Planner Sayaka Arimoto: "The Creative Style I Arrived At as Someone Without Distinctive Features"

This interview series spotlights Dentsu Inc. creators who transcend conventional advertising boundaries. In the third installment, we spoke with Sayaka Arimoto (Creative Planning Division 3), a planner who handles not only TV commercials but also content production like music videos (MVs).

"Don't look for answers only within yourself" is her work philosophy

──Could you tell us what led you to your current department and what your main responsibilities are?

I've always loved television and often worked on creating commercials. After ten years, I wanted to challenge myself with new things. Around that time, I experienced a transfer and gained more opportunities to think about new businesses and services.

This led to new connections, and as my career progressed, I started getting work offers from peers active in various departments. That's how I encountered content-focused work like artists' music videos (MVs).

──Is there a difference in your approach between creating advertisements and creating content like MVs?

Personally, I don't see much difference. The sequence of thinking about the content itself is quite similar to when I'm creating commercials. Instead of a "product" being a physical item, with an MV it's "music," "lyrics," or "the artist." So, I think about how to convey that and make people like it.

──When you're developing a concept, how do you specifically go about it?

I have this complex about not having a sharp, distinctive personality. I'm just a really ordinary person. I'm easily influenced and swayed. But I've gradually come to accept that's okay. Now, my stance when developing concepts is "don't look for answers only within myself."

Specifically, I persistently ask people around me about their interest in the target product—what draws them in or pushes them away. I dig into fans' emotional journey: what sparked their love, what they love about it, and how they feel now. People's passion for something is such powerful energy; I never tire of listening.

I do look at online chatter and word-of-mouth, but information not found online or in data is often more real and interesting. So, I frequently search for interesting triggers within the narrow but deep insights I gather by asking people directly.

For example, with JUJU's song "Excuses," the lyrics really stood out for capturing the messy, heart-wrenching feelings women experience in love. So, I had about 20 women in the target demographic (20s to 40s) – including coworkers and personal friends – listen to the song and write down their own love stories that came to mind.

This yielded a diverse array of fascinating stories, but among them, common threads emerged – things like, "Oh, women of all generations think this way."

I thought that if we could create a visual story touching on these "universal, tangled emotions," it would synergize with the lyrics and resonate deeply. After identifying these "emotions people relate to," we asked manga artist Ai Yazawa to convey them with unflinching poignancy.

How to evoke emotional shifts and empathy in a "dialogue-free" MV

──Speaking of JUJU, the music video for "Tokyo," also planned by Mr. Arimoto, has become a hit, surpassing 6.8 million views on YouTube as of October 12, 2018.

Having personally experienced parting with my own father, I initially wrote the script based on my real-life experience. However, to verify if I maintained an objective perspective, I again sought input from others. While talking with sales staff, clients, and the production team, I found common threads in their shared feelings about "the distance between people who moved to Tokyo and their parents" and "parting with parents." I focused on these shared emotions to refine the script.

That's when I encountered the "parent's diary" episode. Unlike dramas, music videos don't have dialogue, so using a diary as the core—something that can convey emotional and situational shifts in a flat, unadorned way—felt like a really good approach, so I adopted it.

──You mentioned feeling like you lack distinctive traits, but I see your ability to gather insights from others and weave universally relatable emotions and experiences into your work as a major strength.

I used to think that creators must have something they absolutely want to create bubbling up inside them, but unfortunately, that's not the case for me.

But within that, "not searching for answers solely within myself" might be one method I've discovered, or perhaps a characteristic. It's enjoyable when, while leaning into someone's particular passion or interviewing someone completely opposite to me, I find ideas or create things I never could have imagined alone.

I want to keep creating work that makes everyone involved happy.

──I think many of your projects, like the BIG Sports Lottery "Kyoko and Her Sister" commercial featuring Kyoko Fukada and Matsuko Deluxe, have "settings that feel instantly interesting the moment you see them." How do you come up with those kinds of settings?

I watch about six hours of TV every day (laughs). While Matsuko Deluxe might first come to mind as a sharp-tongued character, behind that lies an enormous amount of knowledge and a warm perspective. She's also overflowing with compassion and possesses humility. We wanted to highlight Matsuko's more reserved side, so we created a setting where she plays the very demure older sister, while Kyoko plays the aggressive younger sister – the complete opposite.

By showing a setting that reveals hidden strengths different from their usual persona, I want viewers to think, "Maybe this is who they really are."

Also, I deeply respect comedians. But often, when comedians appear in commercials, their gags are just used as-is, right? And if those gags end up being unfunny, it's really sad. Precisely because I watch so much TV, I strive to deeply understand the talents and strengths of the people appearing and think about how to draw them out. I believe that leads to something new, and if we can bring out their best qualities, the performers themselves will likely think, "I'm glad I appeared in this commercial."

I always carry this desire to create fertile ground where performers can truly shine.

──Listening to you, I can really feel how much you value everyone involved in your work.

Thank you. Honestly, nothing makes me happier than seeing someone genuinely pleased.

With music videos, you can see the comments section, right? When I read viewers' comments, I sometimes see reactions like, "Watching this video reminded me of this experience." It's not just about the fleeting feeling when they first see it; when I sense it reached deeper into their hearts, I feel deeply moved, thinking, "Ah, I'm so glad I made this."

──What are your future goals, Arimoto-san?

Even in advertising, I want to keep focusing on creating something that can become a source of comfort for viewers when they need it, something that touches people's emotions. Beyond that, I also want to cherish the relationships with the people I create with. I hope that chemistry can lead to making something truly unique.

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Arumoto's work resonates deep within the heart, connecting with personal experiences.

I realized that it's precisely because Arimoto doesn't force her own feelings through, but instead gathers the emotions of the many people involved and reflects them in her work, that she can create such things.

Thank you.