Naoki Nishimura and Tadashi Inoue Join Publicis Groupe Japan as ECDs

Publicis Groupe Japan has announced that Naoki Nishimura and Tadashi Inoue have been appointed as executive creative directors.

Naoki Nishimura has spent his entire career at Beacon Communications, rising through the ranks to become one of the creative cornerstones of the agency. His client portfolio through the years has spanned automotive, luxury, and retail – including global names such as Philip Morris, P&G, McDonald’s, BMW MINI, Samsung, TOSHIBA, ASICS and Heineken. In 2009, he was awarded a Cannes Lions Grand Prix for his work on Yubari City Campaign. He also works on integrated campaigns and is instrumental in the creative work that shapes client messaging, content and visual executions through various platforms. Naoki was promoted to executive creative director of Beacon Communications in April 2019.

Tadashi Inoue established his career as an art director at Leo Burnett, the predecessor of Beacon Communications. He then worked for J. Walter Thompson Japan from 2003 to 2005 before returning to Beacon in 2005 as a creative director. He has worked with global clients such as McDonald’s, P&G, AXA, Sanofi and Pfizer, etc. Last year, one of the McDonald’s campaigns won wide worldwide recognition with more than 18 awards, including a Gold at AdFest, a Silver and three Bronzes at Spikes Asia and a Silver at London International Awards. Inoue was also named “Feel Good Agency Partner” at the 2018 McDonald’s Marketing Awards. In April 2019, he was promoted to executive creative director of the McDonald’s team. 

In addition to Naoki and Tadashi, Ron Smith continues in his role as executive creative director for global brands. Luciana Cani joined Publicis Groupe Japan in January as executive creative director for Saatchi & Saatchi. These four executive creative directors will support Erick Rosa, the company's chief creative officer, as a member of the newly formed Creative Steering Committee.

Floriane Tripolino, chief executive officer, explained the promotion and organisational change as follows: “The objective of the promotions and hires are to identify leaders for the different entities represented within Publicis Groupe in Japan. The role of this newly formed committee will be to accompany our creative talents to transform and scale up new capabilities such as dynamic creative optimisation and content Factory, for which clients’ appetite is growing, while keeping creativity at the core of everything we do to maximise the positive impact of our idea-driven solutions on the business of our clients.”

Erick Rosa, chief creative officer of Publicis Groupe Japan said, “I am very happy that both Nishimura and Inoue have been promoted to ECD, a testament to their leadership skills and the work they deliver day in day out. Together with Ron and Luciana, I believe we have the right team to service our clients and to continue to lead Publicis Groupe in the years to come.”