BBA 2024 Winner Profile: Outstanding Contribution – Joseph Tame

The 17th annual British Business Awards (BBA) saw Joseph Tame become the inaugural winner of the trophy for Outstanding Contribution, designed to recognise “excellence and effectiveness in supporting UK–Japan commercial and/or cultural relations over the past 12 months.”

Tame was celebrated for his investment of significant time and resources in giving back to the community and supporting the PR and social awareness activities of Tokyo-based not-for-profit organisations (NPOs) with strong links to the international community.

Winning the award is “humbling and gratifying,” he said, adding that “it’s a powerful recognition” not only of the support he has received over the past decade but also of the community that has enabled the efforts of Wild Tame, a creative agency that he and his wife Satoko established in 2011.

“The first seven years of Wild Tame was just me and Satoko. Then we started growing gradually and now have 25 team members. For a long time, we were taken up with only serving our clients, but in the past couple of years, we’ve developed the capacity to do non-profit work. That’s been very exciting for us because it has given us opportunities to do things we wouldn’t normally do. We’re trying to leverage the resources we have as a company—people, equipment and time—to give back,” he said.

Mirai no Mori

Tame first learned about Mirai no Mori, which creates life-changing outdoor programmes for abused, neglected and orphaned youths in Japan, at the BBA in 2022. Inspired by their activities, he sought a way that he could provide support.

In 2023, Tame and his team joined many of Mirai no Mori’s annual events, such as the summer and winter camps, activity days and functions with corporate sponsors, to shoot video footage. They then created a series of videos to promote the NPO’s activities on social media.

“We were blown away by the commitment of the Mirai no Mori team and their ability to instil confidence in the children through the transformational power of these outdoor experiences,” he said.

After one year, Tame was keen to continue his support, albeit in a different format “to keep people engaged and interested.” Next came a series of videos about one of Mirai no Mori’s core supporters, Knights in White Lycra, a fundraising volunteer group that has raised ¥164.8 million for disadvantaged children in Japan as of September 2024. Tame attended the group’s four-day, 500-km bicycle ride, as well as other activities such as sponsored walks and social nights, and produced a 15-minute video documentary on one of the riders. Highway to Health was the result of 700 hours of editing huge volumes of footage.

TELL and Tokyo Marathon 

TELL (Tokyo English Lifeline), which provides support and counselling services in Japan and helps to address the country’s growing mental health care needs, is another NPO that has received Tame’s support. After video documenting the teams taking part in the TELL Tokyo Tower Climb, a major fundraising event, he and his team interviewed three “Mental Health Champions” to produce videos to raise awareness of Suicide Prevention Month.

“Their interviews were very inspiring. We wanted the videos to be shared by as many people as possible on social media, so we combined animation with the video footage in a unique way,” he said.

Tame is also a long-term supporter of the Tokyo Marathon, with 2025 marking his 16th consecutive year of participation, despite his admission that he is an unlikely runner. For his first foray into running, a 10K race in 2009, he strapped the recently launched iPhone to his forehead to “make himself accountable to a live audience” so he would reach the finish line. His leveraging of technology to tell a story from a new angle sparked interest among the public and he soon drew 40,000 viewers for his annual broadcast of the Tokyo Marathon.

“In the early years, I entered the marathon through the lottery or a sponsor, but in the past eight years I’ve gone through the charity option—making a substantial donation for a place. Now there’s also an annual half marathon, which I did a few weeks ago for charity,” he said.

Responsible employer

Inspired by his clients’ approach to providing employee benefits, Tame has been “trying really hard to provide similar ones” to his team. A core aspect of his approach is flexibility to work overseas when needed by members of his team, who hail from 12 countries.

He also takes time to have informal chats with creatives who contact him seeking a job, even when the company is not hiring. “There are a lot of really talented people out there who remind me of myself, trying to break into the market,” he said. “I share everything I can on what they can do, who they can talk to and the organisations they can approach. I tell the stories of myself and creative people around me, who have established themselves over time.”

Tame also aims to make a difference through the company’s operations. In 2023, for example, Wild Tame supported a B2C campaign for a British nutrition company trying to expand in Japan. “Using our knowledge of Japanese and Asian culture, interpreting their brand for the local market and coming up with a strategy and creative has been really rewarding,” he said, adding that he’d like to continue to build on the company’s UK connections.

The company has also been producing content for the social media accounts of Netflix, which has enabled staff to gain a deeper understanding of how its huge productions are produced. Such projects are beneficial as Tame “always looks at work as an opportunity to learn and improve.”

Looking ahead

Since spending several days on the Noto Peninsula in November, Tame is considering how to support the people affected by the January 1st earthquake and subsequent heavy flooding there this year.

His aspirations are high because he saw firsthand how much help is needed, he said, noting that he saw a village destroyed by the collapse of a cliff and people still living in shelters, separated by cardboard partitions. He also witnessed how “showing support can uplift people in these difficult situations.”

Both he and Satoko appreciate what they have every day and have a strong desire to continue to give back, he said.