The Nikkei Weekly Interview [Japan Business News]

Bob gives us a rare look at the struggles and triumphs of Japanese companies who are trying to communicate effectively to non-Japanese audiences. Many are taking grassroots marketing seriously for the first time. Many are trying to find ways to get past their normal ‘top-down’ information style.
One quote tells a lot of the story: “…there’s a ‘generation gap’ in Japan and a lot of the younger executives -- who through the rotation system spent some time in Europe or the United States -- can see the power of marketing, the power of new ideas in public relations, to move people, to create markets and to create a buzz where none existed before.

Now they are assigned overseas, but they come home to Japan, where we have had domination of marketing by the Dentsu model, where advertising and the power of advertisers has been far more important and controlling than the earned media coverage that public relations people undertake on behalf of clients.