Tokyo 20XX Launches Publicly Posted on

MullenLowe Group Japan has publicly launched Tokyo 20XX, a cultural insights specialism that is committed to working with brands to positively impact the city’s effervescent creator communities.

Tokyo 20XX is a project born from MullenLowe Group Japan’s commitment to cultural scenes and communities, and one that aims to collaborate with brands that have a stake, or who seek to develop a stake in positively developing culture in the city of Tokyo. It builds upon the agency’s existing insight-driven approach, but goes beyond typical agency boundaries in its aim to shed light on the specific concerns, sensitivities and nuances of the city’s various cultural ecosystems and the creators operating within them.

The project looks to work with brands to develop a responsible and sustainable approach when dealing with cultural scenes. To that end, Tokyo 20XX launches with a deep-dive into the iconic neighbourhood of Shibuya, as represented through three short video documentaries that shed light on the area’s importance to specific cultures and communities: an ‘aural’ history of Shibuya, as told through respected veterans and up-and-coming talent in the local music scene; a street-level examination of urban sports like skateboarding and freestyle dancing; and, finally, a summary of LGBTQ-relevant policy shifts in Shibuya, and the importance of the area to the community.

Shibuya was an obvious choice to begin with because of the significant role that it continues to play in shaping the development of youth and urban culture in Tokyo,” says Mike Sunda, who leads the Tokyo 20XX project. “It’s well known as a hyper-consumerist playground within the wider city, but it’s also an example of an area that — because of its cultural vitality in the local context — also plays a major role in influencing pop culture trends across the world. Brands operating within this space have the opportunity to really impact and catalyse culture at scale.”

With a number of iconic, marquee events on the near horizon, the coming years are set to provide a catalyst for renewed globalisation efforts and the supercharging of consumer culture in Japan,” says James Hollow, CEO, MullenLowe Group Japan. “As a city, Tokyo represents a centralised hub from which any cultural paradigm shift will likely originate, and by working together with brands who have a stake in relevant scenes, Tokyo 20XX stands for an approach to culture that puts actual creators and communities front and centre, both within the city and beyond.”