Helgert, Joseph P.

Dr. Joseph P. Helgert is Associate Professor of Communications at Grand Valley State University in Allendale, Michigan. Previously, he taught at the University of Wisconsin, Michigan State University, and the University of Arizona in communications, management and marketing. Dr. Helgert was a promotion manager at Motorola, Inc. in Phoenix and Tokyo and has over twelve years’ experience in marketing and advertising. In 1997, he was awarded a Sasakawa Fellowship at San Diego State University in Japanese Studies.

Comparing and Contrasting Marketing Assumptions and Advertising Strategies in Japan and the United States

2006 0-7734-5904-9
This study explores the practice and dynamics of advertising in the second largest democratic economy in the world – Japan. The work examines advertising practices through seven case studies, dramatically framed by individual vignettes written in the style of the Japanese business novel. The case problems and chosen solutions illustrate successful Japanese adaptations of advertising from around the world, in addition to advertising practices that are culturally unique to Japan. The analysis highlights similarities and differences in Japanese and American advertising practice. The study concludes that an understanding of the external and internal influences in developing creative objectives and strategies, combined with an identification of the structural components in advertising, is key to a greater understanding of how social, political and other cultural trends affected the evolution of advertising in modern Japan. In a conclusion, the author recommends new advertising strategies that are in response to changing national and international trends since the collapse of the bubble economy.