Kentaro Katsube likes to set ambitious targets. He wants the Uniqlo brand to be the best in the world. He wants his marketing campaigns to win the biggest global creative awards. And, most importantly, he genuinely believes that companies can, and should, be capable of changing the world.
Such a lofty outlook could be interpreted as arrogance, but in Katsube’s case this couldn’t be further off the mark. His attitude is more optimism than self-importance. This is a man, after all, who says that his habit on waking every morning is to remind himself to smile.
“You may think it absurd, but it is important that we announce that we will become the best in the world,” says Katsube. “By announcing this, we have begun to ask ourselves and our creative partners whether the work we are doing is world class. Having this yardstick is very important.”
So far, this yardstick has proven to be hugely effective. Thanks in large part to an online campaign that took the ad world by storm, Katsube has taken a local clothing retailer that even in Japan was not considered fashionable, to a hip global brand in less than two years.
The ‘Uniqlock’ campaign, launched in 2007, swept the board at all the major award shows in the following year, picking up a shelf-full of metal, including the Cyber and Titanium Grand Prix at Cannes . The innovative, yet simple, execution still resonates with creatives around the world.
That Katsube, who spoke at Spikes Asia , should have made an impact with a digital campaign is no surprise, given his background as an advocate for web-based marketing. Working at a major Japanese bank in the earlier part of the decade, he noticed a discrepancy between online and offline marketing. The retail banking division he was assigned to employed over 300 people, mostly in sales. Only 10 people were working in online banking and yet the online business was generating over 60 per cent of the division’s earnings. With a determination to push a digital marketing agenda, Katsube joined Uniqlo in 2005. However, his banking background saw him assigned to Uniqlo’s budget management for six months. “I was very frustrated,” he says.
Katsube’s took his frustrations right to the top, engineering a face-to-face meeting with Uniqlo president Tadashi Yanai during which he pitched the potential of web and digital media. Yanai was convinced enough to set up a web team and put Katsube in charge of the brand’s online store, as well as its regular communications. Within three months, he was handling creative direction for all global communications.
Katsube’s present role at Uniqlo straddles the line between marketer and creative. “I am a Uniqlo person but at the same time, I am liaising with external creatives,” he says. “I am something of an in-between. I am in a position where I can have strong links with creative talents but at the same time can ensure that the company message is carried through.”
He is adamant that the two sides must align as a team for the good of not just the brand but the creative work itself. For the ‘Uniqlock’ campaign, for example, the company worked with an external creative director who came up with the original concept. Client and creative then worked together for almost a full year before both sides were finally satisfied.
The success of ‘Uniqlock’ and the subsequent ‘Jump’ and ‘Tokyo fashion map’ initiatives have meant Uniqlo’s star, and that of Katsube, have risen high very quickly. For any marketer, such success would be seen as a hard act to follow, but Katsube is, as usual, optimistic about the future.
On the communications front, the company recently launched the Uniqlo Calendar which Katsube believes will take the brand into new territory, particularly among female consumers. Along the way, he has targeted another Cannes Grand Prix.
But that is just the beginning. Katsube is already imagining a new communications paradigm. Not content with winning almost every creative award available, his next step could be an ingenious way to build an even stronger relationship with the best creatives. “It may sound cheeky but we want to be an organisation that can start its own award show.”
Then there is the larger picture. Katsube's biggest idea is not a dancing clock or an interactive calendar, however. Asked what he considers most important objective for Uniqlo's marketing communications, he is quick to respond. "Making the world a better place."
Kentaro Katsube’s CV
2008 Creative management director, global communications, Uniqlo
2005 Manager, web marketing, Uniqlo
2001 Manager of marketing, Shinsei Bank
1999 Staff member, marketing, Mercedes-Benz, Japan
1998 Staff member, corporate finance long-term credit, Bank of Japan
This article was originally published in 24 September 2009 issue of Media.
Such a lofty outlook could be interpreted as arrogance, but in Katsube’s case this couldn’t be further off the mark. His attitude is more optimism than self-importance. This is a man, after all, who says that his habit on waking every morning is to remind himself to smile.
“You may think it absurd, but it is important that we announce that we will become the best in the world,” says Katsube. “By announcing this, we have begun to ask ourselves and our creative partners whether the work we are doing is world class. Having this yardstick is very important.”
So far, this yardstick has proven to be hugely effective. Thanks in large part to an online campaign that took the ad world by storm, Katsube has taken a local clothing retailer that even in Japan was not considered fashionable, to a hip global brand in less than two years.
The ‘Uniqlock’ campaign, launched in 2007, swept the board at all the major award shows in the following year, picking up a shelf-full of metal, including the Cyber and Titanium Grand Prix at Cannes . The innovative, yet simple, execution still resonates with creatives around the world.
That Katsube, who spoke at Spikes Asia , should have made an impact with a digital campaign is no surprise, given his background as an advocate for web-based marketing. Working at a major Japanese bank in the earlier part of the decade, he noticed a discrepancy between online and offline marketing. The retail banking division he was assigned to employed over 300 people, mostly in sales. Only 10 people were working in online banking and yet the online business was generating over 60 per cent of the division’s earnings. With a determination to push a digital marketing agenda, Katsube joined Uniqlo in 2005. However, his banking background saw him assigned to Uniqlo’s budget management for six months. “I was very frustrated,” he says.
Katsube’s took his frustrations right to the top, engineering a face-to-face meeting with Uniqlo president Tadashi Yanai during which he pitched the potential of web and digital media. Yanai was convinced enough to set up a web team and put Katsube in charge of the brand’s online store, as well as its regular communications. Within three months, he was handling creative direction for all global communications.
Katsube’s present role at Uniqlo straddles the line between marketer and creative. “I am a Uniqlo person but at the same time, I am liaising with external creatives,” he says. “I am something of an in-between. I am in a position where I can have strong links with creative talents but at the same time can ensure that the company message is carried through.”
He is adamant that the two sides must align as a team for the good of not just the brand but the creative work itself. For the ‘Uniqlock’ campaign, for example, the company worked with an external creative director who came up with the original concept. Client and creative then worked together for almost a full year before both sides were finally satisfied.
The success of ‘Uniqlock’ and the subsequent ‘Jump’ and ‘Tokyo fashion map’ initiatives have meant Uniqlo’s star, and that of Katsube, have risen high very quickly. For any marketer, such success would be seen as a hard act to follow, but Katsube is, as usual, optimistic about the future.
On the communications front, the company recently launched the Uniqlo Calendar which Katsube believes will take the brand into new territory, particularly among female consumers. Along the way, he has targeted another Cannes Grand Prix.
But that is just the beginning. Katsube is already imagining a new communications paradigm. Not content with winning almost every creative award available, his next step could be an ingenious way to build an even stronger relationship with the best creatives. “It may sound cheeky but we want to be an organisation that can start its own award show.”
Then there is the larger picture. Katsube's biggest idea is not a dancing clock or an interactive calendar, however. Asked what he considers most important objective for Uniqlo's marketing communications, he is quick to respond. "Making the world a better place."
Kentaro Katsube’s CV
2008 Creative management director, global communications, Uniqlo
2005 Manager, web marketing, Uniqlo
2001 Manager of marketing, Shinsei Bank
1999 Staff member, marketing, Mercedes-Benz, Japan
1998 Staff member, corporate finance long-term credit, Bank of Japan
This article was originally published in 24 September 2009 issue of Media.
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