Today, innovations and creativity are still at the heart of the company's operations. Working in the partnership with each of its clients to grow their brands into powerbrands, Hakuhodo Inc. puts the highest priority on producing creative ideas. It employs original branding methodologies, such as Brand Cycle Management and Touch-Point Analyzer. At Hakuhodo Inc. every employee works as a creative agent of the company. This is a primary reason they remain a unique voice in the world of marketing and communications.

Hakuhodo Inc. is number two Japan agency behind Dentsu. It has twenty six regional offices throughout Japan, as well as a network of subsidiary specialist agencies and other marketing services businesses, covering almost every discipline. Until 2002, the company trailed behind its larger rival, less than half Dentsu's size. In December of that year, Hakuhodo Inc. merged with two other Japanese agencies, Daiko and Yomiko, and created a giant that comes a little closer to rivalling the mighty Dentsu. Meanwhile, the group has held a number of acquisitions of small creative agencies in the major advertising territories.

In April, 2005, Hakuhodo UK Ltd. opened for business with the Citizen Watch account; Hakuhodo France SA opened in Paris in June with business from NEC and Honda, followed by Hakuhodo Italy in Milan in July, where Canon is an inaugural client; later, In Asia, Hakuhodo opened in Taipei, Taiwan with NEC and Honda among its clients.

"We must be ready to help our major domestic clients, when they expand overseas," says Mr. Shimizu," and thus, we are opening new offices upon their request."

The key clients in Japan, who are providing the basis for Hakuhodo's overseas growth, are: All Nippon Airways Co. Ltd., Canon Inc., Citizen Watch Co. Ltd., Honda Motor Co. Ltd., Isetan Co. Ltd., Kao Corp., Konica Corp., Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd., NEC Corp. and Toshiba Corp.

In September, 2005, Hakuhodo Inc. formed a business partnership with the Russian advertising agency Prior Advertising, joining the growing ranks of Japanese automakers, consumer electronics firms and other businesses, moving into the country to tap its developing economy.

Due to the partnership with Prior, Hakuhodo aims to secure orders from the Japanese companies operating in Russia, while the Russian firm will handle accounts on Hakuhodo's introduction. Through this joint effort both partners will aim for sales of five hundred million yens over the next year.

At the end of December, 2004, Prior, an independent advertising company, recorded sales of about sixty five million dollars or roughly seven point one billion yens. Dentsu's Inc. Moscow branch, which was temporarily closed, was reopened in August. Through its collaboration with Prior, Hakuhodo Inc. aims to compete with Dentsu in the Russian market.

The number of Japanese advertisers in the world's top hundred increases each year. Opening new shops, Hakuhodo Inc. have set its sights on drawing many of these companies into their own fold. The test for Hakuhodo is to keep the business coming in and to generate an outstanding creative in each market.