Shaw departs his role as head of planning at BBH Japan, while Maezawa leaves Nike after 10 years, most recently as brand director, to become founding partners of the Naked Tokyo operation.
Shaw confirmed that the agency’s anchor clients would be Sony and Coca-Cola, and also pointed to Japan’s media landscape as offering real opportunities for Naked’s flexible model. “Unless you are able to change your business model to work with different communications companies that work here, I feel that new business will always be limited,” said Shaw. “What excites me the most is we have the freedom to engage all sorts of companies and partners.”
Shaw also noted that Naked’s offering is timely, given the loosening of Japan’s tightly-protected traditional media landscape.
“The old media model is starting to open up for the first time,” he said.
“Dentsu, Hakuhodo and Asatsu realise there is a very strong need to have a holistic view of different media channels.”
Shaw added that Naked Tokyo would hope to replicate the success enjoyed by Naked’s Australia operation, which was launched in 2004.
The Tokyo rollout comes as Naked global CEO Nigel Long confirmed that the company is actively looking to launch in China.
Long declined to comment on which clients would drive Naked China, but it is well-known that Naked enjoys a solid global relationship with the likes of Nokia, Coca-Cola, Johnson & Johnson and Unilever.
“Getting a global footprint is not only desirable, but also necessary, so we can service clients,” said Long.
“Clients see value in what we can add. ”
Earlier this year, Naked hired former Lowe head of strategy Neil Cotton on a short-term contract to lead its Asia launch in earnest.
