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JURIES : REI INAMOTO: “ONE KEY SHIFT MOVING FORWARD WILL BE FROM USP TO POV”
Rei Inamoto has been called one of the great minds in advertising by Forbes. He calls himself a creative futurist, entrepreneur and Founding Partner of I&CO. Inamoto’s unusual combination of background in design, product development and technology brings a unique perspective to his work and for eleven years until 2015, AKQA was the beneficiary.
Inamoto became the founding partner of global innovation firm, I&Co, in October 2015, and began “crafting products, services and ventures that impact the future”. Uniqlo IQ, Audible Sleep, Toyota Woven City, TCHOP Taste Chasers Club and Style Hint are impacting the future through I&CO’s ideas.
Inamoto shared his ideas about what it takes to run a successful creative business and make effective campaigns, the tussle between aesthetics vs functionality and how he nurtures his own creativity. But first, an insight into the challenge of going out on your own:
Where did that bravery come from to launch I&Co. What was the thinking behind it?
Rei Inamoto: I had been thinking about going out on my own since my twenties. Back then, I didn’t think I had enough experience, work, or network to do so.
In my thirties, I gained quite a bit of experience and confidence. Also, around 2010, I started to notice a tectonic shift in our industry and I thought agencies, particularly advertising agencies, would struggle to survive. I felt that I needed to carve my own path.
Working at a big, public corporation, one is often at the mercy of quarterly earnings and shareholders often and that becomes the vein of one’s existence. Not every big company is that way, of course, but having being in that seat, I also felt I had very little control of my destiny.
And last but not least, I wanted to do something that could make a difference in the industry and the world. One example that I used to cite is El Bulli, a gastronomy restaurant in Spain that was famous for its innovative approach. It not only existed as a restaurant but also as a thought leader in the culinary industry.
By going out on my own, I believe I could achieve these things. I still believe that.
22 March, 2024
