Dentsu Archives

August 2, 2023

Dentsu’s deployment of Microsoft’s Azure OpenAI provides launchpad for two new client-ready solutions across CXM within a private, enterprise-grade, secure development environment

Dentsu Group Inc. today announced it has partnered with Microsoft to launch enterprise-wide access to advanced Azure OpenAI technologies, empowering employees to develop client-ready solutions to drive growth and efficiency from the safety of a private, enterprise-grade, secure development environment.

This latest milestone in dentsu’s longstanding partnership with Microsoft has already resulted in the development of two new CXM solutions. Merkle GenCX, a unique offering that uses the power of generative AI to deliver more impactful customer experiences, and AI Playground LATAM, a regionally-focused set of customized solutions that use emerging technologies combined with integrated audience data to bring more day-to-day efficiency and operational agility to clients.

The centralized and private instance of Azure OpenAI infrastructure removes the burden from business and product teams, and increases capacity for converting concepts into prototypes and solutions that drive value for clients. Dentsu’s pioneering approach integrates AI infrastructure into existing and new solutions and data sets, mitigating the risk of security incursions, while promoting a deep focus on agility for client growth.

“Artificial intelligence is being woven into the fabric of our society and represents a generational opportunity for our people and our clients. By extending our deep partnership with Microsoft and rolling out Azure OpenAI infrastructure, we’re making AI resources accessible to all dentsu employees within a framework defined on ethical and responsible AI principles. It also allows us to rapidly integrate GenAI across our products, driving faster and smarter omnichannel marketing for clients,” said, Dominic Shine, Group Chief Information Officer, dentsu.

“ In the boundless realm of digital possibilities, AI has emerged rapidly as a visionary brushstroke transforming advertising, data and content creation across the industry. In our deep partnership with dentsu we share a common approach to responsible AI and its ability to drive creativity and productivity through Microsoft’s Azure AI and Co-Pilot capabilities,” commented Simon Crownshaw, Worldwide Lead for Media and Entertainment at Microsoft. “We are working closely with dentsu to enable AI to drive business and technological outcomes that will fuel a symphony of ideas, orchestrate captivating narratives, elevating brands and campaigns, and provide a powerful platform for their customers.”

Given the rapid adoption of consumer grade AI tools, dentsu has made a concentrated effort to prioritize employee access to enterprise grade AI platforms and continuous enablement for leveraging those platforms as they evolve. These technologies are being made available across geographies, agency brands and capabilities through an active and diverse community called the AI Connective, with the objective of sharing knowledge and quickly bringing differentiated innovations to market.

March 3, 2023

Wednesday 01 March 2023, Colombo: In a bid to support the revival of tourism in Sri Lanka, the Dentsu Grant Group Sri Lanka and Dentsu India have joined hands to gift an integrated marketing campaign titled; “And you thought you knew Sri Lanka” to the tourism industry. The campaign was created specially targeting the younger Indian tourist market for The Sri Lanka Association of Inbound Tour Operators (SLAITO) and The Hotels Association of Sri Lanka (THASL) to help them promote the country to this potential target market. With the latest data showing USD 10 Billion was spent by Indians on foreign travel, the time seems opportune to try to woo some of this market to Sri Lanka.

The new campaign positions Sri Lanka as an exciting destination that offers a wide array of experiences many that are little known and off-the-beaten track. The campaign launch event was graced by the High Commissioner of India to Sri Lanka – His Excellency Gopal Baglay; Hon. Harin Fernando MP – Minister of Tourism and Lands; the President of SLAITO – Nishad Wijetunga; the President of THASL – M. Shantikumar and the Chairperson of the Dentsu Group – Neela Marikkar, along with other industry stakeholders and social media influencers.

Commenting at the event, Nishad Wijetunga – President of the Sri Lanka Association of Inbound Tour Operators (SLAITO) said, “The Sri Lanka Association of Inbound Tour Operators and The Hotels Association of Sri Lanka are grateful to the Dentsu Grant Group for creating this very exciting integrated marketing campaign that will resonate with young Indian professionals who are seeking adventurous holidays, away from the stressful corporate environment. The campaign will highlight Sri Lanka’s hidden gems, which offer authentic and unique experiences that appeal to the target demographic. The Indian market has been a key support for Sri Lanka’s tourism industry always and we believe this re-energized effort to attract more Indian Millennials and Gen Z’s will be a win-win initiative for all parties and support Sri Lanka’s economic recovery.”

Shantikumar – President of The Hotels Association of Sri Lanka (THASL) commenting on the initiative said “Sri Lanka possesses a rich culture that is truly unlike any other in the world. And we think this campaign resonates with the core values and the mission we try to achieve through our association while really bringing out the idea that this little island can surprise you in all that it has to offer. We at THASL are excited to partner with SLAITO to bring Dentsu’s idea to life and we also truly believe that the Indian market will be moved by the exciting and heartwarming experience created by Sri Lanka and its people, while helping the tourism industry boom once again”.

Elaborating further, Neela Marikkar – Chairperson of the Dentsu Grant Group said, “We are delighted to extend a helping hand to boost the tourism industry stakeholders, including the SME sector who have all been badly affected. When our Dentsu network reached out to see how they can assist the country at this difficult time we decided to collaborate with our counterparts in India to develop a tourism promotion campaign on a pro bono basis to support the revival of tourism to the country. We felt it would be the best support we could give as it’s a quick win to drive foreign exchange back to the country. India was the market of our choice going by our data we estimate around 24 million potential target audience just within South India alone. This is significant. We wanted to have a new story to tell our younger audience about amazing aspects of Sri Lanka that they won’t know about. And that’s what our campaign will do. We are happy to support THASL and SLAITO to bring in a greater inflow of Indian tourists. Dentsu is a leading global agency network and we have been able to get Dentsu Creative and Dentsu X in India to work with us to develop the concept and also get some media houses in India to support us in the initial stage on a pro bono basis. They too appreciate the challengse we face, and we are grateful for the support we have received right across the board. As Sri Lanka’s leading creative marcom agency, we have conceptualized a campaign which we feel will strike a chord with these young Indian audience and hope to inspire them to visit our beautiful country.

This campaign will feature lesser-known sites that offer a brand-new experience to young Indian professionals who are adventurous and looking for authentic experiences. Some of the locations featured in the campaign are the Underwater Shipwreck in Pasikuda; Nildiya Pokuna at Ella; Kabaragala Mountain Hike in Sabaragamuwa; White Water Rafting in Kithulgala; and Water Sports at Kalpitiya. Sri Lanka has all the ingredients to be a short-haul adventure destination for Indian professionals looking for a fun and inspiring holiday.

Our partners to the campaign are Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB), Cinnamon Hotels & Resorts, Lois London – for sponsoring the fashion in the film, PR – who provided all the high-end swimwear for the film, Greenfolk, iFilm, Malinda Bandara, Gal Oya and Juice – for the free footage, Water garden and Aitken Spence Hotels & Aitken Spence Travels – for providing the accommodation, locations & logistics for our shoot.

November 17, 2022

The Dentsu Rise Up Challenge is a global competition, which aims to mobilize 10,000 young people across the world to develop a creative communications campaign to tackle food waste and encourage sustainable living.

So far, over 640 applicants have registered for the Dentsu Rise Up Challenge in Sri Lanka. Commenting on this, Sajith Weerasinghe – Chief Strategy Officer, Dentsu Grant stated, “We are super thrilled about the excitement and the enthusiasm shown by the young innovators for the competition! to further add more value to the efforts and the interest shown by the applicants, we have also onboarded with us an esteemed panel of judges, endowed with wealth of knowledge and experience in the industry, who can guide these young talents to reach greater heights.”

The panel of judges consists of Amanda Aluvihara – Creative Director/Consultant at Dentsu Grant & Miami Ad School,Hanim Abdul Cader – Creative Director at TBWA Sri Lanka,Shamir Hussain – Creative Director at Dentsu Grant, Chani Perera – Strategic Advisor at AOD Designer for MMCA, Asela De Silva – Creative Services Director at ADA Sri Lanka and Prof.C.N Wickramasinghe – Department of Commerce and Finance at University of Kelaniya. In keeping with the spirit of the competition, the judges, were chosen to ensure inclusivity and diversity is maintained.

“Sri Lanka’s total daily waste collection in the Western Province alone is 1300 tonnes, out of which 725 tonnes is food waste. This is a massive issue, especially in the face of the current economy crisis and hyperinflation situation that the country is going through. In the face of this, Dentsu, has taken steps in reducing food loss and waste in a creative way through Dentsu Rise Up challenge – which, we believe is a powerful way to strengthen the sustainability of our food systems and improve planetary health” said Neela Marikkar, Chairperson and Managing Director of Dentsu Grant.

The Rise Up Challenge in Sri Lanka aims to mobilize 500 young people between the age group of 17-27 to come up with activation ideas to Prevent Food Waste and contribute to resolving the food crisis in Sri Lanka. This is our small part to reduce food wastage in Sri Lanka.

Stay tuned for more details, visit www.dentsuriseup.lk

September 25, 2017

Tuesday 19, September 2017 at 9:54 AM by CB : The Most Awarded Network Table in the 2017 Campaign Brief Asia Creative Rankings has seen “order restored” with Dentsu rising back to top and displacing last year’s number one network, Ogilvy & Mather. BBDO is ranked #3 and the big improver this year is TBWA at #4 (up from #6 last year).

Dentsu’s best performer is their Tokyo head office – a clear #1 in Asia with a massive 5140 Ranking points. From India, Taproot Dentsu Mumbai also contributed 445 points to their total.

Ogilvy & Mather’s strong #2 network ranking was lead by a strong performance from their Bangkok agency who rank #5 in Asia with 1820 points . The network also received major contributions from Singapore (1582 points), Hong Kong (1030 points), Tokyo (945 points) and Mumbai (770 points).

BBDO dropped one place this year to #3. They had two top 10 performers overall with Bangkok and Mumbai staring – BBDO Bangkok ranks #2 overall with 2115 points and BBDO Mumbai at #8 with 1555 points. BBDO Malaysia in #17 position also contributed 930 points, although these points are from the 2015-16 awards season and will drop off next year. Encouragingly, BBDO Pakistan is ranking at #38 in Asia and contributed 390 points.

TBWA is the big improver this year moving up 2 places in this year’s Network ranking. If TBWA can maintain momentum then they may take #3 position from BBDO next year. TBWA’s improved network position is being driven by TBWA Hakuhodo Tokyo, TBWA Santiago Mangada Puno Philippines and TBWA Thailand who all made significant moves up. TBWA Hakuhodo is ranked #3 agency overall and Philippines and Thailand are ranked #12 and #13 respectively.

Hakuhodo, McCann Worldgroup, Leo Burnett, Cheil Worldwide, J Walter Thompson and Grey Group fill #5 to #10 spots in the Top Network Ranking.

For one of Asia’s smallest networks, the rise of BBH to #12 in the Network Rankings is notable. This was off the back of Asia’s most awarded campaign – Nike “Unlimited Stadium” that contributed a massive 1185 ranking points in 2017’s award shows.

From an award-winning perspective the two most disappointing networks in these 2017 Campaign Brief Asia Creative Rankings are Y&R and DDB.

Y&R fell from #8 to #11 this year, however two years ago they were Asia’s 4th ranked network. Their best performer is Y&R Malaysia at #51 overall. DDB has also fallen away as an award winning performer falling to #19 overall from #16. Two years ago they ranked at #10. Singapore is their top performer at #65 overall in Asia.

These Campaign Brief Asia Network Rankings are the combined totals of awards won over the past two years – 2016 and 2017. The period covered begins with the Korean-based Ad Stars awards in August 2015 through to the recent Cannes Lions in June 2017.

The ad shows that are included are: Ad Stars 2015 + 2016; Spikes Asia 2015 + 2016; AWARD Awards 2016 + 2017; AdFest 2016 + 2017; Campaign Brief’s THE WORK 2016 + 2017; Clio Awards 2015 + 2016; London International Awards 2015 + 2016; New York Festivals 2016 + 2017; One Show 2015 + 2016; D&AD 2016 + 2017; Cannes Lions 2016 + 2017. See the printed edition of Campaign Brief for the points allocations and methodology.

Full Rankings coverage is in our 54 page special report in the latest 92 page edition of Campaign Brief – available free at the Spikes Asia Festival. This year the Rankings have been expanded to again include individual creatives – a ranking from #1 to #1237 of every award winning Copywriter and Art Director in 2017. There is a breakdown of the most awarded Agencies and Creatives in every Asian Country; overall Network rankings; and a list of this year’s top 20 most awarded creative directors.

The Creative Rankings will also be available on Campaign Brief Asia as a downloadable 54 page pdf. Make sure you don’t miss out on this download – Register FREE for the Campaign Brief Asia Daily News Email and a link will be sent to you for the free download.

Dentsu Partners with Microsoft to Unleash AI-powered Innovation for Brands

The Dentsu Grant Group together with SLAITO and THASL launch the ‘And you thought you knew Sri Lanka’ campaign to entice Indian travelers to visit Sri Lanka’s hidden gems

The Dentsu Rise Up Challenge – Judges announced!

Dentsu is top Network in 2017 Campaign Brief Asia Creative Rankings: Ogilvy & Mather rank at #2, followed by BBDO and TBWA