ad-Media
Brand management
Andreas Dannenberg
In the early 1980s, a young German man with a passion for photography spent eight months in China. Andreas Dannenberg, who studied design and photography in Germany and the U.S., recalls it was an intense experience, but his devotion paid off – his photos were published in many publications. Then in 1984, Dannenberg decided to visit Japan and discovered he had another passion – a desire to start his own business.
In 1987, he founded Ad-media, an advertising company. Twenty years on, Dannenberg has grown his company into the Ad-comm group, a holding company that operates eight subsidiaries – Ad-media, Trimedia, CyberMedia, Ad-event, Brand Vision, Capital IR, Ad-equity and Ad-med. As president and CEO, Dannenberg oversees about 100 staff, keeping his finger on the pulse of the group’s myriad operations. Besides Tokyo, Ad-comm now has offices in Los Angeles, New York, Hong Kong and Singapore.
Dannenberg takes time out to chat with Japan Today editor Chris Betros about Ad-comm’s world.
What was the China experience like in the early days?
China was opening up and it was an intense 8 1/2 months. After returning from the mainland, I stayed at a YMCA in Hong Kong. I couldn’t even afford to develop all my films. One day, a gentleman who I had met in China on numerous occasions saw my photos and recommended them to his publisher in New York. He was writing a guidebook to China. They bought the Asian rights to my photos. That put me back afloat and enabled me to come to Japan where my creative career took off within six months.
How did Ad-media get established?
In 1987, after a short time with Dentsu, I founded Ad-media as a creative house. Photography was the base of the business. I had worked on a campaign for Nissan and was confident I could do advertising and PR. I gained Givenchy and a few other clients. After that, we acquired our independent PR agency Trimedia, which became the foundation of our multi-brand communication services group.
This being your 20th anniversary, has it been a good year?
It has. We are now a group of nine companies and they are all profitable.
Are they all separate companies?
Yes. Ad-comm is the holding company, the back office providing IT, admin, HR. We are all in same building.
How do you keep your finger on the pulse of all the companies?
When you build them from zero, you have a strong intuitive feeling about how each company is doing. It’s like if you have a number of children; you know what they are like, if one is ill or not. Sometimes, I can tell from just a chat in the elevator with senior staff or a phone call how things are going.
Where do you see future opportunities?
In the overall growth and further strengthening of each company and enhancing the inevitable synergies. In particular, I would like to point out two areas. Firstly, our effort to redefine pharma and healthcare communication in Japan through our youngest group member Ad-med. We have assembled a Triple A team of pharma specialists who, in collaboration with all our group companies, have created a unique proposition in the market.
Secondly, corporate Japan is in desperate need of proper IR services. So far in Japan, that has consisted of turning out annual reports and not much more. The sort of IR consulting and high-end services that you get in Europe and the U.S. are not known here. Big Japanese companies often have internal turf wars and it is very hard to make IR work.
What about PR?
Public relations in Japan lags behind the world and it is both a challenge and opportunity for us. Large Japanese corporations prefer to do PR in house and generally they don’t do it very well. They are blissfully ignorant and don’t even know that they are not doing it well. The cause of this is the constant rotation of PR department management which is still typical in Japan.
Finding qualified people must be a big challenge for you.
It has been a challenge to find and retain qualified staff, more so with Japanese than foreigners. There is very little proper training at Japanese universities and when they graduate, they don’t have the same basic skill set that they would have if they had studied marketing at an overseas university. So you have to train them.
How many staff do you have?
In total, we have about 100. Of that, 80% are Japanese.
What percentage of your clients are foreign companies?
About two-thirds.
How do you market yourselves?
In this business, networking and word of mouth are the best marketing methods for us. It is good to be known for quality work.
What is doing a good job in PR?
Good PR is better evaluated over a time span. The key is to clearly define the messages that need to be communicated first, then deliver those messages through different channels all designed to create that overall image. Of course, this is Japan and sometimes the stars align themselves and things fall into place.
Where do you see Ad-comm on its 40th anniversary?
The structure is in place to grow each of the companies. We will possibly be in more cities abroad, including a European office.
Is it stressful owning a company in Japan?
I’m used to it after 20 years. But it can be lonely at the top, making that final decision on many vital issues. On the other hand, you can get something done quickly.
What is your management style?
Many Japanese companies prolong the period from something going wrong to it being noticed and that’s why we are seeing a lot of scandals now. With us, I make sure that every problem is put on the table. I am strict about that. The best way to enforce that is for me to be constantly looking at the numbers. It’s very important to sustain the businesses’ financial health. That requires me to watch the back end. In day-to-day work, I find that one-on-one meetings with staff tend to be more fulfilling. The down side is that there are only 24 hours in a day. Sometimes, a client might call unexpectedly and keep me on the phone for 20 minutes. Of course, I am happy to talk to them, but meanwhile, two meetings that were scheduled are getting delayed. I really appreciate a morning when I can get by without a meeting, but that’s usually only on weekends.
What is a typical day for you?
I show up around 9:30. But I do emails at home for an hour or so before I go to the office. I do a lot of networking, meeting clients and so on to keep our business relationships going. I try and leave the office between 7 and 8. Four nights a week are going out because wining and dining is part of the job, although I’d like to cut back on it. I am getting an exercise machine at home because the gym isn’t open at the times I need it.
Do you know all your staff by name?
Yes, but I’m not sure if they all know me. One time we had a part-time receptionist and I called in and she asked me to spell my name. That was indeed funny.
Do you still have a passion for photography?
I love photography but don’t do it much myself anymore. It’s mainly a time issue. However, with creative campaigns, I select photographers and give very precise directions and they take it from there. I keep my hand in that way.
What sort of things frustrate you about doing business in Japan?
Despite knowing better, there are strong behavioral patterns that Japanese find hard to step out of. Sometimes, I wish I could just say to them: “It’s not that difficult. Here is A and there is B. Now go straight.”
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