The Split Account System and Japan's Advertising Industry

This paper discusses the ways in which advertisers in Japan split their accounts among two or more different agencies by product, media, or product and media, and examines the organisational results of this practice both in the industry as a whole and within individual advertising agencies.

The Split Account System and Japans Advertising Industry

Brian Moeran

INTRODUCTION

Any discussion of the structure and operation of any advertising industry in any part of the world should, strictly speaking, begin and end with its account system. There are two reasons for adopting such an approach. In the first place, advertising agencies are service industries whose prosperity is totally determined by the prosperity of their clients, the advertisers (Jones, 1999, p 9). When clients have money to spend, agencies flourish; when they dont, they struggle. Second, it is the distribution of accounts by companies wishing to advertise that permits...

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