Younger executives – and in Japan that means under 50 – at Hakuhodo, Japan’s #2 agency have been chafing at the company’s geriatric management in recent years. They have envied Dentsu’s vigor in pursuing international goals, developing Internet business opportunities, and restructuring its mammoth organization. In contrast, Hakuhodo was failing to grasp new opportunities, many felt. And so there were hopes for a rejuvenated management when rumors began to circle that the agency’s 67-year-old president Takashi Shoji would be retiring this February. But hopes for a new leader from a post WWII generation were dashed when the agency announced mid-January that Shoji would become chairman and that 63-year-old Executive Vice President Toshio Miyagawa would be the new president from February 25^th.  Ultimate oversight of the agency continues to rest with 80 year old Michitaka Kondo, a former president and also a grand master of the Japanese tea ceremony, who controls about 55% of the agency’s equity via his roles as Chairman of the Hakuhodo Institute of Life and Living and of the Hakuho Foundation.

Commenting on the changes, Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Japan’s leading business newspaper remarked: ‘Hakuhodo has seen revenue and profit fall over the last two fiscal years. The new president will need to improve the firm's competitiveness to face foreign rivals and prepare for its planned listing on the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange in 2004. Having dealt with daunting tasks such as restoring soured client relations; Miyagawa's motto is to keep a cool head and a warm heart. He views difficulties as godsends spurring Hakuhodo to growth.’

Dentsu’s management are also spurring for growth. Officially their motto is ‘Communications Excellence Dentsu,’ but a less official rendition might be ‘Trust in God and keep the powder dry. A Shinto shrine on the roof of their HQ and an annual pilgrimage for  nearly all the staff to the gods atop Mount Fuji help provide the spiritual resolve to underpin aggressive earthly ambitions. ‘Entrepreneurship, Professionalism, and a Global Network were the three themes of the annual new year address by their president Yutaka Narita.  According to sources, Dentsu is eyeing a significant increase in its market share in Japan. For the past decade this has hovered around 23%. Some executives now talk of this rising to 30% within the next couple of years. In the past, competition from Hakuhodo, and the attitudes of both clients and media companies have gently restrained Dentsu’s share growth in Japan. But now, in the words of executives from two other leading agencies, ‘Nothing stands in Dentsu’s way; they no longer have a strong competitor in Japan. Even Asatsu, Japan’s #3 agency waits for Dentsu to set the agenda for Japan’s advertising industry and then grows by following that lead with more determination than the rest of the herd.