ABSTRACT
Japanese companies making their first advertising forays outside Japan almost invariably begin by running corporate advertisements, or what they fondly believe to be corporate advertisements. In the US and Europe, advertising seeks to encourage mass consumers to believe the myth that they are individuals living in an individualistic society far removed from the ultra-conformist societies of the far left and the Far East. In the West, advertising is seen as a most important factor in the constant battle to outsell the competition. Unlike the situation in the UK where American agencies are predominant, the japanese advertising industry is very much in the hands of the Japanese. In Japan there are thousands of small units managing to co-exist with agency in-house creative departments, clients’ in-house creative departments and the creative departments maintained by printing companies. Grouping ad expenditure in key periods usually works better than dribbling it away on small ‘invisible’ advertising year-round.
