Otōsan is the star of one of the most successful TV advertising campaigns Japan has ever seen. He is the talking dog father of a family of humans in the commercials, which have even featured famous Hollywood stars like Tommy Lee Jones and Quentin Tarantino. As a result of the campaign's success, the advertising analysis firm CM Research Center awarded SoftBank the “Brand of the Year” accolade every year from 2007 through 2011, and has enabled SoftBank to vault from a newcomer to the industry in 2006 to become Japan's 2nd largest mobile phone company. In July 2013, SoftBank acquired Sprint, the U.S.'s 3rd largest wireless network operator.
