How Shiseido rejuvenated its brand with storytelling
When Shiseido's Global CEO Masahiko Uotani took over as the first external CEO the Japanese beauty brand had ever hired, he received more than 700 messages from Japan's top politicians, businesspeople and friends. They carried versions of the same theme: this was not just an appointment to boost the flagging fortunes of an iconic Japanese brand, but something much more important.
"They all said, 'Uotani-san, you have to work hard because Shiseido is an icon of Japan. Rejuvenating Shiseido means rejuvenating Japan as a country.'"
Uotani - who...