On talking toilets and a worldwide idea factory
Five of the world’s best-known Japanese creatives came together to form a new agency called Party in 2011. Part ad agency, part experimental lab, it focuses on experimentation and the rapid prototyping of new products and interactive experiences.
On April 21, Party partner and creative director Qanta Shimizu – whose work for brands like Toyota, Sony and Uniqlo has picked more than 20 Canne Lions – is speaking at FITC in Toronto. Marketing spoke to Shimizu ahead of his talk about the line between advertising and art, what it means to be a “creative lab,” and why Party created a talking toilet.
Party is a “Creative Lab,” not an agency. What’s the difference?
That’s right. Of course sometimes we work like an advertising agency, but we frequently produce our own projects, too. Our role is: “Think, Make, Share.” At FITC, I will talk about how engineering worked in several experimental projects, as I [previously] did in Tokyo. I will talk about several prototypes and demonstrate them in the presentation, and talk about direction, and producing future services.
At its inception, Party brought together five of Japan’s top creative talents, like a rock ‘n roll super group but in the ad world. Two years in, are you glad you took the chance on starting your own agency?
Yes. We’re glad to have partnership like this. Everyday is exciting. We’re enjoying discussing, producing and directing and developing [creative] together! Unfortunately, Mori (Masanori Mori, formally the president) quit Party. There was a difference of opinion about working style, so we’re now four. But these four people are specialists in developing innovative things and we’re going to produce more exciting stuff.
One of your more famous creations is a talking toilet. How did you end up making that?
At first, Hiroki Nakamura, our partner, received a brief to add innovative images on the brand, TOTO, a toilet manufacturer. Then he
Then we came up with such a crazy idea and prototyped several things. Finally we attached a complicated motor system that was connected to Text-to-speech API on the toilet and made it talk.
You work on some advertising projects, but also do work in non-advertising categories. Tell me about how you create that mix of work.
It’s natural for us. We always like interesting briefs or interesting conditions. And of course, our aim is thinking and making something exciting as a prototype for the future. So we don’t hesitate to invest our time and money into our own innovative but non-profit ideas.
Lots of the work Party does aims to blur the lines between art and advertising. How do you see the two disciplines merging in the future?
Right now they’re already on the way to be merged. Many, many amateur creators create exciting things and share them on SNS or YouTube. People who work in advertising have to compete with them, because the users are not conscious whether the content is made by professionals or not. Actually, advertising is going to be art.
You started out as a programmer. What led you to the world of advertising and design?
I started my career as a flash developer in 2006. At that time, advertising on the internet was quite an innovative field for flash developers. We could develop new expressions and new interactions for businesses. While I was developing, I happened to be involved in the planning phase of advertising. That was quite an interesting world for me. Planning the structure of a story is an entertaining job.
You’ve spoken before about keeping Party independent rather than looking to a global holding company for financial backing or an acquisition. Do you still think it’s best for Party to remain independent?
Exactly. Independence makes us free and freedom of creativity is the most important thing for the future, because many skilled amateur creators work freely. We have to compete with them.
You have offices in Tokyo and New York. Are you considering further expansion, or do you want to keep Party small and agile?
We’re considering expansion. We want to make a technological factory for rapid prototyping and rapid experimenting. If our company becomes bigger, I believe this plan will help us to gain agility.
