Shiseido Placed Third in Italy’s CORPORATE ART AWARDS® 2016 Aimed at Recognizing Companies That Are Actively Involved in Art and Culture

Shiseido Company, Limited is pleased to announce that it placed third in the CORPORATE ART AWARDS® 2016, which was inaugurated this year to recognize companies that are actively involved in art and culture. The awards were given out at the awards ceremony in Rome, Italy on Wednesday, November 23, 2016.
* Official website of the CORPORATE ART AWARDS® 2016: http://www.pptart.net/corporate-art-awards

Professor Luca Desiata, Luiss Business School(right) ,Yukihiro Saito, General Manager Shiseido(Left)

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About the CORPORATE ART AWARDS® 2016

The CORPORATE ART AWARDS® was inaugurated this year to recognize activities by companies that are actively involved in art and culture and publicize them widely. The CORPORATE ART AWARDS® project is organized by brand and communication agency ppt Art and business school LUISS BUSINESS SCHOOL in Rome, Italy and sponsored by MINISTERO PER I BENI E LE ATTIVITA CULTURALI (The Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism). The official website of the CORPORATE ART AWARDS® states: “We believe that Art is the ultimate expression of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Companies that are actively involved in the Art world tend to be successful in terms of profitability and seem to have overcome most ethical, environmental and social challenges.”
The first installment of the awards attracted 80 entries from 22 countries. The entries were evaluated in terms of how they became involved in artistic and cultural activities, how their corporate culture is reflected in the collections that they own, how they reflect their artistic and cultural activities in business management, etc. As a result, Shiseido placed third because “it has run the Gallery for the longest time and carried out an extensive range of artistic and cultural activities.” The top three awardees and the reasons for their selection are given below:

Rank: First
Name of Company: Banca Intesa San Paolo
Reason for Selection: Has collected art works dating back to the 15th century and opened them to the general public at palaces that it owns in Milan, Venice, and Naples

Rank: First
Name of Company: Deutsche Bank
Reason for Selection: The head offices of respective regions have collected mainly planar art works/photographs and paintings, which have been displayed in in-house exhibitions or lent to museums outside.

Rank: Second
Name of Company: American Express
Reason for Selection: Has extended support to the restoration and excavation of Italian cultural heritage

Rank: Second
Name of Company: Shiseido
Reason for Selection: Has run the Gallery for the longest time and carried out an extensive range of artistic and cultural activities

About Shiseido’s Artistic and Cultural Activities

Shiseido was established in Ginza, Tokyo in 1872 as “Japan’s first Western-style pharmacy.” The start of the company’s artistic and cultural activities dates back to the era of its first president Shinzo Fukuhara. He defined the business domain not as a mere independently operated pharmacy but as a cosmetics company and significantly developed the firm as an organization as well. Furthermore, he hammered out three key slogans that have shaped the future direction of Shiseido and existed to this day: “A brand must be international.” “Let the product speak for itself.” and “Richness in everything.” Under these three slogans, he addressed the tasks of “making products art,” “extending support to art and circulating it within and outside the company” and “developing and disseminating information about a life of culture,” and his philosophy has been handed down ceaselessly to this day.
At present, the Shiseido Gallery can be cited as one of Shiseido’s leading artistic and cultural activities. It was established by Shinzo himself in 1919 and is said to be the oldest existing gallery in Japan. As a business leader and photographer, he, who loved art deeply, founded it with the aim of offering an exhibition venue for budding or avant-garde artists free of charge and it has served as the origin of Shiseido’s Mécénat activities. Other artistic and cultural activities include the BEAUTY CROSSING GINZA project, which disseminates cultural trends on the same theme from the Shiseido Gallery and other three bases in Ginza; the Shiseido Art House, where Shiseido collects some of the art works that have been displayed in the Shiseido Gallery’s exhibitions and stores and opens them to the general public free of charge (temporarily closed from September 16, 2016 through the end of June 2017); and the publication of the Hanatsubaki corporate culture magazine.
Generally speaking, artistic and cultural activities are considered to be part of CSR activities as is the case with environmental conservation or contribution to the local community. Based on CSV (Creating Shared Value: coexistence of economic value and social value = making contributions to business management and operations through CSR activities), which is gaining momentum as a new trend of CSR initiatives, Shiseido will continue to conduct sustainable artistic and cultural activities that also contribute to its business management and operations.

Shiseido Art House

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Shiseido Gallery

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Hanatsubaki corporate culture magazine

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