The View from Fuji

To most of Japan's 94 million people, the frequent mild earthquakes that rattle windows and dismay tourists are routine works of the gods. But the nearly 3,000 employees of Dentsu Advertising, Ltd. are subject to other tremors and are often heard to groan: "Oh Oni is angry again." Oh Oni--or Big Demon--is no evil spirit from the nether world, but the nickname of Dentsu's autocratic, dynamically modern-minded president, Hideo Yoshida, 57, who almost singlehanded has built Dentsu into the world's fifth largest* advertising agency with yearly billings of $148,500,000. "If I am the big demon." says Yoshida with a smile, "then my men will have to work like little demons."

They already do. From its 28 regional and branch offices in Japan. Dentsu services more than 2,000 clients, accounts for almost 30% of Japan's total advertising billings of $530 million. (Unlike U.S. agencies, Dentsu handles competing accounts, e.g., eleven of Tokyo's leading department stores.) Anxious to expand the agency's operations beyond Japan, Yoshida this year will organize Dentsu International, hopes to establish working relationships with other agencies around the world. In anticipation of Dentsu's continued expansion along with Japan's booming economy. Yoshida is having plans drawn for a new nine-story, $8,300,000 Dentsu building in Tokyo. Last week, in recognition of Yoshida's dedication to his work, the International Advertising Association named him its man of the year. Yoshida barely had time to acknowledge the honor. "We are trying to work 48-hour days," he said.

Keep Out. When Yoshida graduated from Tokyo's Imperial University in 1927, Japan was in a crippling depression. With jobs scarce, he went to work in the advertising department of the Dentsu news agency. "It was utterly unheard of for an Imperial University man to go into advertising," Yoshida recalls, "but there wasn't much choice in those days." Most Japanese regarded advertising as an alien form of moneygrubbing that was contrary to the more traditional and subtle Japanese way of doing things. Advertising implied competition, and the monopoly-minded Japanese were more accustomed to making private arrangements with competitors. With most of Japan's production in the hands of a few big business combines and the militarist government favoring heavy industry over consumer goods, there was no room for well-planned, creative ad campaigns. An adman's chief function was to sell space in newspapers and magazines; often he was greeted by signs that warned: "Peddlers and advertising men, keep out."

Irked by the low estate of Japanese admen, Yoshida began studying U.S. ad techniques, was just beginning to make his influence felt at Dentsu when World War II broke out. Japan's defeat nearly brought his changes to a halt. But in 1947, Dentsu. which then had billings of only $1,000,000 a year, made Yoshida its president. Short of executives, he hired purged military and government officials who knew nothing about advertising but had wide contacts in Japanese industry that were useful in picking up new accounts. Yoshida revamped Dentsu's structure, copied U.S. organization methods, sent his top lieutenants to New York for training.

The Easterns. Much of the Madison Avenue manner rubbed off on the Japanese admen. To Yoshida, the "client is god." and his account executives spare no effort to prove it. Each summer, when Japanese traditionally send each other greetings, teams of Dentsu men climb to the top of sacred Mount Fuji to post their seasonal cards to major clients. Ads aimed at Westerners living in Japan are written in "Japlish"--a stilted Japanese version of English. A recent Dentsu house ad boasted that the agency's ads reach an audience of 90 million "herdsmen, hoteliers, housewives, hostesses, heavyweights, hepcats, hipsters, and simply hordes of others."

Yoshida early pushed Dentsu into radio and television production. In Dentsu's television studios, agency scriptwriters grind out soap operas, mystery thrillers (Mr. Himana Steps Out) and easterns (about sword-swinging samurai). By pio neering in commercial radio and televi sion, Yoshida was elected to the boards of 20 broadcasting companies--a fact that gives Dentsu a big edge in placing its programs and commercials.

Janitor to Vice President. Under Yo shida, Dentsu is virtually a one-man show. Oh Oni even conducts the decisive interview before any new employee from janitor to vice president is hired. He some times buys an employee a new suit or pair of shoes to make him more presentable to clients, occasionally passes out golf-club memberships to his top men. "Golf is healthier than nightclubbing," he says. "And it affords time to talk with a client."

Dentsu's only competition in Japan comes from Hakuhodo, Inc. ($40 million in billings), which recently tied up with the U.S.'s McCann-Erickson to challenge Dentsu for international business. Yoshida does not underestimate the threat of McCann-Erickson-Hakuhodo, Inc. Last fall Japan's Foreign Minister offered him a diplomatic post as roving ambassador. Yoshida turned the offer down: he was needed at Dentsu.

* The top four, all American: J. Walter Thompson; Interpublic, Inc. (the parent corporation of McCann-Erickson); Young & Rubicam; Batten, Barton, Durstine & Osborn.

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