home / about us / History of PAOS:the 1980s

History of PAOS:the 1980s

  • History of PAOS:the 1960s
  • the 1970s
  • the 1980s
  • the 1990s
  • the 2000s

PAOS moves forward (representative examples of work and research developments):the 1980s

'80

1980-1992
The founding of PAOS New York

PAOS set up a satellite office in New York at the request of Hiroyuki KOMATSU, one of its founding members. Joshua Marcus was installed as the company's representative and went on to develop his own ventures. The office served as a base for information-gathering activities and provided a range of services to Japanese clients, achieving significant results in supporting the establishment of local subsidiaries. However, it proved difficult for Japanese to get involved in the issue of identity, an essential factor in the management of US corporations, and the office was shutdown in 1992.
PAOS did however, succeed in gaining valuable experience through this venture and it led to the formation of a network of contacts.

1980 onwards
The Bridgestone challenge: developing an authentic CI for a company seeking to become a global leader

PAOS was retained by the tire manufacturer, Bridgestone, in 1979 with a request to "introduce CI in commemoration of fifty years in business". PAOS undertook a multidimensional analysis of what was already a leading blue-chip company with a strong awareness of (the importance of) corporate communication so as to confirm the "goals" underpinning the project's inception, and delivered a CI target proposal to the executive board that went way beyond visual image. This led to the development of the concept of "Bridgestone is expanding, across the globe and into people's lives". The ultimate aim of the CI project was to establish a wide-ranging corporate image that would familiarize people the world over with the BRIDGESTONE brand image, transform the company into the world's leading tire manufacturer (it was ranked sixth at the time) and allow Bridgestone to retain its unshakable lead in the domestic tire market whilst expanding into and succeeding in other areas, including sports. To accomplish this, the first task was to give the company's image an edge that would then serve to drive its business forward. Parallel to this, precedence was also given to a structural approach in creating a system that would enable the Tokyo head office to exert control over its brand image throughout the world.

'81

1981 onwards
KENWOOD: a mythological success for CI

One day towards the end of 1980, the PAOS office was visited by two corporate identity executives from Trio Corporation (now Kenwood). They asked us to examine and give our views on a logo they'd designed in-house, but were really hoping that this would be the catalyst to pull them out of an agonizing slump and secure their recovery. Early the following year, having informed Trio that their logo wouldn't be sufficient to the task, we received a visit from the company's president, Mr. Kazuyoshi ISHIZAKA (a former director of the Bank of Japan who was the troubleshooter brought in to revive the company) who, there and then and like a bolt from the blue, asked us to take on the job from scratch.
PAOS conducted a hasty in-depth analysis and having clarified the image marketing concept put forward a resuscitation proposal that revolved around drastic changes to both brand and design, including a new name for the corporate brand: KENWOOD. Initially, many within the company were opposed to our ideas and the management board's decision to use the KENWOOD brand name for all businesses except the car audio division was rejected as a compromise deal; with time, however, the new brand and design strategy won the hearts of young consumers, who gave it their wholehearted endorsement. The TRIO brand was withdrawn three years later and sales had doubled within five years, and the company's astronomical growth continued, even after it had officially assumed the Kenwood Corporation trade name.

'83

1983 onwards
INAX: CI as corporate cultural revolution

The INAX project, which sprung from an inconsequential request to "assess the Ina Seito trade name", was to become our most diverse CI assignment encompassing corporate and managerial reform and spanning a ten-year period. It also went on to be taught as a case study in "representative Japanese-style CI" at 400 business schools in the US. Behind any success as dynamic as this one there is always a manager making superlative decisions, and in this case, that role fell to Mr. Teruzo INA, the company's visionary president (now honorary chairman) without whom this epoch-making and illustrious project would never have got off the ground.
The bold step of changing the company's name was one thing, but what really gave this CI project its star quality and generated such synergetic and synthetic results was the seven-pronged strategy for groundbreaking reform that included establishing a new corporate vision, developing new businesses and transforming the company into a developmental leader. The transformation of INAX' plumbing fixture business, which essentially involved throwing down the gauntlet to TOTO the brand that held an 80-percent share of the domestic toilet market at the time, was to become a landmark market creation project, giving rise to a revolution in attitudes towards toilets among the Japanese public and trebling the market within a decade.
PAOS has been involved in many successes involving emergency care, but INAX must surely count as the quintessential example of successful preventive medicine. It might also be said to constitute a concrete study in the far-reaching effects that the reshaping and establishment of a company's identity can have on its existence in an information-driven society.

'84

1984 onwards
NTT: the birth of Japan's largest private corporation

The NTT project is the largest project PAOS has worked on. This historically inevitable project also produced major seismic upheaval in the industry.
For 115 years, Japan's telecommunications industry had been under government management. Our role involved finding a way to smooth the passage to privatization for this vast public utility and its workforce of 300 thousand-plus (one million, if subsidiary organs are included). The transformation of Denden Kosha into the Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT) was a monumental CI project, the like of which had rarely been seen in this country before. In spite of this, we were given less than one year in which to effect the transition.
The project commenced with a competition in which seven named firms were pitted against each other. A week or so ahead of the deadline, however, we were approached by Dentsu (one of the largest advertising agencies in the world) with an offer of a joint proposal, which PAOS accepted with the proviso that "the corporate identity project be a collaborative effort representing the third pillar after advertising and promotion" (though this promise was not ultimately kept), and we divulged our extensive CI know-how to Dentsu. The joint bid was successful and we were commissioned to execute the project.
PAOS proposed that "NTT" be used as the corporate brand name for the new company, and nominated Mr. Yusaku KAMEKURA to design the new logotype. NTT (officially, the Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation) was reborn in April 1985. This project might be seen as a run-of-the-mill "privatization", but actually entailed a total change in corporate culture from a traditional bureaucracy to a service provider. Changing attitudes was top of our agenda and we put forward the concept of "indirect communication", which would alter external perceptions of the company and help achieve this end. Mr. Hisashi SHINTO, then director-general and the man who was to become the first president of NTT, gave us the green light, which ultimately led to the undisputed success of this CI project.
This success story introduced CI to the masses and, for better or worse, plunged Japan into the so-called "CI boom".

'85

1985-1992
Founding of PAOS Boston

Aside from the substantive contribution made to international projects such as that for Itochu, the founding of the PAOS Boston office was also instrumental in increasing our international profile since it led to the inclusion of the PAOS case study in business school textbooks on the Harvard University MBA and Stanford University MOT curriculums. However, the subsequent bursting of Japan's economic bubble caused commissions from Japan to dry up and PAOS Boston was wound down in 1992.

'88

Commemorative exhibition to celebrate 20 years in business

To commemorate our twentieth anniversary, PAOS staged an exhibition at the Roppongi Axis Gallery to showcase our accomplishments and the fruits of our research. It created an enormous stir.
By sheer coincidence, Mr. Masaru KATSUMI and Mr. Yusaku KAMEKURA, both giants in Japan's design world, visited the exhibition on the same day; their conversation was fascinating: "This is it! This is what design is really about." Mr. KATSUMI was impressed by PAOS' approach and projects, but was to die, unexpectedly, soon after without fulfilling his expressed desire to visit our offices at the earliest opportunity. It is truly regrettable that Mr. KATSUMI, a leading academic and the pioneer of Japanese design in the post-war era, was unable to make this visit. Nonetheless, his death was followed by the establishment of the "Masaru Katsumi Award", and PAOS was honored to be singled out to be its first recipient.

'89

Three works to commemorate PAOS' 20th anniversary

To commemorate our twentieth anniversary, PAOS published three books: "Aesthetic Management" (PHP Research Institute), "Symbolic Output" (PRESIDENT Inc.), and "PAOS Design" (Kodansha, Ltd.). These books served to summarize and partition the philosophies, plans and works accumulated by PAOS since its founding.

Receiving the Mainichi Design Award

Motoo NAKANISHI and the employees of PAOS were named recipients of the Mainichi Design Award, the most coveted and desirable of all Japan's design prizes. Since PAOS does not solicit awards on principle, it was highly gratifying to have our abilities recognized through the endorsement and assessment of others.
To celebrate, PAOS threw a party at the Kojimachi Matsuya Salon the following year. It was a triumphant celebration, attended by Mr. Yusaku KAMEKURA from the design world and by numerous business executives, including Matsuya's Mr. Kan YAMANAKA and Mr. Hideyo MOTOYAMA, the president of Kirin Brewery Company.


Main Menu