Shiseido hires R/GA in Tokyo as it seeks transformation

Shiseido has appointed R/GA Tokyo as one its agencies as it looks to innovate its approach to business and communications.

The Japanese cosmetics brand has installed a five-person team from R/GA, led by Mark Lloyd-Ruck, associate creative director for user experience, in its creative division.

The other members include a creative technology director, a senior producer, a software engineer and a design director. Jim Moffatt, R/GA’s EVP for Asia-Pacific, said the team was focusing on developing new experiences and services for corporate events.

Naomi Yamamoto, chief creative officer at Shiseido, said that embedding the team in the company would enable better collaboration than would be possible by following the more traditional process of simply assigning briefs to the agency as an external supplier.

Yamamoto said the R/GA members were “an integral part of the Shiseido creative team”.

“Ultimately, the goal is to cultivate new ways of working, thinking and collaborating; to create a new working style altogether,” she said. She said the scope of the work went “beyond just crafting creative work”.

Moffatt said that as well as working to create innovative experiences, products and services for Shiseido consumers, R/GA would try to engender a faster-paced, more collaborative working style in the company.

In an interview with Campaign last year, Yamamoto said digital and social channels had raised the volume of creative output required dramatically.

She said Shiseido aims to transform itself into a “truly global company”. According to reports, the company is due to make English its official language this year to make communication between offices more efficient.

The company also aims to become digital-centric, which means adopting a “whole new mindset”, she said, adding that she believes the creative department has the potential to inspire and influence every function in achieving that goal.