About Us

Message from the Executive Manager

Exective Manager Shuzo Ishidera

Welcome to the Hakuhodo Insitute of Life and Living (HILL) website.

A think tank with no peer anywhere in the world, the Institute has studied the perceptions and behavior of people for over 30 years since its establishment in 1981. The fruits of this research are used not only by our clients and media companies, but by the government and academia as well.

Central to our approach is the Hakuhodo Group’s Sei-katsu-sha Insight corporate philosophy. The targets of our research are neither “consumers” of products and services, nor “audiences” of media and content. These are just two aspects of people’s lives. The subject of our interest is the people who actively live their lives through actions like these, or what we call “sei-katsu-sha” (literally, “people with lives”). The Sei-katsu-sha Insight approach is to look at an individual organically from the various aspects of their lives in order to understand them in their entirety.

To come to grips with people in their entirety, we use two opposite approaches. For instance, we might take a bird’s view of sei-katsu-sha as a whole through a large-scale quantitative survey while also probing the details of individual sei-katsu-sha using qualitative research like enthography. Or we may tease out the contexts of sei-katsu-sha’s current lives through analysis of time-series data extending back 20 years, while also envisioning sei-katsu-sha tomorrows by backcasting from forecasts extending 20 years into the future.

When you want to understand people from out of the box perspectives, climb the HILL with us. You are certain to find new vistas opening up before you.

Shuzo Ishidera
Executive Manager
Hakuhodo Institute of Life and Living