Last Thursday’s New York Times included a two-page ad (cost: at least $500,000) that showed two dogs (I’m a cat person, but I think one of them is an Akita and the other is a mutt) along with the headline:
Can a Japanese dog and an American dog talk to each other?
Bottom right was something in Japanese and “Takara-jima Publishing.”
The hardsearching staff discovered virtually nothing about Takara-jima Publishing except that it might be a videogame company or an anime production house or who knows what.
(Similar confusion in this tweet from @shashib: “Not sure what this ad by Takara jima publishing means.”)
What we do know is that Takara-jima has yet to run a follow-up ad in the Times.
Which just might mean Takara-jima wasted $500,000.
Doggone it.
Campaign Outsider 
You’re a cat person? Uh-oh…don’t read today’s Alex Beam column. He had to fill out a column of tid-bits, minus the dot-dot-dots. So he wondered why anyone would own a cat. Moi? I love cats and dogs equally, but share space with a cat because they’re such low-maintenance pets.
Pingback: Takara-jima Publishing Watch, Day Seven | Campaign Outsider
The smaller dog is a Shiba Inu. As a Shiba-owned-human I can tell you that Shiba Inu’s would rather not talk to ANY dog!
Thanks, Terri. Can I list you as my K-9 Konsultant in this year’s annual report?
The Japanese dog is in fact a Shiba-Inu. His name is Fox, I took the photo of him that was composited with the other dog and I’m as lost as you are about the company and what they’ve got planned.
Thanks, Roberta. Campaign Outsider Rule of Thumb: When the shooter can’t figure out a company’s ad, they’ve got real problems.
The photo was stock (from Getty), so I wasn’t involved in the process of shooting for a specific project or campaign.
http://tkj.jp/company/ad/2010/index2.html
So they put together an ad that is nearly impossible to understand. Great first step toward improving communications! [grin]
NEVER could understand this idea that one is either a cat person OR a dog person., as if one were the opposite of the other. Has it never occurred to anyone that it’s possible to be BOTH? I’ve had cats AND dogs–sometimes separately, sometimes together–and I wouldn’t be without either one. Each must be appreciated and loved for its own individual qualities. The feeling I get when I come home and my dog’s tail is wagging at blur speed because he’s happy to see me can’t be compared to the feeling I get when I hold my cat and she’s purring so loudly she can be heard in the next room—they can’t be compared because it’s an “apples and oranges” deal. Each is so special in its own way! ……and I defy anyone to find an animal with eyes as breathtaking as those that God has given to felines.
THAT being said, I arrived at this site after having seen the above-mentioned ad for Takara Jima, got on the web to find out more……and found out nothing, as all of you have, which intrigues me even more. Now I’m REALLY curious……
Thanks, Stacy. Being a cat person doesn’t mean I dislike dogs, just that if I were going to have a pet, it would be a cat.
Anyway, keep us posted if you discover anything about that ridiculous ad.