Beacon Japan’s Yuko Nakajima on the joy of being surrounded by ideas flying around the room

Last year was a big year for Yuko Nakajima, who was a winner at the Osaka Copywriting Club awards and contributed to one of the most recalled commercials of the year in Japan. She told Campaign Brief Asia about her role at Beacon Japan and why she chose a career in copywriting.

Nakajima grew up moving between the United States, Uzbekistan and Ukraine before moving back to Japan and joining Beacon Communications as a copywriter in 2018.

Last year, she was involved in creating one of Japan’s most recalled commercials of the year, Haribo’s ‘Sumo’ campaign, which scored a coveted “Commercials that Moved Consumers, 2021” title from the CM Index Brand of the Year Awards. Nakajima also won the Osaka Copywriting Club Award 2021 as well as Gold at the 2021 61st ACC Tokyo Creativity Awards.

You’ve lived in the US, Uzbekistan and Ukraine before you moved to Tokyo. How has living in such different countries shaped your talents as a creative?
When I was seven my father, who was a diplomat, was transferred to Houston, Texas. I went to a local elementary school but couldn’t speak any English at first. It’s likely that through my desperate attempts to express my thoughts and feelings, I came to understand the importance of conveying to and communicating with people. I spent 6 years in Uzbekistan and Ukraine where I attended international schools, surrounded by students of different races, nationalities, cultures, religions and mindsets. Spending time with them got me to naturally accept diverse ideas and values, which has helped me to better imagine people’s mindsets today. I may also have acquired an advantage of not being afraid when faced with new challenges or environments because I’ve had to deal with so many moves and change of schools.

You’ve been working as a copywriter since 2015. What do you enjoy most about the creative writing process?
My main job is project ideation and copywriting. What’s fun about project ideations is having alone time for deep dives about the products and services but also when I’m with the team discussing ideas and strategies. It’s fun and I feel invigorated when I’m surrounded by ideas flying around the room. Someone’s unexpected comment can drastically change the direction of a strategy or lead to surprising ideas. The things that happen when people interact are small miracles!

With copywriting, I enjoy it most when I’m looking for the right words that are central to the project. Night hours come so quickly when I’m thinking about copy or video-scripts that will attract consumers so that they will be intrigued by the products and services and come to love the brand.

What can you tell us about Beacon’s creative culture?
We base our creativity on Leo Burnett’s HumanKind thinking, which is an approach that puts people’s insights and behaviors at the center. This is strongly reflected in the culture of Beacon, where we acknowledge and respect each other’s differences. We have people from many different countries here, and there are no strict hierarchical relationships, as is the case of many Japanese companies. Our management members even work at the same desks as us. Because people are fair and open-minded it creates an environment where people can easily see synergies and express their opinions in meetings.

You were part of the team behind the ‘Sumo’ campaign for HARIBO, one of Japan’s most recalled commercials of 2021. What was the brief?
The challenge was to come up with a launch TVC for Japan, basing the idea on Haribo’s already existing global campaign. Our team thought hard about how to create impact and make it relevant for the Japanese by using the setting of a sumo wrestlers’ stable. We liked the juxtaposition of the big wrestlers and small gummies creating impact and appeal, which was one of the reasons this commercial was so favored in Japan. People commented on social channels about how they love and think the commercial is cute and interesting, or how it has made them want to buy and try the product. Of the several awards granted in Japan, the one that most encouraged us most was a 2021 award for a project that led consumers to convert because it meant that our commercial contributed to the client’s business.

You have launched a team called PHAROS: what is this all about?
I got inspired to set up a new business acquisition team after attending an internal seminar last year. The seminar was for young members from our account, strategy, creative, and social teams so we could learn about business, strategy and creativity with a focus on digital. Afterwards, I consulted the management team to form an official team named PHAROS. By winning projects on our own and bringing our work to market, we will be able to accomplish our objective of boosting motivation and skills among us young team members. At the end of 2021, we proposed ideas to an existing client. It was PHAROS’s first presentation. Fortunately, they showed interest in one of our ideas and we just submitted an estimate to them.

Is it true you built a library and led the development of Beacon’s own coffee brand?
The library is called “beahon” (bea is from beacon, and hon is book in Japanese). It is an in-house library that launched in 2018. The concept is “to share wisdom” among employees. My first step was to find 15 book lovers and ask them to introduce books to the rest of our people, which anyone in the company can come and borrow.

Our former CEO came up the idea of creating our ‘original coffee’. I recruited 4 coffee-loving members to form a team. We thought it would be nice to have coffee that inspires us to have good ideas each time we enjoyed it, so under the advice of a professional coffee roaster, we selected the best blend that would provide creative inspiration. The finished coffee was named “IDEA BLEND”. Printed illustrations and messages relating to ‘ideas’ were developed by 5 different employees and selected each month.

Are female creatives still facing different stigma or pressures to male creatives in Japan?
I think more and more families, especially parents in their 20s and 30s, are sharing household chores and childcare, but from what I have heard from creative colleagues both inside and outside the company, it seems that women are bearing a much heavier burden, which seems to cause a situation where women are forced to prioritize family. Still, while I don’t think that the male-dominated tendency has been removed completely from society, that hasn’t really impacted me as a woman working in the creative field.

2021 was a difficult year for everyone, including Japan. How has it changed your priorities as a creative?
COVID has suddenly changed the situation around the world for us and for brands. When people’s lifestyles changed, it also changed how people communicate and what media they use. Having said this, OUR mission remains the same. It is to create works that make people love the brand and resolve clients’ issues.

On the personal side, since I have more time to spare working from home (no commute), I can better concentrate and think more deeply about projects than ever before.