A young new member is going to be joining Merci Co., Ltd.!
Their work shows strong expressive power, and they're a bright, cheerful person with a wonderful smile, so I'm really happy they've decided to come to Merci.

Personally, this is the first staff member younger than me since I joined Merci, so I feel I need to keep improving my own skills so I don't fall behind this young talent. Time to work hard.

This came up during the interview too: for people hoping to get a job at a web production company or an advertising-related company, the big worry is whether it's a so-called "black" company—"Will I be made to work overtime until late at night...?" "Will I have to take work home on my days off just to finish it...?"

It's true that in this industry overtime and weekend work are often taken for granted (people around me frequently worry, "Your job must be tough"), and given how much this has been in the news lately, it's no wonder people think that way.

But wait!!

Our company, Merci, is an ultra-"white" company that even surprises people in the industry.
After work I go to the gym for a light workout on weeknights, go out for meals with friends, and on weekends I throw myself into my hobbies and recharge. My work and private life are clearly separated—truly stress-free. And since it's coming from an employee, you know it's true.

That said, we're certainly not "idle" — we produce a fair amount of work.
Thanks to our clients, we receive a great many requests from companies in all kinds of industries for advertising work, starting with website and smartphone site production.

So how is Merci able to keep producing advertising that delivers results while maintaining such a healthy working environment? The answer lies in our past experience…

Over the past few years, price competition in the website production industry has intensified all at once, to the point where some production companies now advertise things like "We'll build your website for 30,000 yen!" or "We'll renew your site for smartphones for 50,000 yen!"

These days we would never propose building a website or smartphone site at such a "dangerous" price, but the truth is that Merci once took part in this price war too — or rather, there was a time when we had no choice but to take part. And we learned firsthand what happens when you produce advertising by competing on price. It is precisely because we went through that period that Merci is what it is today.

Let us tell you what happens when you produce advertising by competing on price…

First, you get flooded with requests from clients who simply want their advertising made as cheaply as possible, and the number of projects rises sharply. With more advertising to produce, staff get busy. But even though they're busier, the unit price is low, so sales don't increase. With so many projects, staff can't keep up without working overtime, but since sales haven't risen, there's no money to pay for that overtime. Work keeps getting busier, yet salaries don't go up and overtime goes unpaid. On top of that, clients keep making one request after another… naturally, the staff burn out.

In that state, there's no way anyone can see the face of the customer beyond the customer — the end user on the other side of the client company. There's no room to consider them, and even if someone did realize they ought to, the limited time available leaves no space to do so. In these conditions, it's simply impossible to create "advertising that delivers results."

Eventually, the exhausted staff leave the company one after another, and in the end the company can no longer sustain itself. That is the fate of a production company that joins the price war and keeps producing advertising on price alone to the bitter end.

At Merci, our president Odagiri, who was managing the production team at the time, sensed the danger and thought, "This can't go on," and carried out a structural reform.
By receiving from clients the time and budget needed to produce advertising that delivers results (in other words, a fair price) and by creating an environment where staff can focus on each project one at a time, we were able to provide high-quality advertising that satisfies our clients while also becoming a company where the people working here are happy again.
And of course, I'm happy working here too.

What we want to say is this:

* There's always a reason behind a low price
* If you're commissioning a website, smartphone site or other advertising and you want results, it's crucial to choose a production company with the structure in place to deliver them
* Merci is a healthy company! No need to worry about us! (laughs)

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If you're looking for a website production company, or if you want your advertising to deliver results, please keep this in mind as you choose a good production partner.