would be interesting to do something different from a story-based approach, like a commercial. Then we had to figure out how to wrap it up.

Kusaka: So you deliberately made the web movie look like a commercial.

Fujii: Oh, this is actually airing on TV.

Kusaka: Wait, it's actually airing?!

Fujii: Yes. The initial aim was to generate buzz by making people realize this was an actual commercial airing. While the main focus is online, we also wanted the surprise factor of "This is really airing as a commercial?" We got it aired on Lake Biwa Broadcasting during a pretty good time slot. The reason we went with a local commercial style was because the client wanted to make Ishida Mitsunari, who has this image of being rigid and cold-hearted, seem more approachable. And when you think of approachable commercials, local commercials come to mind.

Kusaka: Did you watch a lot of local commercials? As reference for the project?

Fujii: I watched a ton. Endlessly scrolling through the ones on YouTube.

The Value of "Leave It to Us"

Kusaka: So how did you actually make the "Ishida Mitsunari CM"?

Fujii: It was kind of fun, like a club activity. We even got people from Shiga Prefecture saying "Leave it to us."

Kusaka: From the very first one?

Fujii: Yes.

Kusaka: That's wonderful. They're so generous!

Kusaka + Fujii: Just like Lake Biwa (laughs).

Fujii: When they say "leave it to us," it's a lot of pressure, but on the flip side, it means we can really go all out on the details.

Kusaka: Fujii really gets into the details, doesn't he?

Fujii: In my case, I'm the type who builds up the total score through the accumulation of small details.

Kusaka: That's absolutely true. If it's not a "leave it to me" project, the accumulated details might get dismissed.

Fujii: Exactly. I can't really perform at my best unless it's a project where I have a certain degree of freedom.

Kusaka: Especially with Natsume Mito's "I Cut My Bangs Too Short" PV—it felt like Fujii broke through with his true craftsmanship.

Fujii: That one was completely unchecked until the very end too. The client, CD Kusaka-san... Well, it's like they entrusted it to me, or rather, I couldn't show it beforehand. I was drawing nonstop from the day before the edit. The last minute or so, everything, I drew on the day of the edit.

Kusaka: You said you didn't have enough time, right?

Fujii: But pushing it that far actually raises the score.

Kusaka: That's the essence of being a craftsman, isn't it? Craftsmanship is about the details, the accumulation of perfection.

Fujii: If you keep checking with everyone about each little detail, your energy just keeps draining away.

Kusaka: I see. That's really true.

"Role" and "Desire"

Kusaka: Next, the story about the memory illustration relay for "PiTaPa" (multi-functional IC payment service). How did you approach creating that?

Fujii: The brief was to incorporate three mandatory keywords into posters and web content. I initially thought we'd just have to make a standard corporate message ad, but I wondered if we could make it interesting somehow.

Kusaka: So the WHAT TO SAY was fixed, and it was about how to play with the HOW TO SAY. But coming up with the idea to use illustrations for that "how to play" part was really clever.

Fujii: I thought I'd like to draw the pictures myself.

Kusaka: I see! That's where it came from!

Fujii: But I didn't have a reason to draw myself. Illustration-style posters aren't seen much these days, so I wanted to do that. First, I thought about how to fit that personal desire into a project plan.

Kusaka: This is key! You started with what you wanted to draw and built the project around it. So you dragged in Shiriagari Kotobuki and Morita Masanori just to satisfy your own desires, huh?

Fujii: That might be true (laughs).

Kusaka: With Fujii's previous work, it felt like it ended, for better or worse, based on the quality of a single piece. But with "PiTaPa," it feels like that scope has expanded. You're showcasing your craftsmanship while also producing the whole thing, including that skill. That part feels different from before.

Fujii: Being able to run things myself was huge. When I'm in the CD producer role, I have to be objective. I have to judge what's interesting.

Kusaka: So you're saying your seniors were getting in the way before, and you couldn't incorporate the good stuff into your own work?

Fujii: No, no! That's not it! I actually feel like the seniors helped me. Before, I was focused on doing the role I was given properly. Like, if I was an AD, I'd do the AD's job well.

Kusaka: So you were thinking about staying true to the role, not stepping out of line too much. But your expression was stepping out of line, right? Speaking of that, what about the adyou did with Masayuki Furukawafor the copywriter recruitment at the Advertising Conference?

Fujii: Yes. As the visual artist, I gave it my absolute all.

Kusaka: And the Sunpole ad that won an ACC Gold (2015)?

Fujii: It was about exerting maximum effort within the role given to me by Nobuhiro Nakaharu (Watson Click).

Kusaka: Until now, we'd have a campaign job where the CD or higher-ups would decide the overall direction, and Fujii would be assigned to it. But this time, it was Fujii joining from the very beginning, like, "What the heck should we do?"

Fujii: That's right. Of course, we brainstormed together from scratch, but I wasn't the one taking the front line, so to speak...

Kusaka: In that sense, Mito-chan also had Fujii, as a filmmaker, create something from scratch for her.

Fujii: For Mito-chan, being given complete freedom from the very beginning was huge. Only the medium of video was decided, so she felt she could freely act within that space.

(Continued in Part 2)