Matt Eaton often describes his business life in Tokyo as
a study in contrasts and contradictions. His experience is largely
Western, and his media sensibilities are experimental and
pioneering.Yet,the managing director of Mediaedge:cia,Tokyo, is required
to innovate in a formal market, one that still employs a
traditional approach despite tremendous technology. In this
environment, Eaton has created his own formula that combines
creativity in media with media effectiveness, a process at work for his
clients in Japan.“Innovation for its own sake doesn’t do much, quite frankly,” he says.“Gimmick is a way of describing a lot
of what you see [in a tech-savvy place like Tokyo].We always seem
to overestimate the power of technology in the short term
and underestimate its influence in the long. Just because
it’s possible doesn’t mean it’s the correct thing to do.” If he had to
choose, he would probably always go with innovation in an
established medium than a new medium because it can increase range
and communicate with a wider audience while engaging them. Doing wonderful things but reaching only a few hundred
people is not likely to have a big sales effect in the end, he
says.