Who is Taro Saito?

Currently in his 13th year running dof Inc., a company specializing in communication design, Taro Saito founded the company inspired by the thought, “It would be a waste for such a talented person to retire!” when Yukio Oshima, a creative director (CD) who represents Japan’s advertising industry and with whom he worked at Dentsu, reached retirement age. The company initially started as a group company under Dentsu, but in order to be a company that is needed and relied on, he decided to take a risk and became independent. That was four and a half years ago. One reason behind this decision may be related to his two very curious grandfathers, who are part of his roots. On his father’s side, his grandfather was one of the founding members of Toyota Motor Corporation, and on his mother’s side, his grandfather was one of the founders of Koike Sanso Kogyo Co., Ltd., a company listed on the 2nd Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange. He feels a deep sense of respect and importance for the fact that the companies they were involved with continue to thrive to this day.

To digress a bit, both of his grandfathers were remarkably fond of traveling. Particularly his paternal grandfather, who, due to his job, sought out automotive-related information from all over the world and had visited almost every country. Back then, getting to a leading automotive country like Italy involved an unimaginable number of connections: flying from Tokyo to Fukuoka, then Fukuoka to Okinawa, Okinawa to Shanghai, then through Thailand, India, and the Middle East before finally arriving in Rome. The journey was so long that once he left, he wouldn’t return for about two months. I believe he even wrote a book titled “The Earth is Round” (laughs). His love for travel extended so far that about 40 years ago, he joined an Antarctic wintering team at the Showa Station for a month and brought back glacial ice from tens of thousands of years ago, which he used to drink alcohol. Perhaps my restless nature stems from them.

Axis of Relative Evaluation

I often travel, including taking my children to developing countries. I believe it is important to see how things compare with those around us because humans are creatures of relative evaluation. If you stay in the same place for too long, you become dull. That’s why I think it’s necessary to change locations and perspectives as a way of challenging myself. For better or worse, Japan today, where we live, is always in a “Galapagos state.” Everything is clean and well-organized, which in some ways creates a unique situation. Here, we can feel joy or distress over our daily lives. But when you experience completely different joys and sorrows in a developing country, you realize, “The world is vast,” and “My worries aren’t that significant,” allowing you to regain true balance in your heart.

Even without traveling, you can change your axis by expanding your world from just your family to school, work, people outside your company, people in completely different jobs, and people from countries other than Japan. Also, I believe that the amount of output is determined by the amount of input. Even now, at the age of 45, I feel that as long as I have the power to absorb, I must continue to take in new things. I make it a point to actively engage with those who have such power. “Staying young” means being eager, regardless of age. In other words, as long as you can maintain a greedy power, you can stay young. There are still so many things in this world that we haven’t seen yet.

Why Taro Saito and dof Continue to Succeed

Campaigns Managed as a Communication Designer

I work in the field of “communication design,” but it’s a rather hard-to-understand concept! (laughs). On the official website, the focus is mainly on showcasing the work we’ve output, so I often hear comments like, “You do some really cool work,” or “Is your company one that makes commercials?” In reality, there’s much more to it, so let me delve a bit deeper.

My career path within the industry is somewhat unconventional. During my time at Dentsu, I experienced 1. media buying and 2. sales (as a producer), and after founding my company, I’ve been involved in 3. creative/communication design and 4. management. I think I might be the only one in Japan who has experience across these four areas. This allows me to approach the various challenges in the marketing field with a vertically integrated perspective, understanding them from the viewpoints of the client, agency, and management.

Leveraging this strength, I start with consultations to identify the client’s true challenges and then work together with them all the way through to the final output. When a client says, “We want to do a TV commercial,” “We want to create a website,” or “We want you to come up with a brand slogan,” I often begin by questioning whether that approach is truly the most optimal one. I’m quick at visualizing where each option might lead at the initial decision point. The reason why this is possible is because dof doesn’t have anything that it needs to sell. This allows us to think about the best overall solution without being swayed by external circumstances.

Breaking Free from “dof = Taro Saito” and the Future Ahead

So, how do we actually work? I believe that the reason we’ve been able to work on so many enjoyable projects so far is largely due to the fact that Yukio Oshima, a creative director with numerous achievements who represents the advertising industry, and many others are familiar with my work. However, both the advertising industry and the world are changing at an incredible pace, so I strongly feel the need to further elevate our company’s methods and approach.

My ideal company would be a company where each individual, equipped with various abilities, can succeed on their own merits, regardless of their business card or reputation. My image is the “Mountain Liangshan” from the “Outlaws of the Marsh.” This stems from my observation that in this industry, it is common for a single genius to be supported by their staff, and when that key creative or artist is no longer present, the company’s vitality often fades.

I believe that the employees at dof will be able to thrive anywhere, even without me. However, the time will eventually come when I step down from the front lines, and at that point, I cannot neglect creating a system and organization that allows the employees to continue working seamlessly. Otherwise, there would be no meaning in working within a company structure, and it would be irresponsible of me as a president.

That’s why I want to dismantle the notion of “dof = Taro Saito” as quickly as possible. I aim to increase the reproducibility of success for the company as a whole.

Even if someone I don’t know at all takes over the reins, I want dof to be a company that people are glad that it exists. The company is one of my outputs, and more than anything, I believe that the fact that the company continues to contribute to society even 100 years from now would be an incredible creation.

July 2017, at dof Inc. Translated by ILI Inc.