Traveling through the Tokyo bubble era

Chapter 946 The Game Has Only Just Begun

What do you mean it won't be a knightly duel?
When we think of knightly duels, we think of fair and square battles fought within the rules for the sake of honor.

Regardless of whether the impression is accurate.

In the context of business competition, it means fair and square business battles, without resorting to underhanded tactics.

Therefore, it cannot be represented by a knightly duel...

That means abandoning the rules of the marketplace, no longer talking about fairness and justice, and having no principles or bottom lines; in order to win, one will stop at nothing.

Those in the meeting room were momentarily confused as to why Hideki Hanyu had asked Yutaro Hatoyama to convey such a message to them.

Is it because Hideki Hanyu is arrogant and doesn't care about their counterattack?

Or is revealing this information itself a form of deterrence against them?
However, before the senior management of Dentsu could figure it out, a subordinate rushed into the conference room in a panic and reported anxiously.

"President, a brand has announced that it has unilaterally terminated its contract with Dentsu."

"What! Which brand is it?" The president immediately stood up.

"Yes……"
-
If Saturday morning's announcement by Storm Advertising that it would enter the Japanese advertising market officially ignited an advertising war in Japan, then Storm Advertising's announcement was a prime example.

What happened next made all those in the industry, the media, and the general public who were following the story realize that this business war was far more intense and unexpected than they had imagined.

That very afternoon, the world-renowned luxury goods group, AIA International, which has recently been under scrutiny due to its delisting, suddenly announced that its most important department, the Shared Services Center, would cease all advertising cooperation with Dentsu.

Ae International is a complex international luxury goods group headquartered in France but listed in Japan, with a large amount of Japanese capital behind it. After years of development, it now directly controls more than 20 luxury brands.

Among them are top brands such as Givenchy, Onirique Jewelry, FRED, Bulgari, and La Roche-Posay.

This makes A.I. International a super "big spender" in the media industry not only in Japan, but also worldwide.

Aiyi International's annual spending on peripheral promotion, public relations and marketing, print advertising, television advertising, product placement, and other types of advertising far exceeds that of companies in other industries.

Especially in the fashion media field, it has an influence beyond imagination.

Moreover, Japan is now the world's largest consumer of luxury goods, accounting for as much as half of the world's total luxury consumption. It's not hard to imagine how much advertising A&I International invests in Japan every year.

Against this backdrop, A&E International's decision to pay breach of contract penalties in order to terminate its cooperation with Dentsu was a major blow to Dentsu, causing huge economic losses.

However, the direct economic loss is not the biggest loss for Dentsu in this contract termination.

Even for Dentsu, its position in the fashion media industry still requires the support of its brand.

The termination of the contract with A&I International will immediately cause Dentsu to lose its voice in the fashion media.

After all, traditional media also rely on advertising for profit. Dentsu can't bring them advertising revenue, and without the support of a "big spender," they no longer need to respect Dentsu.

The same applies to television stations, in addition to fashion media.

Advertising for luxury goods is equally important for television stations.

Advertising rates on Japanese television are complex, varying depending on the time slot and viewership ratings...

But no matter what the standard is, you still need a brand owner.

Therefore, the choice between Storm Advertising and Dentsu will directly become a choice of interests for all Japanese commercial television stations.

By this point, even those outside the advertising industry could imagine how devastating the losses would be for Dentsu, based on A.I. International's announcement of its termination of the contract with Dentsu.

Upon receiving the news, media reporters, naturally with a sense of morbid curiosity, began to delve into the reasons for Aiyi International's termination of the contract.

Of course, everyone can probably guess why.

After all, although Aiyi International has initiated its delisting process, it is not yet complete. Anyone with eyes can see Yuzuru Investment's name on the shareholder list.

They also know exactly who's behind Yuzuru Investment.

Storm Advertising had just "rebelled" when Aiyi International followed suit and terminated its contract. It would be strange if there wasn't a connection between the two companies, as both have close ties with Hideki Hanyu.

Therefore, it is clear that A.I. International's announcement of ceasing cooperation with Dentsu is part of the current advertising war between Storm Advertising and Dentsu Advertising.

However, the media did not expect that after the advertising war began, "Aiyi International" would be the first to jump out and take sides.

So even though they guessed the reason behind it, they still wanted to get a definite answer from Aiyi International.

When asked about the media's curiosity, a spokesperson for the Japanese branch of Aiyi International Shared Services Center gave a vague and ambiguous answer.

"The reason for completely ceasing cooperation with Dentsu in Japan is that A.I. International cannot agree with Dentsu's corporate culture, as well as the management's working style and ethical standards."

Upon hearing this, media reporters keenly sensed something amiss. Ai International's statement indicated that they must have some knowledge of Dentsu.

Therefore, it can be concluded that although the reason why Ai International stopped cooperating with Dentsu was to take sides in the advertising war, it also had a "justifiable" reason.

So the reporters quickly pressed for details, asking, "Could you tell me the specific reasons?"

However, a spokesperson for Aiyi International Shared Services Center did not answer the question, only stating that it was inconvenient to disclose the information.

Thus, the media reporters left with a host of questions, all speculating about the reasons why A.I. International and Dentsu had ceased their cooperation.

This "first-mover advantage" campaign, initiated by Storm Advertising, driven behind the scenes by Cloud Group, and personally led by Hideki Yuzuru, was actually a series of well-planned moves.

Storm Advertising announced the "war," with Aiyi International firing the first shot and subtly hinting that they had a "just cause," piquing everyone's curiosity.

Next, we'll provide all the companies that have sided with Storm Advertising in this advertising war with an absolutely valid "reason".

Hideki Hanyu himself has said that this advertising war between Storm Advertising and Dentsu will not be a duel of knights.

Besides the behind-the-scenes battles and business wars within the industry, there is also no shortage of media offensives.

Therefore, during prime time that evening, Yunshang Satellite TV, the most influential media outlet in the Yunshang Group, broadcast a nearly two-hour documentary on its Japanese and overseas channels.

The name of this documentary is "The Dark Empire of Darkness".

A direct translation would be something like "The Dark Empire in the Office Building".

The word “闇” in Japanese means darkness or shadow, and is often used to describe the dark side of society or things unknown to others.

Just from the title, you can probably guess what this documentary is about: some of the little-known dark sides of modern corporate society.

And the documentary's content does indeed reflect this.

The documentary uses multiple real-life cases to expose the unspoken rules of modern Japanese companies, including workplace bullying, sexual harassment, gender discrimination, high-pressure environments, and a pathological hierarchical system, among others.

In fact, as society develops and the human rights environment gradually improves, this kind of documentary is not unprecedented in Japan. There have been similar programs before that have criticized workplace malpractices in Japan.

The problem is that this documentary, broadcast by Yunshang Satellite TV, is unprecedented in its scale and depth of revelation.

For example, there is a case in the documentary called "The Silent Fall".

The case involves a female college graduate who, after starting an internship at a company, was sexually harassed by her department head, who used his position of authority to demand that she comply with his inappropriate requests.

After the female intern refused, the supervisor held a grudge and then sexually assaulted her during a karaoke session at a department dinner.

Because of the social pressures and shame culture in Japan, the female intern who was assaulted dared not speak out and chose to suffer in silence.

The female intern's forbearance only resulted in continued abuse from her supervisor.

When the female intern could no longer endure it and chose to make the assault public, she received neither redemption nor punishment for the department head, but rather slander and framing from him.

According to the person in charge, there was no coercion at all; rather, the female intern had seduced him.

The female intern tried her best to explain, but she couldn't gain the belief of outsiders at all.

In Japan's unique social culture, even the government does not support female interns.

Thus, the female intern, who had suffered severe physical and mental trauma and whose dignity had been repeatedly trampled upon, proved her innocence in the most tragic way.

That was when she jumped from the building where she worked.

At the end of this case, the documentary's perspective is a pool of red flowing on the ground, silently making an accusation.

And throughout the documentary, the female intern was not the only one whose life ended in death.

Some people choose to commit suicide because they cannot bear the bullying.

Some people cannot bear the pressure outside of work and escape through death.

Some people, like the female intern, are so helpless that they can only prove themselves through death, hoping to gain the trust of others.

The oppressive scenes and tragic stories resonated deeply with Japanese viewers, eliciting an overwhelming sense of anger.

And at the end of the documentary, the narration says the following.

"The cases in this documentary are by no means all, but they tear open a dark corner hidden beneath the glamorous curtain of office buildings."

Who is condoning this "unruly" beast? What has built this "high wall" that suffocates the victims?
Can the loss of these young lives truly shake this dark empire?

As the narration ended, the documentary's camera focused on a building.

This is Dentsu's headquarters building in Tokyo's Minato Ward.

The filming style is dark and oppressive, as if it were not a building, but a monster that keeps devouring lives.

At the beginning of the end credits, the first thing that scrolls out in the background of the Dentsu building is not the documentary's creators, but the identity information of all the protagonists in the documentary cases, and their tragic endings.

Including the female intern who committed suicide, none of them were employees of Dentsu.

The "cruelty" that the entire documentary was brewing for was fully realized in the flow of information.

In an instant, viewers of the documentary felt intense oppression and anger, with many wishing they could protest right now in front of the Dentsu building and make the bad guys in the documentary pay the price.

Meanwhile, the media reporters who had just attended the Aiyi International press conference also understood the deeper meaning behind the spokesperson's words.

Furthermore, Lenovo Cloud Satellite TV also belongs to the Cloud system.

These reporters couldn't help but feel a shiver run down their spines.

This documentary has had a devastating impact on Dentsu's external image and reputation.

The successive moves by the Cloud Group are enough to prove that this "advertising war" between Storm Advertising and Dentsu was definitely a long-planned scheme.

Otherwise, how could this documentary, specifically targeting Dentsu, have so "coincidentally" coincided with the Storm advertising campaign and A.I. International's actions?

Faced with a barrage of advertising that is being launched from all sides, from the top to the business community, from public opinion to the media, can Dentsu withstand it?
For a moment, everyone was filled with questions.

……

Can it withstand it?

Let's turn our attention to Dentsu headquarters.

Although it was already night, the brightly lit Dentsu conference room was still full of people.

All the senior executives at Dentsu who were at the meeting had just watched the documentary produced by Cloud Satellite TV.

As the scrolling text message appeared, the president of Dentsu's face turned ashen. His gaze involuntarily drifted towards the conference room, where a balding, middle-aged man with a panicked expression and profuse sweating was standing. Everyone else noticed the president's gaze and looked over as well.

As high-ranking executives at Dentsu, everyone knew why the president was interested in this person, because the perpetrator of the case of the female intern who committed suicide after being assaulted in the documentary was this executive.

Although it happened many years ago, everyone remembers it clearly.

After all, public relations and media distorted the facts, and they used their connections to get the authorities to suppress the matter; many people were involved in this.

Therefore, everyone knows that what was said in the documentary is true.

Facing the gazes of the crowd, the bald middle-aged man said somewhat flusteredly, "This must be a conspiracy by Storm Advertising, it's Yu... Yunshang Group targeting us."

Despite his panicked and incoherent attempts to shift the blame, the balding middle-aged man swallowed his words in fear when he mentioned Hideki Hanyu's name.

After all, although he was bad, he wasn't stupid.

Back then, he dared to abuse his power and recklessly manipulate that female intern, and he has done similar things many times over the years.

But he didn't even dare to criticize Hideki Hanyu behind his back.

Because he knew very well who he could offend and who he couldn't provoke.

Hideki Hanyu is someone he absolutely cannot afford to provoke.

After all, he couldn't be sure that there wasn't a single Hideki Hanyu in this conference room filled with Dentsu executives.

As soon as the bald man uttered those words, the president of Dentsu loudly berated him.

"Bastard! Idiot! Bug! Do I need you to remind me of these things?"

The most important thing now is how to deal with the upcoming public opinion crisis!

The president of Dentsu said, glancing around at all the senior executives present, "Anyone with ideas can speak up."

The high-ranking officials looked at each other, seemingly lost in thought, and remained silent for a long time.

The sudden "rebellion" of Storm Ads, a long-planned series of attacks by Cloudwise, caught them completely off guard.

Let alone the fact that no one can think of a good solution right away, even if they could, no one would be willing to take the blame in this adverse situation.

After a long time, someone finally tried to offer a suggestion.

"This documentary by Cloud Satellite TV is a complete challenge to the unspoken rules of the business world. Which large Japanese corporation doesn't have similar problems? We can use this to persuade them and put pressure on Cloud Satellite TV."

Upon hearing this, the president of Dentsu gave a cold laugh and retorted.

"Do you think Yunshang Group is some small company? Or do you think the person behind Yunshang Group is easy to bully?"
Even if those companies dislike this documentary, would they really risk offending the Cloud Platform or pressuring that person just for the sake of a documentary?

The person who made the suggestion was speechless in the face of the president's question.

The president of Dentsu then added, "And didn't you notice that all the cases in the documentary came from us? Do you know what that means?"

Before his subordinates could answer, the president of Dentsu gave the answer.

"This means that the Cloud Group is sending a message to the outside world that they are only targeting us and do not want to involve other unrelated companies."

The subordinate who made the suggestion said somewhat indignantly, "Since they're targeting us, we can target them too. That person owns so many companies; I don't believe there haven't been similar incidents."

"Ha ha……"

The president of Dentsu was so angry at this guy that he laughed.

Putting aside the fact that these people are just "employees" or professional managers within Dentsu, is it worthwhile for them to extend their counterattack to all of Hideki Hanyu's companies and offend this bigwig, all for the sake of Dentsu's reputation and interests?

The fact that they only thought of doing this now means it's already too late. By the time the documentary is made, the advertising war between Dentsu and Storm Advertising will probably have already been decided.

Thinking of this, the president of Dentsu immediately said to the person who made the suggestion.

"Your suggestion is excellent, so I'll leave this matter to you."

Oh, and by the way, you'd better think about one thing in advance: where will the documentary be shown once it's produced?

As soon as the president of Dentsu uttered those clearly sarcastic words, everyone in the conference room, including the person who made the suggestion, realized something.

They really want to imitate the Cloud Platform and produce a documentary to fight back, but where will it be broadcast in the end?

Will it be released in theaters?

Could you please tell me which cinema chain currently holds the largest market share in Japan?

With the addition of the newly established Unlimited Art cinema chain, Crescent Moon Cinemas holds nearly 70% market share in Japan.

Both of these cinema chains belong to the Yunshang Group.

As for cinemas not belonging to the Cloud platform, they are all controlled by a few major production companies, with Toho holding the largest share.

However, since Toho Cinemas and Crescent Cinemas have cross-shareholdings, it is impossible for them to screen a documentary that attacks the Cloud Group.

As for the remaining cinemas, even if they are released, they won't have a wide reach.

Moreover, those cinemas wouldn't risk offending the Cloud Platform by showing the films.

And what about television stations?
Similarly, even if a TV station chooses to side with Dentsu in the advertising war, it would be impossible for it to engage in such an attack that would offend the Cloud Group.

After all, their own past isn't exactly clean either. If the Cloud Sect doesn't attack them, they're unlikely to attack the Cloud Sect.

In the end, everyone realized that even distributing videotapes wouldn't work.

Cloud-based home entertainment distribution channels also rank among the top in Japan.

Other publishers, of course, wouldn't dare to offend Yunshang Group, since Yunshang Group is an important partner of theirs.

This situation, where others could attack them but they couldn't attack others, left Dentsu's top management feeling incredibly frustrated.

The sheer power of the cloud computing system also gave them a suffocating feeling.

The person who made the suggestion seemed somewhat exasperated, saying, "Since we can't fight back against the company, let's fight back against something else—that person's private life..."

Before the man could finish speaking, someone nearby immediately shouted in a panic, "Shut up! If you want to die, don't drag us down with you!"

Even if Dentsu goes bankrupt, all they'll lose is a job.

But if you become enemies with Hideki Hanyu, you'll lose more than just your job.

Moreover, although the attacks from the cloud-based system have been frequent and unruly, the target of these attacks remains Dentsu.

But if they bypass Storm Advertising and Cloud System and attack Hideki Yuzuru directly, even the forces behind them will not be able to protect the person who made the decision.

Next, everyone chimed in with their opinions and proposed various solutions, but none of them could resolve the foreseeable public opinion crisis that would follow the documentary's release.

After a long pause, someone who hadn't spoken stood up in the meeting room.

It was none other than Yutaro Hatoyama.

Just when everyone thought that Yutaro Hatoyama was about to say something.

Yutaro Hatoyama stretched and yawned.

Then, he lazily said to everyone, "Sorry, it's getting late, I'm a little tired, I'll go back and rest now."

After saying that, Yutaro Hatoyama left the conference room directly.

Yutaro Hatoyama's departure seemed to trigger a chain reaction.

Soon, those high-ranking executives with impressive backgrounds, whom even the president of Dentsu couldn't do anything about, took their leave and left the conference room.

These people's attitude was clear: they didn't want to get involved in the Dentsu and Storm Advertising affair.

To be precise, it was because they didn't want to offend Hideki Hanyu for the sake of Dentsu.

In a short time, the number of people in the meeting room had decreased by more than half.

With the battle between Dentsu and Storm Advertising just beginning, so many senior executives are standing aside, completely unconcerned about Dentsu's chances of winning or losing.

The president of Dentsu, who was in charge, looked dejected and showed a helpless expression.

How can Dentsu possibly win with this kind of performance?

But soon, his gaze swept over the remaining people in the conference room.

The remaining people either lacked connections and, for the sake of their own careers, had no choice but to share in Dentsu's fortunes, rising and falling together.

Either they have dirty hands and can't admit defeat to the Cloud Sect.

In conclusion, these are all people who are available under the current circumstances.

The president of Dentsu rallied his spirits and decided to motivate these people.

He stood up and spoke in a serious tone.

"We will never admit defeat in this advertising war..."

……

"Admit defeat?
Dentsu is not a small company that can be easily manipulated, so of course it's not going to admit defeat so soon after the battle begins.

"And if Dentsu were to concede so easily, it would be too boring for me."

At the headquarters of Yuzuru Investment, in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows of the chairman's office, Hideki Yuzuru gazed down at the neon-lit night view of the Minato Ward under the starry sky while answering questions from Haruko Naito, who had come specifically to check on him.

Looking at Hideki Hanyu, who exuded confidence and seemed to have everything under control, Haruko Naito's beautiful eyes were filled with admiration and adoration.

Haruko Naito leaned closer to Hideki Hanyu and asked, "Is there anything I can help you with?"

Hideki Yuzuru looked down at the petite beauty with a stunningly youthful face but a voluptuous figure, and smiled slightly.

"Of course I need your help, but it has nothing to do with Dentsu and Storm Advertising."

As he spoke, Hideki Yuzuru lowered his head and approached Haruko Naito's ear, his rich and textured voice speaking softly.

"I've had a busy day, and I've accumulated so much stress. Can you help me..."

As soon as the scumbag finished speaking, Haruko Naito's eyes immediately became charming and alluring, her expression both shy and seductive, and she slowly squatted down.

"Ah……"

Hideki Hanyu took a deep breath and looked into the distance.

That's the direction of Dentsu's headquarters.

"The game has just begun."

(End of this chapter)