Hakuhodo Inc., (Hakuhodo), one of Japan’s leading advertising agencies, and TBWA Worldwide (TBWA), one of the major global advertising groups, today announced that they have agreed to establish a new joint venture company in Japan, TBWA\HAKUHODO. The joint venture will combine the existing agencies of TBWA\TOKYO (40%) and HAKUHODO\G1 (60%), the Hakuhodo subsidiary servicing Nissan. Drawing on Hakuhodo’s wealth of Japanese market experience and know-how and TBWA’s international network and global account management expertise, the new agency will provide value-added solutions to existing and potential clients from both agencies. 

TBWA\HAKUHODO is expected to commence operations on July 1, 2006 and will initially have approximately 300 employees. Hiroshi Ochiai (55), currently President & CEO of HAKUHODO\G1, will be CEO, while Gary Wenzel (54), currently President & CEO of TBWA\TOKYO will adopt the role of COO. 

Hakuhodo and TBWA have a 16-year history of working together in a relationship which began in Europe in 1990 to handle the Nissan Europe business. In March 2000 the two agencies established a joint venture agency, G1 Worldwide, to support the global branding activities of Nissan. 

TBWA Worldwide clients, including Nissan, adidas, Masterfoods, and Haagen Dazs, who have been working with TBWA\TOKYO, will have their Japan businesses handled by the new entity as of July1. The agency and its clients will also have access to TBWA’s other group companies in Japan including Tequila, J-Focus, and E-Graphics as well as to Hakuhodo’s other group companies. 

The decision to create a new agency reflects the fact that Japanese companies continue to aggressively develop their global operations and, as a result, require branding solutions of international quality and scale. At the same time, foreign companies entering the Japanese market aim to combine their global approach with local expertise and know-how. TBWA\HAKUHODO will be ideally positioned to provide unique global advertising solutions to meet these client needs. 

Hiroshi Ochiai said, “Hakuhodo and TBWA have worked together since the two companies established the joint venture company in March 2000. With its ability to combine Hakuhodo’s ‘sei-katsu-sha’ and ‘partnership’ based creative capabilities and planning competencies in the sphere of media and promotions together with TBWA’s global expertise and unique ‘Disruption’ planning methodology, the new company will offer clients further enhanced services. Our greatest commitment is to our partner clients, whom we will provide the kind of bold and novel global-quality ideas that only come from an environment where free and considered thinking are actively encouraged. We will provide the fresh perspectives and suggestions on advertising in traditional and new media that our clients are looking for, working hand in hand with them to take on the challenges of the future. Our clients want to create a better future. Our mission is to help them create that still unseen future, while building strong relationships based on trust.” 

Gary Wenzel added, “This is a people business. Several of us on the new management team have worked together for a number of years, through our G1 relationship. We have great respect for each other, and we share the same vision and values for our exciting new venture. TBWA will bring to the new venture its ‘Disruption’ philosophy and the powerful analytic tools that TBWA has developed around it worldwide, which have helped us see significant success, winning international recognition for our creative efforts on behalf of clients such as adidas. Together with Hakuhodo’s creative excellence and strong media capabilities, TBWA\HAKUHODO will be able to provide its clients with solutions that help them achieve a larger share of the future in Japan. TBWA╲HAKUHODO will be something very different and very special in this market.” 

About Hakuhodo Inc. 

Founded in 1895, Hakuhodo Inc. (www.hakuhodo.jp) is the second largest advertising company in Japan, and the ninth largest core agency in the world according to Advertising Age’s agency report 2005. Today, innovation and creativity are still at the heart of its operations. Hakuhodo shares with its clients an unmatched depth of knowledge about the relationship between people and brands – knowledge that has grown from the concept of sei-katsu-sha (“consumers with a heartbeat”) which we pioneered in advertising. Through its global network, Hakuhodo provides comprehensive marketing and communications services and solutions for some of the best-known brands in the world. Hakuhodo has 67 offices in 16 countries/regions, and approximately 5,000 employees. 
 
Sei-katsu-sha insight is the foundation for our thinking, planning, and building of brands. It reminds us that consumers are more than shoppers performing an economic function. They have heartbeats. They are individuals with distinct lifestyles. Hakuhodo introduced this term in the 1980s to emphasize our commitment to a comprehensive, 360-degree perspective on consumers’ lives. 

Hakuhodo is one of three advertising agencies under the umbrella of Hakuhodo DY Holdings Inc. (TSE: 2433) a holding company which was established in 2003 through the management integration of Hakuhodo Inc., Daiko Advertising Inc. and Yomiko Advertising Inc. Hakuhodo DY Holdings Inc. was listed on the first section of Tokyo Stock Exchange in 2005. 

G1 Worldwide was established by Hakuhodo and TBWA in March 2000 to support Nissan’s global branding. HAKUHODO/G1, a fully-owned subsidiary of Hakuhodo formed at the same time, provides services principally in the Japanese market.

About TBWA 

TBWA Worldwide, Advertising Age magazine’s 2004 Global Agency Network of the Year, is one of the world’s fastest growing top ten agency networks. Drawing on its philosophy of creating disruptive ideas for global clients, TBWA’s work has been recognized through numerous awards: TBWA was recognized as Most Awarded Agency Network in the World by The Gunn Report; TBWA╲ was recognized in 2005, as the most awarded network at the Clio Awards, for the second year in a row, and as the most awarded network at Cannes, The One Show and AdFest; TBWA╲ Asia Pacific was recently named Media’s Agency of the Year for the second consecutive year. TBWA has 239 offices in 75 countries, and approximately 8,300 employees worldwide. 

TBWA╲TOKYO is TBWA’s principal advertising agency in Japan. It has been part of the TBWA network since it was established through acquisition in 1998. TBWA╲TOKYO is recognized on the world creative stage, having contributed its share of creative awards and industry accolades to help bolster TBWA’s creative reputation, not only in the Asia Pacific region, but globally. 

As TBWA’s core collective operating philosophy, Disruption is a working methodology, a tool for change, and an agent of growth for clients. It is the art of asking better questions, challenging conventional wisdom and overturning assumptions and prejudices that get in the way of imagining new possibilities and visionary ideas that help create a larger share of the future for a brand or business. Clients have embraced the methodology, have discussed its communications efficacy in the press, and are applying Disruption to other areas of their businesses. 

TBWA Worldwide is a part of Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE: OMC), a leading global advertising, marketing and corporate communications company. Omnicom's branded 
advertising agency networks and numerous specialty firms provide advertising, strategic counsel, media planning and buying, direct, and promotional marketing, public relations and other specialty communications services.