note "almost" changes your life

vol.1395

Yesterday, I talked about how 【Dramas begin at any age】, and that if you take on challenges without using age as an excuse, a future you never imagined awaits you.

And finally

I touched upon what happened to me, and today I would like to talk about that.

The title is 【note "almost" changes your life】.

Actually, this is also a sequel to 【note secretly changes your life】, which I wrote last July to commemorate my 4th anniversary of writing.

At that time, I expressed it as “secretly”, but my gut feeling was more like “surely”.

However, through this recent event, I feel that the certainty has increased significantly.

So, what happened?

It is that I won a Sponsor Award at the “62nd Sendenkaigi Award”, which is Japan's largest advertising award for copywriters... (surprised)

So, my work is published in the “Sendenkaigi April Issue” with a winning comment.

The total number of entries was 602,673.

Among them, I was able to receive an award for the challenge set by E-Spirit, an advertising agency strong in casting😊

Actually, this was my first attempt in 12 years at the Sendenkaigi Award.

Moreover, 12 years ago I graduated from being a copywriter and began walking the path toward becoming a marketing consultant.

Winning an award under such circumstances.

In the first place, why did someone who graduated from being a copywriter challenge for an award for the first time in 12 years?

Why was I able to win?

Today, I would like to talk about that.

The reason I challenged the Sendenkaigi Award

First, I would like to talk about the reason why I challenged the Sendenkaigi Award for the first time in 12 years.

That is because “I want my employees to challenge themselves for awards more.”

To put it more specifically, it is because “I want my employees to win awards.”

The marketing and advertising industry is in a state of excessive competition.

Moreover, it is moving from a deflationary economy toward a shift to an inflationary economy.

In order to implement wage increases that can keep up with rising prices, we must increase our corporate value more than ever before.

Since our company sells marketing and creative services as our product, the creativity of our employees is the product itself.

And, the sum of that can be said to be our corporate value.

In other words, our company's competitiveness depends entirely on the strength of each individual employee.

…However, to speak a bit immodestly…,I believe our employees are quite talented and are all charming individuals.I think so.

Existing clientsoften give us"You are a truly great company"aswords of praise.

…However, when it comes tonew business, name valueandtrack recordare what count…

After all, that is

something that canclearly demonstrate "proof" of thatis necessary.

Therefore, I,as one such proof, want to promote winning advertising awards.

I want my "employees" to win awards

Typical advertising agencies and production companies naturally challenge themselves to win advertising awards.

On the other hand,our companyhas not beenvery proactivesince I joined over 20 years ago.

The reason for this lies inour unique order structure.

The previous presidentwas agreat consultantwell-known in the marketing industry, and because of that, we often receiveconsultingwork, and along with that, we also docreative workas part of"integrated marketing service orders".

Therefore, I believe we are a company withrelatively few creative competitions.

When that happens, creators also stop trying so desperately to obtain "proof."

That isa good thing, but alsolooking ahead, it isa cause for concern.

Because,the superstarwho was ourpredecessorisno longer here.

If we rely only on existing clientsit is inevitable that we willface a decline...

That is precisely whythe mindset of increasing each individual's valueandproving that valueismore important than ever.

I consider mywriting on noteto bepart of that effort.

If I can create an entry point like that, perhapsan encounter with a new clientmight be waiting.

That is why I hope everyone will not just polish their skills daily, but also have themindset of proving those polished skillsas well,which I truly desire.

...But honestly, whenyour daily workis goingreasonably well,it is hard to feel a sense of crisis about the future.

I feel something likethe "Innovator's Dilemma"whereit is hard to create innovationprecisely because you havesuccessful experiences...

...No,perhaps everyone actually does have a sense of crisis.

It is just that right now, the feeling that"there is no other way but to work hard on the job right in front of me"might be stronger.

In that state, even though the company hasn't tackled this before, if I suddenly say"Let's try for an award!"there isno way it will resonate...

…So, I, the one who suggested it decided to take on the Sendenkaigi Award challenge.

I will show my embarrassing self

…However, winning an award at the Sendenkaigi Award is no easy feat…

I have been challenging it for over 10 years since I was a college student, and I only once made it to the second round of judging, but otherwise, I was in a situation where I couldn't even pass the first round...

So, 12 years ago, when I turned 36 years old, that is, entered my late 30s, I decided “this is the last time” and took the challenge, only to suffer a crushing defeat…(tears)

Following that result, I graduated from being a copywriter and decided to walk the path of a marketing consultant.

In other words, the Sendenkaigi Award was the entity that dealt the final blow to me, who was a copywriter at the time.

It is a bitter memory itself...

Moreover, I just expressed it as “even the first round”, but the passing rate for this 62nd edition is 0.94%.

In other words, the probability of passing the first round of judging is less than 1%...

Before taking on the challenge, the thought that "it probably won't be easy to pass even the first round..." was swirling around in my chest again this time...

However, what I can do is only to show myself taking on the challenge.

By doing so, I thought that at the very least, if "that guy is serious..." could just get across, that would be enough.

While doing that, when I looked at "Sendenkaigi March Issue", to my surprise, there were works that passed the first round of 4 works... (surprised)

On top of that, I won the corporate sponsored award this time as well.

...It seems that while I was away from copywriting, my copywriting skills had improved... 🤔??

Reflecting on the factors that led to winning the award

...Honestly, I don't know the exact reason why I was able to win this time.

However, I do think that my marketing skills are better than they were 12 years ago.

Advertising copy relies on "what you say" and "how you say it", and the former is exactly marketing ability itself.

Market analysis, company/product analysis, and competitor analysis are conducted, and then the selling points are narrowed down.

I do feel that my skills in this area have certainly improved compared to the past.

And then, there is the part about "how to say it."

Regarding this, creativity (the ability to discover and create expressions) is extremely important, and the only thing that comes to mind is "writing a note every day"...

Every day, the readers' "likes" and "comments" convey their evaluation, and perhaps my expressive power has been polished through that process.

Of course, copywriting and blog writing are different things, so I do not believe there is a causal relationship.

However, I do feel that there is at least some correlation.

...Because of that, I have used the word "almost" in the title of this article...😅

...Setting aside expressive power, I do believe there has definitely been a change in mindset due to continuing to write on note.

In particular, on note in the past, I was selected for the "Green Ponta" sponsored official note submission contest "#HowToFaceSDGs", and the submission project Nihon Keizai Shimbun and note co-hosted "#HowToUtilizeAI",

being selected as an excellent work was something that I feel became a pillar of support for me when taking on the challenge of this Sendenkaigi Award.

In any case, this Sendenkaigi Award will surely have a positive impact on my future life.

Entering my 40s, I talked yesterday about how my life has taken a turn for the better through unprecedented effort, but deep down, the thought "...but I was no good as a copywriter..." was always in the back of my mind.

Being able to soften that past frustration with this award is a big deal.

And

I was able to believe in this idea once again.

~So, I've rambled on about myself for a long time, but...

I hope that all of you, too, will not set limits on yourselves and enjoy the rest of your lives😊

Thank you very much for reading until the end today!