Our Colleagues in the Idea Industry

In recent years, the Dentsu Group has been holding sessions called "Creative Dialogue" to engage in candid discussions about topics such as "What exactly does the 'product' called an idea refer to?", "How do we create it, how do we manage its quality, and how do we deliver it to our clients?"

Essentially, we gather 5-6 members to discuss the very topics covered in this column, having held over 300 sessions in total.

To commemorate the 200th installment of this series, we gathered professionals from various fields—marketing, promotion, creative, production, digital, and more—who were meeting each other for the first time.

The work of creators isn't just about craft

Today's title, 'Comrades in the Idea Industry,' has an origin. My senior at Dentsu Inc., Kotaro Sugiyama, once said, "The day will come when ideas become Japan's proud export industry."

Inspired by this, I wrote my first book, The Textbook of Ideas. Today, the ongoing dialogues about "ideas" within the Dentsu Group, called Creative Dialogue, stem entirely from my heartfelt dream of realizing Mr. Sugiyama's vision.

In Creative Dialogue, we organize ideas into "expressive ideas" and "structural ideas (concepts)." Precisely because I work in a department at Dentsu East Japan Inc. that devises strategy as a Strategic Planner (hereafter "Stpla"), I have a deep love for these "structural ideas" or "concepts."

Strategic planners might seem academic or overly intellectual, but I feel the creativity behind generating "structural ideas" carries significant responsibility.

Personally, I want to consciously focus more on that "structural idea" aspect. Of course, as a creator, I deeply value the "craft" – the presentation and expressive techniques – but I don't want to get stuck only on that and end up in a position where I'm just "someone who makes nice-looking expressions."

Creating new value is fundamentally crucial, regardless of whether it's creative work or marketing.

That's an interesting point right off the bat. How do you see it from the field in Hokkaido?

What I've felt most strongly through Creative Dialogue is that there's a "form" to shaping ideas. Perhaps creativity has relied too much on "individual skill" until now.

For example, simply taking a hard look at something we've taken for granted—like "What exactly is a concept?"—has made me realize we can develop a "framework" where everyone actively shares opinions and collaborates more effectively, whether in marketing or creative work.

At CARTA ZERO Inc., I primarily handle digital communications. Even now, I feel there's a tendency to start with the medium itself – like "This expression works best for YouTube" or "Let's use this wording to get clicks" – and once it becomes an online medium, it tends to be evaluated solely by quantitative metrics.

Amidst this, I believe that by thoroughly articulating the "concept," the integration of online and offline media could become much more effective.

In Creative Dialogue, one point stuck with me: "If Japanese coffee shops had articulated the essence of their service as 'the third place,' they might have taken over the world instead of Starbucks." I truly believe it's crucial to firmly "capture in words" the value we create.

Exactly. The benefit of clearly defining "What is the concept?" for any project is that it eliminates wasted effort. If the core concept remains ambiguous and you just place some "catchy phrase" at the center of your strategy as the "concept," you'll inevitably lose direction and get lost while working on the project.

I see. So the "concept" is crucial as the overarching idea connecting marketing and creative, online and offline. While that might seem obvious, it seems like clearly defining "what the concept is" could be key to boosting team effectiveness. What do you think, from a promotion pro's perspective?

The idea that "a concept is a searchlight" really stuck with me. As Mr. Takayama mentioned, in daily work, we sometimes carelessly confuse "great copy" with "concept." But I understand now that a concept is precisely that searchlight—the word that illuminates the direction for the team to move forward.

I believe the Creative Director's job is to oversee the whole and grasp it as a "structure." Furthermore, when all team members are conscious of this structure, it makes the growth of the creators on the front lines more certain.

It's true—when you have a clever catchphrase, it's easy to say, "That's the concept."

Mr. Yasuda, what's your perspective from your role as a producer?

In my daily campaign development work, both judgments—"Is this good creative?" and "Is this likely to deliver good results for the client?"—are crucial, but I often found myself relying too much on gut feelings. Hearing everyone discuss "expressive ideas (craft)" and "structural ideas (concept)" has made me realize that by organizing these, I can provide clear direction and lead the team calmly.

This will also serve as a major decision-making axis when I face management challenges as a business producer going forward.

Encountering the concept of "concept quality control"

Now, within Creative Dialogue, we've discussed five criteria for "concept quality control." Is there one that particularly stands out to you?

This one, ①. When considering whether a concept represents a "new perspective," the point that you can't judge if it's "new" without understanding the "old perspective (common sense)" felt simple yet refreshing.

In Creative Dialogue, whenever we discuss concepts, the "Searchlight" diagram always comes up, and we're asked to follow it in our discussions, right?

What struck me is that "old common sense" represents "things that should be changed" or "things taken for granted." So, the starting point—and a crucial one—is whether you can recognize that "changing this would be better." I suspect it's quite common that we can't find a concept as a "new perspective" precisely because we don't understand what "things that should be changed" are.

I have one question: I think it's incredibly difficult to meet all five of these "criteria" in actual work. What I'm really asking is, among these five, is there one that you'd consider "good enough" if it's met?

I don't think you need to meet all of them...

I think the five criteria aren't independent; they're interconnected. For example, because ① overturns old conventions, ② new problems emerge, and because ② new problems emerge, ④ market size or "numbers" can be estimated... In that sense, I can't really imagine a situation where only ② or only ④ is met.

On the other hand, I agree with Mr. Yoshida that a situation where "everything is perfect" is also hard to imagine.

Because in any given case, perfect articulation is simply impossible. And as the world keeps changing, the meaning of the new connection between customers and products/services that the concept envisions also changes constantly, moment by moment.

What scored 80 points yesterday might only be worth 40 today. In that sense, our work isn't about "finding the absolutely correct answer and being satisfied." It's more like embarking on an eternal spiral journey: seeking the best possible solution "here and now," while also recognizing that whatever we grasp for the moment is merely a hypothesis.

There was an episode where "a certain CD didn't verbalize its concept during planning, proposal, or production, but only after implementation had been underway for some time." In other words, they couldn't verbalize the concept until that point, but they kept thinking about it without giving up.

We often assume concepts are born from analysis, but this shows we can also work backward from outputs like "expression." This might mean that even after proposing the best possible solution for the "here and now," we must keep thinking beyond it.

The criteria for "concept quality control" can be refined further.

 

① and ②, and ③ to ⑤, even though they're all "types of good concepts," feel like slightly different categories. The latter—direction, numbers, and ideals—are precisely what's needed for "concept quality control." But the former, ① and ②, are like the first walls you hit when trying to come up with a new good concept, and getting past them is incredibly tough.

That's precisely why I believe truly great ideas rarely emerge unless the entire team properly engages with the market and collaborates on the thinking.

It's true that this ① to ⑤ framework isn't something where you just plug something in and get an automatic answer. That's precisely why it's so rewarding, though.

I feel much the same as Mr. Fujimoto. ① and ②, and ③, ④, and ⑤ are fundamentally different. For instance, while ⑤'s "ideal" that the organization should aim for might trigger the start of conceptual thinking, ④'s "numbers" like sales revenue or profit figures cannot serve as the starting point for planning. It's more like a flow starting from ① and ②, then moving towards ③, ④, and ⑤.

Yeah... Actually, these five criteria were different in wording and content when we started Creative Dialogue four years ago. We're still nurturing them bit by bit through dialogue with everyone. As I mentioned earlier, the five elements aren't necessarily MECE (Mutually Exclusive and Collectively Exhaustive) (laughs). For example, I'm still debating the order—should I put ④ (numbers) or ⑤ (ideal) first? I worry that ending a concept discussion with numbers might not be very engaging...

I have a slightly different opinion—I think ④ "numbers" is extremely important. Clients are seriously considering how to achieve sales within their limited budgets. That's precisely why we have a huge responsibility to explain how ideas (concepts)—seemingly fragile words—contribute to those numbers. If we can explain it in numbers, it connects to the "big dream" of "creating a market." That's why I like this ④ the most.

④ "numbers" is a crucial perspective to ensure your plan doesn't become self-indulgent, right?

Ultimately, whether we can clearly communicate the value of that concept to the client is the major turning point in whether they will buy into the plan. In that sense, I completely understand what Mr. Takayama is saying.

While ⑤ states "realizing the ideal," the "numbers" in ④ aren't a "promise" but rather something that "foreshadows" (laughs).

From a digital perspective, "numbers" can mean many different things. For example, if you're planning around Starbucks' "third place" theme, since it's about "a place to belong," the metrics become creative and unprecedented—like "how many people customized their menu to their preferences?" rather than "how many people accumulated points via the app?"

By the way, are there any of you out there applying these kinds of evaluation criteria—like ① through ⑤—to your day-to-day work?

As a strategist responsible for planning, I'm applying these directly to my current projects.

I also try to put Creative Dialogue into practice as much as possible, so it doesn't just end with "Ah, I had another fun chat with Yamada today." Just the other day, during a presentation, I was very conscious of the "framework" discussed here.

It's truly appreciated. By having everyone put these concepts into practice and then receiving feedback, we can continuously refine things like these "concept evaluation criteria" to make them even more precise.

Let's move the "idea industry" forward

Using the "ideas" and "concepts" we've discussed in Creative Dialogue as our tools, what kind of work challenges do you envision taking on next?

Before taking on new projects, I'm most keenly aware of how Creative Dialogue's discussions are changing how I view my daily work. Building on that, I feel we're now better prepared to handle consultations on overall business and product branding, as well as so-called management challenges.

Working on major client projects with well-defined briefs, figuring out how to respond effectively, is certainly important. At the same time, I'm eager to take on projects where we start with a client unsure of their challenges, accompanying them from product concept development all the way to formulating management strategies.

I believe "concepts" are effective because they prevent us from dismissing something we see as "good" in advertising, products, or services with a simple "It's kinda nice." Anything that feels "kinda nice" must have a solid concept behind it, and I want to be able to grasp that properly. To do that, I want to master the "technique of creating concepts" even more.

I want to leverage concepts to seamlessly connect online and offline experiences. Aligning these two touchpoints is crucial for brand consistency. While this may seem obvious, I believe we can strive for even higher-quality communication in reality.

At Dentsu Hokkaido Inc., many clients still see us as just "ad agencies." Even if we declare "We'll handle everything upstream," that's not how we're perceived. Yet it's also true that some clients are genuinely struggling with stagnation or stalled sales.

That's precisely why I want to think for myself and talk to these companies about what we can do for them, going beyond the realm of advertising communication. I want to do work that delights them and ultimately touches on something fundamental to their brand and their company.

I have two goals. First, I believe Dentsu East Japan Inc. is still largely seen as just an "ad agency." Few clients explicitly say, "We want you to redefine our business value" or "We want to do Business Transformation (BX)." Fundamentally, what they seek is "advertising communication."

But clients often have underlying, latent concerns about their business model. In those moments, I want to tackle work that solves those latent business challenges as an extension of the task of "how to sell this one product."

Second is eliminating operational "waste." As mentioned earlier, confusing "cool buzzwords" with "concepts" inevitably reduces efficiency. That's precisely why I want to expand the circle of colleagues—including clients—who understand "concept quality control" to eliminate such waste.

I want to energize the creative section of our company itself. I know it sounds like I'm tooting our own horn, but I genuinely think our members are quite "talented" (laugh). To help each of these members further enhance their abilities, I want to increase the amount of work within the company that tackles fundamental issues like "structural ideas"... so please send us your projects!

Being an "ad agency" is certainly great, but I want us to become a company that can proudly declare, "We are a creative company."

Today, we've gathered people from diverse backgrounds, and it's reassuring to see that "concept" truly serves as our common language, transcending individual specialties. I feel like if we formed a team with this group, we could achieve incredible results. Readers, we're waiting for your projects!! (lol)

【Member Introductions】

Yuki Takayama
Strategic Planner, Dentsu East Japan Inc.
Since joining Dentsu Young & Rubicam (now Dentsu East Japan Inc.), he has worked as a business producer on integrated brand communications—from mass media to digital—for brands in food & beverage, food products, and luxury goods. Currently, as a strategic planner, he develops communication strategies across diverse sectors including government, finance, and construction.


Copywriter , Dentsu Inc.
Born in Ōtsuki City, Yamanashi Prefecture, 2001. Finalist, Cannes Lions Young Lions Competition 2024.


Creative Director, Dentsu Hokkaido Inc.
Started in the advertising industry at a Sapporo production company, then worked at Dentsu Tech (now DENTSU PROMOTION PLUS INC.) Sapporo Branch before joining Dentsu Hokkaido Inc. With 'Keep Thinking' as his motto, he persistently seeks optimal solutions for client challenges through strategy development that captures core issues, story building, core idea discovery, and creative expression. Currently challenging himself beyond advertising creativity into the realm of future-making.

Megumi Matsuura
Art Director, DENTSU PROMOTION PLUS INC.
Born in Kanagawa Prefecture. Graduated from Tama Art University, Department of Graphic Design. Works from planning to execution, centered around art direction. Specializes in creating things that look delicious, cute, and fun. Has a 3-year-old daughter and a beloved cat. Awards include The GLOBES Awards and Cannes Lions Shortlist.

Sakurako Yasuda
Business Producer, Dentsu Ad-Gear Inc.
Has worked as a business producer since joining the company. After handling major beverage and food manufacturers, also took on corporate branding development and PR production. Seconded to Sun-Ad Inc. in 2024, working as a creative producer. Specializes in creative production management, handling projects ranging from mass advertising to branding and PR.

Koichi Yoshida
CARTA ZERO Inc. Account Manager
After working at a video production company and Dentsu Inc., joined CARTA HOLDINGS, INC in 2022. Handles a wide range of projects from B2C to B2B, driving initiatives from marketing strategy and planning to effectiveness verification, primarily in the digital domain. Leader of the Dentsu Group cross-project "Dentsu B2B Initiative."