Tokyo, Japan – Advertising agency TBWA\HAKUHODO has elevated Takahiro Hosoda to the role of chief creative officer of the agency. He previously served as the agency’s executive creative director for two years.
He takes over Kazoo Sato, who will start in a new role within the TBWA\Collective, to be announced soon. In addition, through Hosoda’s new role, he will be leading a team of over 70 creatives, who share his passion and push for creative disruption.
During his work as the agency’s ECD, he was responsible for some of the agency’s impactful campaigns, such as with Nissan’s Intelligent Parking Chair and Nissan Leaf EV’s technology. He also launched the ‘Disruption® School’ in partnership with industry publication Sendenkaigi. Taka designed the annual series, first launching in 2019, to enable a younger generation of creative talent to learn, practice and evolve the creative discipline.
Speaking about his appointment, he said that they are proud of their ‘Disruption’ mantra, as it challenges them to see the unconventional and bring this thinking into the everyday. He also added that it’s now time to redirect this thinking, and that they are redefining the advertising company to become a creative experience company.
“We are a company of story, design, experience, content, business production, data creativity, and a whole range of expressions and professions that don’t even have a category name yet. No other team has such a sharp collection of creative talent – and no other corporate organisation has so many people who all believe in the value and miracle of creativity. DX, metaverse, Web 3.0; there are many exciting opportunities emerging for businesses and our focus will remain on creating innovative solutions that have a positive impact on business and society,” Hosoda said.
Meanwhile, Chris Iki, chief operating officer at TBWA\HAKUHODO, commented, “Taka is an outstanding creative leader. His unique ability to achieve a high level of collaboration across his teams and client partners helps drive new innovations to meet the needs of changing consumer behaviours. As a result, our clients and agency were in a stronger position to successfully respond to the once in a generation shift brought on by the pandemic.”
He added, “Creativity is an imperative business tool and we’re fortunate TBWA\HAKUHODO has an incredible depth of creative leadership across the board. They’re not only highly awarded, but champions of change, inspiring and motivating their teams to always succeed.”