From “big in Japan” to big in the whole wide world. Tokyo-based Dentsu has grown to become the largest advertising agency group in the Land of the Rising Sun and the
. Coming on the heels of its “big five” competitors with a yearly revenue of more than eight billion U.S. dollars, the company has consolidated both its position as a global colossus and as a domestic player with a reach that has been likened to that of the CIA. As of 2023, Dentsu had a total of 808
The finances: both growing and slowing
Dentsu recorded a
slight increase in revenue in 2023 compared to the previous year. The company cited factors including rising inflation, increased interest rates, market recessions, ongoing political uncertainty and the resulting influence on business and consumer spending as reasons behind the relative slowdown in gains. Dampened growth notwithstanding, the group still managed to post a dividend payment of 139.5 Japanese yen per share in 2023.
The operations: a successful synergy
In 2022, both of Dentsu’s segments, Dentsu International and Dentsu Japan, posted a slight
growth rate. The Americas were
Dentsu’s leading market outside of Japan in 2023, followed by Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA). In the last few years, Dentsu has been ramping up its mergers and acquisitions and boosting its structural growth area, Consumer Transformation & Technology. In 2021, the company made a foray into healthcare marketing with the launch of Dentsu health.
Between awards, traditions, and controversy
Dentsu has been at the forefront of
agency efficiency rankings worldwide, and broke records when winning ADFEST’s network of the year award for the seventh time in 2023. It has also joined forces with Japan’s Nikkei newspaper to establish the Well-being Initiative, promoted as a new index to measure wealth by considering the state of physical health and mental happiness as an additional index for gross domestic product. In February 2023, Dentsu was one of six companies that were indicted by Japanese prosecutors over the suspected rigging of bids related to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics. Following the indictment, the company announced that Dentsu Japan's CEO and other executives would also give back a portion of their compensation for six months.
Taking action in the AI arena
Similarly to its peers, Dentsu has been making forays into the
artificial intelligence (AI) universe. In September 2023, the company unveiled a new generative AI-related tool known as d.Scriptor. It aims to boost paid search, particularly in the realm of ad copy development. Following a trial period, the company is expanding its generative AI capabilities through the use of Amazon Web Services’ (AWS) tools across the company’s entire global network, according to a company statement. In January 2024, the group announced it has widened its relationship with AWS by incorporating two key services to further enhance the scalability of its use of generative AI.
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