Inamoto & Co., the agency founded by former AKQA worldwide chief creative officer Rei Inamoto and New York general manager Rem Reynolds back in 2015, is chugging right along since picking up one of those Fast Company Most Innovative business designations.
Today the shop announced 5 new clients: fashion brand Theory, spice maker Ajinomoto, ANA (All Nippon Airlines), wine distributor Laithwaite’s, and soon-to-debut carshare service RideNow.
The work for these new brands will include strategy, digital design and “incubating new ventures from scratch.”
We always knew that Inamoto didn’t do “traditional” advertising, and its list of client work is definitely not that. Here’s the branding for the New York City ferry system.
In a statement, Inamoto said his agency has helped clients grow their businesses over the past three years by focusing on two things: “first, identifying new customer opportunities and second, designing best-in-class customer experiences.”
“To help businesses grow, it’s important to focus on what we call ‘practical futures,’ a version of the future that’s far enough that you have to stretch to reach but not so far that it’s in the fantasy land,” he continued. “We can leave that to Hollywood.”
One of the main projects that led to the Fast Company designation was UNIQLO IQ, that company’s “digital concierge” that allows one to shop via Facebook Messenger. The agency also worked on Toyota showroom Drive to Go and a retail concept store for UNIQLO sister brand GU.
In case you missed Inamoto’s piece about the end of agencies as we know them for Adweek last year, he said maybe creative shops need to move away from awards and focus more on helping their clients do better business. We feel like many people got that message.