Tag: TBWA\HAKUHODO

Tokyo, Japan – Creative agency TBWA\Hakuhodo has launched an internal game called ‘The Escape’ which takes the agency’s team building into the metaverse, where it combines the idea of an evacuation challenge game and disaster preparedness drills all within the virtual space.

The game begins with an earthquake at the office, and multiple players work together to evacuate the office while rescuing injured colleagues and handling a fire accident. Players can be immersed in a realistic 3D office space wearing VR headsets, crouching down to secure their own safety and performing firefighting activities to accomplish the required missions one after another.

“The Escape” was launched this month to coincide with the start of the 2023 fiscal year in Japan. Since the program can be conducted with a maximum of 8 people, it is expected that participating in the same content and communicating with each other will contribute to team building and raise awareness of disaster prevention in the office.

Kaname Aratame, creative director for Disruption Lab at TBWA\Hakuhodo, said that they focused on providing a realistic sense of crisis, which is impossible in conventional evacuation drills, such as the inconvenience caused by poor visibility and office furniture becoming obstacles in the event of a disaster.

“Building the office, destroying it, and then escaping from it – it is the experience that you can get only on Metaverse. It is not an exciting experience but by reproducing a full-scale realistic office with accurately putting disaster prevention goods as its physical location, players can naturally acquire disaster prevention training, which is often passed off as someone else’s problem,” Aratame said.

Tokyo, Japan – Global advertising agency TBWA\Worldwide has appointed Kazoo Sato, former executive creative director at TBWA\Hakuhodo, to be its new chief creative sustainability officer at TBWA\Hakuhodo and TBWA\Asia.

In his new role, Sato will be the key creator of solutions to sustainable problems through the creation of innovative and unconventional design thinking, creative campaigns, products, experiences, and communications for TBWA\Hakuhodo and TBWA\Asia collective. He will also be responsible for engaging in activities, which elevate the agency in Japan and the entire Asia collective’s learning and engender a pervasive culture around sustainable solutions. 

Moreover, Sato will be helping identify and define the clients’ long-term value, brand goals, and business objectives, advising on insight and approaches to drive change and make a positive impact across society, business, and the environment. 

Sean Donovan, TBWA\Asia’s president, shared that creativity is the most potent skill they can bring to address the issues of sustainability and Sato’s elevation to lead both TBWA\Hakuhodo and TBWA\Asia’s creative approach to sustainability is a natural one.

“His passion and curiosity about sustainability are evident across the work he has consistently delivered in his capacity as a chief creative officer of TBWA\Hakuhodo. In his new role, Kazoo will strive to make sustainability actionable and relevant across all clients and agencies by leveraging his outstanding and distinctive approach to creativity,” said Donovan.

TBWA said that in addition to this role, Sato was accepted and has commenced studying at the highly regarded Graduate College of Global Environmental Studies in Tokyo towards an MA in Global Environmental Studies.

Meanwhile, Chris Iki, TBWA\Hakuhodo’s chief operating officer, said, “This is an exciting career opportunity for Kazoo, who has consistently leveraged the power of creativity to make a difference in people’s lives and a positive impact on the planet, which is evidenced in his extensive portfolio of work. We congratulate Kazoo on his role and wish him well with his studies.”

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.”