Rakuten had been in the US for half a decade but was still a head-scratcher. "How do you say it and what do you do with it?"

I'll be honest. There was a brief. It was fine. But in the middle of writing it I made up a song and sang it around the office. Someone liked it. It made all the strategic sense we needed, a cultural shortcut to the brand's name and benefit created by an iconic song. My goofy song became the backbone of the campaign.

Creatives wrote the fun lyrics that made it all work, created the eye-popping scenarios. But "Rocketman" as "I shop Rakuten" was me. This business can be like that..