A mysterious package sent from England and the encounter with “Apple Computer”[Part 1 – Episode 4]| Genesis of Internet advertising ~ Understanding the history of development from the impact of Google ~

Episode 4 of the series “The Genesis of Internet Advertising – Understanding the history of development from the impact of Google.” The previous article is here. While the Italian project was shrinking due to the collapse of the bubble economy, the period from 1991 to 1993 was a time when computers were introduced to work and the way we worked changed significantly.

Ladle valley

In episode 3, we talked about how he successfully held an Italy-related exhibition called “Creativitalia” and is moving forward with an architectural project called “Avitale Italia” with the Italian Trade Council.

After the Nikkei Stock Average reached a new high in December 1989, stock prices plummeted in 1990, marking the beginning of the so-called “bubble burst.” The following year, 1991, was a year in which a series of events that would go down in world history occurred one after another, including the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Gulf War.

Sato

From 1991 to 1993, I was involved in the work of “Abitare Italia,” but the effects of the bursting of the bubble economy were delayed, and projects related to Italy gradually dwindled. On the other hand, around this time, computers began to be introduced into work, and the way we worked changed dramatically.

Macintosh was introduced within the company.

Sato:The international department of Asahi Tsushinsha, where I worked, has a partnership with the American advertising agency BBDO, and we have been doing business since the establishment of the Japanese subsidiary of Apple Computer (currently Apple Inc.) in the United States. For this reason, the entire International Department was equipped with the Macintosh (hereinafter referred to as Mac).

*Apple’s Japanese subsidiary was established in 1983.

Around this time, my Mac’s display screen changed from monochrome to color. With the addition of color to screens, software that can be called the three sacred treasures for designers has appeared, including “Adobe Photoshop,” “Adobe Illustrator,” and “QuarkXPress.” Along with this, “DTP” (Desk Top Publishing), which uses computers to produce printed matter, and “DTM” (Desk Top Music), which uses computers to produce music, became popular.

The Mitsubishi Motors team also had a lot of Macs, so I thought, “It’s interesting that we can do things like this,” so I started using Macs as well. What I actually did was create a proposal using spreadsheet software Excel, graphics software MacDraw, and presentation software Aldus Persuasion (lol). Even before word processors (abbreviation for word processors) became popular in the world, people were creating documents using document software and sending them by fax.

Shutani:Many people in our generation don’t know this, but Microsoft’s Excel was first developed as software for the Mac. “Aldus Persuasion” is software similar to what we now call “PowerPoint.” It was acquired by Adobe in 1994, and a Windows version was also sold, but product development ended in 1997.

Furthermore, word processors began to be sold by Toshiba in 1978 for 6.3 million yen, but it was not until a little later that they became popular in ordinary households. After the ban on commercial use of the Internet was lifted, the spread of personal computers and their improved performance led to word processors losing market share to document creation software such as Word. Even before word processors became widespread, people were already creating documents on computers, which was very advanced for this era.

A mysterious package sent from England

Sato:One day, an incident happened. The Mitsubishi Motors International Department’s team commissioned a British design firm to create a visual design that would express the company’s culture. In marketing terminology, this is called “CI” (Corporate Identity). The British company sent me a lunchbox-sized parcel.

Everyone involved looked confused and asked, “What is this?” So, when I asked someone who was familiar with the company’s computers, he said, “There’s probably a removable hard disk inside, where data is saved.” When I immediately connected it to my Mac, I found “Illustrator” and “Photoshop” files inside. The corporate sign was laid out in a cool manner on top of the showroom photo, and everyone in the company was shocked.

A removable hard disk that was sold at the time. At 24.5 cm wide and 24.3 cm deep, it’s exactly the size of a bento box.
LHD-M100 Storage capacity 100MB, price 180,000 yen
source:Logitec hard disk history museum
© Logitec Corp.
*The images are on the website as of October 2024. Link destination information may change in the future.

At that time, there was not much custom in Japan of delivering designs using data. I also saw it for the first time, and thought it was interesting and useful, and I think it will become more popular in the future. After this incident, I became even more interested in Macs.

Shutani:It must have been a new and shocking experience at the time. “Removable Hard Disk” in English refers to an external hard disk that can be removed. Sharing files on USB memory or SD cards is common in modern times, but sharing data on hard disks may be unique to this era.

Sato:Around this time, recordable CD-like media called MO (Magneto-Optical Disk) also became popular. The MO drive was connected via a SCSI connection, and the MO disk was inserted to read and write data.

I met Hiroo Ujiie through the European tour of Sankai Juku.

Sato:Around the same time,Sankai JukuA dance troupe called Mitsubishi Motors Corporation asked if they could support their European tour. At this point, no one, including myself, knew about Sankai Juku, but there happened to be someone at Mitsubishi Motors Corporation who was very knowledgeable about the culture, so he was happy to provide support.

Photo book “SANKAI JUKU AMAGATSU DELAHAYE” Photographer: DELAHAYE (Published in 1994, owned by the author)

During the actual tour, we wrapped up a Mitsubishi Fuso truck called “Canter” to make it look nice and toured around Europe. Starting with that tour, Sankai Juku became even more popular in Europe, and even performed as a performer at the Théâtre de la Ville de Paris, a prestigious theater in the theater world.

After a while, the manager who was in charge of Sankai Juku’s European tour approached me and said, “There are some interesting artists out there, and I would like you to support them again.” The exhibition was called “Music Falling from the Sky,” which measured radiation in the atmosphere with a Geiger counter and connected it to a piano to produce sound.

That artist was in charge of CG production for the children’s variety show “Ugougo Luga” that aired from 1992 to 1994.Mr. Hiroo UjiieIt was. After the event, Mr. Ujiie came to the company to thank me, and we became good friends and started going to the Harajuku office from time to time. At the time, Mr. Ujiie was creating CG images for “Ugo Ugo Luga” on a computer called “Amiga,” and I even had him show me how he did it.

Mr. Ujiie was a big fan of Apple computers and a heavy Mac user. We hit it off right away, and I was drawn to the creative world of using Macs and computers.

Shutani:The Amiga was a personal computer sold by a now-defunct American company called Commodore. Although it was a relatively low-priced computer, it was packed with excellent software for video production and CG production, so it was widely used in the production of TV programs and video software.

Strongly attracted to Apple Computer

Sato:I heard that a young designer in Mr. Ujiie’s office was going to work independently as a freelancer, so I decided to ask him to work for Asahi Tsushinsha. At that time, there were still very few people inside and outside the company who could create DTP and CG (Computer Graphics), and we believed that this would be essential, especially for Mitsubishi Motors Corporation.

I was lucky enough to be accepted, so I purchased a top-of-the-line Mac model, the Quadra, a multi-million yen Canon color printer, and a PostScript converter. I think it cost about 10 million yen in total. My boss at the time, General Manager Nakamura, was very sensitive to new things, so when I said, “This is what we’re going to live in from now on, right?” he said, “Oh, that’s right,” and the budget was approved. lol).

Shutani:It was around 1982 that we started using the “telex” that appeared in episode 2, so the way we work has changed dramatically in just 10 years. Computers were at the center of this.

Sato:We decided to pack the equipment we had purchased for 10 million yen into a conference room and have it used by a designer independent from Mr. Ujiie’s office. My main job was for Asahi Tsushinsha, but I was allowed to do other jobs as well. I wasn’t directly involved in his work in my day-to-day work, but even if I didn’t have anything to do, I would pop into the conference room and watch what was going on while drinking tea, and I started to learn about the world of computers. In particular, I became obsessed with Apple Computers.

The enthusiasm of the industry felt at Mac’n Roll Night

Sato:In the 1990s, Apple Computer Japan (Apple Computer’s Japanese subsidiary) held an event called “Mac’n Roll Night” every year. It was a fun event, with participants from a variety of parties including Mac magazines, advertising agencies, and software companies, and even Apple Computer Japan employees formed bands and competed.

The person in charge of that event was the person who would later become the president of Apple Japan. At the time, he was in charge of marketing for Apple Computer. He also participated in the live performance as a drummer.

Also, I am an AI creator.Mr. Kimiya MatsuoWe have been band mates since college. In 2023, he won the 1st AI Art Grand Prix, appeared on NHK and commercial TV, and even released a book about music generation AI, making him an instant figure of the moment. At the time, he was the editor-in-chief of MacUser, a magazine published by Softbank, and his band performed at this event along with members of the editorial department, so I was able to learn about him. I did. I felt that the industry was full of enthusiasm and momentum.

The next one will be released on November 14th (Thursday) (updated every other Thursday).