Nice to meet you. I am Ashida of Strategic Partners. Thank you very much for visiting our website and for considering working with us.
Because I want to convey our company's way of thinking in advance to those considering joining us, I have prepared this message separately for new graduates and for mid-career applicants. If you are considering employment with us, I would be grateful if you would read the following.
1. To New Graduates Considering Joining Us
You are probably in the middle of your job search. When choosing a company, you are likely considering various factors such as name recognition, stability, social contribution, and compensation. I am very pleased that you found our company among countless others. And I would be very happy if you chose to work with us.
However, I think it would be unfortunate for both the company and the new employee if you were to leave later because things differed from your hopes and expectations. So here I will honestly tell you about both the good and bad points of our company.
As students, you will surely not have heard from your teachers about the real behind-the-scenes situation of the industry. Even so, you may want to become a creator or a consultant. If you want to do that kind of work, there is a wide range of industries, including consulting firms, advertising agencies, and production companies. However, our company does not belong to any of them. Having closely observed the challenges and problems of these companies, I spent many years searching for what kind of partner company client companies truly need. The answer is that corporate strategy and advertising production (product production) must be carried out seamlessly from end to end. Integrating them is extremely difficult.
Strategic Partners was founded to solve this challenge.
For that reason, no one else operates in our business format, and students in particular have probably had no opportunity to learn of its existence or value.
But we have started it.
Our client companies have also recognized how wonderful this business format is.
Once this business format is fully up and running,
I am convinced that other partner companies will probably lose their reason for being, and that companies in this same format, including ours, will achieve major growth.
In that sense, our company can still be called a startup.
Apple was founded in a garage and set out to defeat IBM.
We may not be in a garage, but in order to build a company that truly serves society,
we are working hard every day.
For these reasons, it is true that our company is not well known and is small.
If you are looking for name recognition and a sense of security, you would be better off not choosing us.
However, the good thing about a startup is that
there is a process of growth, and you get to share in that story.
And once again, please look at our website
and judge whether or not this company will grow.
Thank you for your consideration.
2. To Mid-Career Applicants Considering Joining Us
I spent nearly 20 years in the advertising industry. I expanded the scope of my work from TV director to commercial producer, and then to advertising producer.
In recent years, due to the rise of the web, social media, and the like, as well as changes in consumer psychology, the advertising industry as a whole, centered on mass advertising such as TV commercials, has been in continuous decline. Since my own company was also in the advertising business, I felt a sense of crisis and was searching for what our company should become. We interviewed clients and explored the needs companies have. Through that, it became clear what companies are looking for today.
Consultants present corporate strategy, but they don't take care of tactics.
Creators make what they want to make.
Companies that just want to sell advertising.
Proposals that just want to sell marketing tools...
Many executives lamented that there are many partner companies like that.
And they wondered whether there was any company that would cover everything from strategy proposals to tactics, consider costs, and come up with plans that could be expected to deliver results...
So I went back and reconsidered my own title.
Hadn't I been posing as a creator all along?
Who should that work really have been for?
Thinking it over, I realized, belatedly, that even producing a commercial or an event, for example, should follow the client's corporate strategy,
and serve to solve their challenges.
So I searched for a new business format for a partner company.
One that could stand by companies, propose strategies, and support them all the way through execution.
What came to mind then was the age-old role of the “military strategist (strategist).”
When it comes to “military strategists,” famous examples include Zhuge Liang (Kongming) of the Three Kingdoms and the Sengoku-period warrior Yamamoto Kansuke.
They stood beside their lords and proposed all kinds of strategies.
Yes, I thought, perhaps what this era needs is a “strategist”...
There are similar professions, such as management consultants.
They formulate and support strategy, but generally do not provide support down to the level of tactics.
Every company has very high strategic literacy and will not accept mere advice.
What they actually need is someone to seriously think through and execute strategy and tactics together with them.
Come to think of it, in today's society there is no defined profession called “strategist.”
My view is that if it doesn't exist, we should develop it ourselves.
By developing a new framework and bringing together people from consulting firms and advertising agencies, we set out to build a new kind of company.
Among those of you seeking employment, there may be people from agencies, production companies, and the like; people about to graduate from vocational schools in video, web, and so on; or people who want to start studying these fields.
What was that study or experience for?
Unless it was for artistic works, most of the work should have been supporting corporate activities.
If “strategy” were a combat sport, it would be “mixed martial arts.”
People from boxing, judo, and other backgrounds leverage their strengths to fight in a field where anything goes.
As a “strategist,” we want you to leverage the strengths you have gained, such as in video and web, to support companies' strategies.
Since we have embarked on a business format that never existed before, our company can be called a startup.
Those of you who hope to join a large company may be able to gain stability, name recognition, and good compensation.
It is only natural to feel uneasy about a startup.
However, I believe startups have a great “future.”
And there is the joy of building that “future” together.
The “strategist,” a job that never existed before.
Why not build it together with us!
Hiroshi Ashida, CEO, Strategic Partners Inc.