Year in Review 2012

If there’s one word that defines the year correctly, clearly and precisely is the word Happiness. While in the overall framework of happiness however, the year started not so much on a happy tone, but progressed upwards along its way, the way I pursued.

In the earlier months of 2012 I was working for the wrong people after forcing myself into a work relationship I didn’t want to have. Around that time the biggest event of the year, Social Media Week New York took care of this initial bad move and it was from then on that things started to move on the upbeat side of the happy spectrum.

It was in New York, in the night of Valentine’s day and on top of the Empire State building when I decided that I wanted to do better. It was then that I realized that my life is precious enough to waste it doing what I didn’t want to do so, I started a genuine change by once again going after my dreams and the pursue of happiness.

Things were not easy, but everything done from the end of February onwards was done with and by the heart. I pursued the work relationships I wanted to have, created the kind of business I wanted to create, worked with the people I have always worked with and later on in the year established the advertising agency I always wanted to run.

Adrian Roche KK, born in October is the kind of agency that works driven by passion and genuine admiration for what advertising is about, having the real intention to deliver success for clients. By all and every means, my company is the biggest and most significant professional move in my career and a significant bundle of happiness.

Spring was great, Summer was better and Fall - Winter 2012 are even greater in all aspects of life. At the end of 2012 I am happy and find myself left with once again an important lesson (re)learned, never betray your heart. Life is short, don’t waste it, and never postpone your pursue of happiness.

Social Media Week

Social Media Week came and went very fast. It extended from February 13th to February 17th in many cities around the world. I had the extreme pleasure to attend the whole week in New York and went there from Tokyo. While one may say that Tokyo has nothing to envy New York in many respects that hold the statement true, in this particular topic there was certainly quite a lot to envy.

All New York sessions were packed with leading content and advise to put knowledge into action right away. Knowledge that made people like me discover that Japan is still behind when it comes to social media marketing when compared to the US.

The dominating discussions were centered on engagement and how to conquer audiences with content that is not brand centric. Let me pause for a second and spend time on the audience, yes we learned in New York not to ever assume who they are and what they do and how to go about identifying your people. We also learned that big data plays a big role in everything we do, just think about it, between 2003 and now we created more data than in the previous 20,000 years and that tells us quite a lot about how big this thing has become.

In all, Social Media Week was a fantastic opportunity to learn and share thoughts with people from a very vibrant industry in one of the most vibrant digital markets in the world. As trends shall be making their way to Japan in what should not be a very distant future, I am starting now with new, more creative ways to generate engagement for the people who matter, the behaviors that matter and the channels that matter.

Kohaku Utagassen 2011

The 2011 Edition 62 of the Kohaku Utagassen saw the ladies (akagumi) win after seven years of losses to the guys (shirogumi).

Akagumi won rightly and fairly beating the guys on every count from the beginning of the show. Starting with a mature and solid performance of Ayumi Hamasaki, the ladies set the tone right. The first half of the event was a landslide in their favor with heavy winning hitters such as AKB 48, Manachan and Kana Nishino. In a 4.5 hour show that extends from 7:15 to 11:45pm, by 8:45, the ladies had a 100,000 vote advantage over their counterparts.

The second part of the show balanced things out slightly with the guys trying to make a desperate catch up in vote count. All efforts started to fall short when the ladies kept counting wins consistently with great performances throughout the remaining part of the event. Kara, Perfume, Girls Generation, Kumi Koda, and the return of Ayaka, where just a few names on stage that consolidated the ladies’ lead. A brilliant performance delivered by Lady Gaga pretty much called the show in favor of akagumi, but the ladies did not stop there. Sachiko Kobayashi increased the lead with a beautiful performance. The tone was once again strengthen by Yumi Matsutoya and her impeccable “Haru yo Koi.” Along the way all topped with classic songs by the classic faces of Seiko Matsuda (in a duet with her daughter Sayaka Kanda) and the great voice of Sayuri Ishikawa, the show was unequivocally called in final favor of the ladies who ended up winning by a margin of about 20,000 votes.

Shirogumi was not in a tremendously bad shape, but they were badly beaten and apart from Exile and their Rising Sun followed by SMAP and their SMAP Aid, there wasn’t anything to keep in mind as being a great determining factor at the time to vote.

Learnings from the 62nd edition

The issue of the earthquake and its aftermath was always present and while it could not have been possibly ignored, the two teams played it differently. The winning ladies referred to the inescapable reality in a soft, refined and tasteful way that almost never showed any images of destruction or suffering. They did it with music, with music that appealed to the heart, with music that made us all look forward and expect a better future when all wounds are healed. The guys had a different approach that ended up playing against them with constant images of destruction and suffering, with an almost exaggerated presence in the affected areas and an approach that positioned them as looking backwards, stuck in a moment they can’t progress from.

In the year where all TV rolled to Digital, the audience participation from home and out of home made a great impact at the time of counting votes. This year’s Kohaku was won and lost by the power of people expressing themselves with a remote control and a mobile phone and this ladies and gentlemen is what has made this spectacular event in Japan better and more exciting.