Agencies

Cosmetics Giant Shiseido Acquires Ad Agency to Expand Its Highly Awarded In-House Team

But Jwalk will still be free to work with other clients

shiseido-secondary-2017 — Shiseido, known for high-quality content like its 2017 Brand Movie, is growing its U.S. marketing.YouTube

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Tokyo-based cosmetics company Shiseido made an unusual decision this month: it would buy an American ad agency. But this isn’t your standard acquisition.

Moving forward, New York’s Jwalk will become an integrated part of the 140-year old brand’s American division, effectively serving as its in-house creative agency while simultaneously working with external clients. The setup mirrors relationships like that of publishing giant Hearst and its integrated agency, iCrossing—but in this case the shared interest is fashion and beauty.

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