Japan Gloomy

Posted in Uncategorized on 08/18/2009 01:57 pm by admin

Japan Gloomy

When I think of Hiroshi Sasaki, the first thing that comes to mind is my favorite Japanese beer commercials. They were for Kirin Ichiban Shibori beer. Ichiban Shibori was Kirin’s response to Asahi Super Dry, which had turned the beer industry on its head and displaced Kirin Lager from its No. 1 position in the Japanese beer market. According to Sasaki, the naming came from a chance remark in a client meeting, when someone on the client side said, “It might be a bit more expensive to make, but how about a beer made from the ichiban shibori, the first pressing of the mash.” “Ichiban shibori” was a long established marker of high quality in Japanese sake brewing but had never been applied to beer. Sasaki, however, wouldn’t belabor the point. He had noticed that, since the launch of Super Dry, beer advertising always seemed to end with a celebrity drinking the beer and saying something about its taste. Sasaki and his team decided instead on the pure pleasure of that first swallow of a great beer. The result was a series of commercials in which actor Ogata Ken took a swallow of the beer, smiled contentedly and said, “Aa, ureshii,” (I’m so happy). It has been almost twenty years ago, but I still can’t get that line out of my head, and my favorite Japanese beer is Ichiban Shibori.

Born in 1954, Sasaki is, like Maki Jun, a graduate of Keio University. After joining Dentsu, he spent six years as an account executive before taking an internal exam and becoming a copywriter. After rising to the position of Executive Creative Director in the Dentsu Creative Planning Center, in 2003 he became the head of a new Dentsu Group creative boutique Shingata.

When I started to write this piece, the line that popped into my head was, “You might call him Mr. Negative.” But that is not because Sasaki is a sour or gloomy character. On the contrary, the person we meet in his writing and speaking about his work is a very nice guy, indeed. While clearly proud of what he has achieved, he constantly heaps praise, not only on the people he has worked with but also those against whom he has competed. He talks about how much he enjoys heading a team with a talented rival and how energized he feels by getting to work with outstanding subordinates. That “Mr. Negative” comes from the fact that both the first and latest things I have read by him stress the importance of starting from positions of weakness instead of strength. Describing his leadership style, he describes himself as perverse and willing to play the kobaka (little fool) to encourage his subordinates.

In a 1992 lecture (revised in 2000) to a group of aspiring young copywriters, he describes the launch ad for a product as a self-introduction. He then goes on to observe that, while clients who have spent years and fortunes on a product of which they are very proud always want to trumpet its virtues, nobody really likes someone who introduces themselves by saying, “I’m perfect, isn’t that great.” But false humility doesn’t work either. Suppose, for example, a beautiful Japanese woman, the daughter of a wealthy family and a graduate of the University of Tokyo, says, “I’m just an ordinary girl who likes socializing with my friends.” Those who hear this introduction are sure to roll their eyes. The trick is to acknowledge a weakness but to do so in a charming way.

Thus, when asked to come up with a successor to a long-used catch phrase for Fuji TV, “If it isn’t fun, it isn’t Fuji TV,” he came up with “If you’re tired of TV, Fuji TV.” For a subsequent campaign he developed “Life IS possible without watching Fuji TV” The Toyota Corona was Toyota’s second oldest model and seen by young Japanese as Dad’s or Granddad’s car. But the Sasaki team’s solution wasn’t an in-your-face “It’s not your father’s Corona.” Instead they came up with “Mr. Corona,” an absent-minded professor looking for a good deal, whose comic warmth made the brand appealing to a new generation of Japanese drivers fed up with the car industry’s usual pompous proclamations. Later, for KDDI, Japan’s No. 2 telecom company, his team came up with headlines including, “When you’re No. 2, you can be a bit crazy” and “Companies with boring ads are almost always boring companies,” skewering No. 1 NTT.

Low key and a little silly, just silly enough to be utterly charming. No hard sell, pure seduction. Yes, says Sasaki, advertising is a love affair.

About the Author:

John McCreery is an anthropologist who has lived and worked in Japan since 1980. For thirteen of those years, he was a copywriter and creative director for Hakuhodo Incorporated, Japan’s second largest advertising agency. In 1984, he and his wife and business partner Ruth McCreery founded The Word Works, a supplier of fine translation, copywriting, research and consulting services to firms doing business in Japan. You may also find articles by John at the TalentZoo.com website under Ads Without Borders.

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com – What are They Thinking in Japan – Hiroshi Sasaki