Apple Adman Go Sohara named as ECD at JWT Japan

It was announced yesterday by Hironobu 'Chief' Kitajima, JWT Japan's managing director, that the award-winning creative Go Sohara would be joining JWT Japan as executive creative director from TBWA/Media Arts Lab in Los Angeles, where he currently serves as group creative director. Sohara will join JWT on the 1^st of September, and will be bringing with him the creative skills he put to good use in campaigns for technology giants Apple. Sohara, who holds a BA of laws from Keio University in Tokyo, where he also studied Mandarin, has a lot of experience working on integrated campaigns for the tech giants, working on innovative projects such as 'Get a Mac', 'iPod Grid', 'iPhone FaceTime' and 'iPad Launch/Family', work which earned him numerous awards at both the Cannes Lions and Effies between 2007 and 2012.

Go Sohara will be joining JWT Japan as executive creative director from TBWA/Media Arts Lab in Los Angeles, where he currently serves as group creative director

He began his career in 1999 as a copywriter at Hakuhodo, spending over seven years with the agency, working with prestigious clients like Honda, Sony and Kirin. He moved to LA seven years later, joining TBWA/Chiat/Day to work with Nissan and Apple, before returning to Japan the next year in 2007 to launch TBWA/Media Arts Lab in both Tokyo and Beijing. Sohara has also developed Apple campaigns for China, Japan, Korea and Australia as regional creative director. In his time with Apple, he was a key part of their global creative team, having a hand in some of the brand's most popular and successful campaigns. In 2010 he returned to LA to serve as creative director at TBWA/Media Arts Lab, continuing his work with Apple. He was promoted to group creative director earlier this year.

Go Sohara

Kitajima said that JWT Japan is “Extremely happy to welcome Sohara” to the team. He believes that the “Brand communications landscape is changing at an incredibly fast pace, and the ability to create ideas that consumers want to spend time with is more important than ever.” He feels that with Sohara's mix of “International experience, digital expertise and creative leadership,” he will be the perfect man to help take the agency forward and create campaigns that consumers can really feel connected to.

Sohara has also developed Apple campaigns for China, Japan, Korea and Australia as regional creative director

Sohara himself says it is a “Great honour” to be joining JWT as it celebrates its 150^th anniversary year. He is “Really excited” about the new challenge and looks forward to “Leading JWT Japan's creative team,” with an ambition to build the agency on a wider scale “Into a modern creative community,” so that they can start creating “Pioneering works for great brands, both locally and globally.” Tom Doctoroff, CEO of JWT Asia Pacific, says that having Sohara on the team in a “Real coup for JWT Tokyo and the network,” and that his experiences in Japan and abroad make him the perfect partner for “Japanese companies who want to expand ambitions both in Japan and abroad.”

Official JWT Japan Website

Benjamin Hiorns is a freelance writer and musician from Kidderminster in the UK. He is planning a trip to Japan with his friends next year and is currently attempting to learn the basics of the language. It's not going well.