In a move to consolidate all its abilities and skillsets, dentsu has officially launched Dentsu Creative, building a global full-service creative agency.
Despite launching in the New Zealand market at the beginning of 2021, Dentsu Creative launching around the world marks the beginning of a combined offering as it brings together all of its dentsu-branded creative agencies under a single brand globally. In Aotearoa, this included dentsu BC&F, Isobar, MKTG, and WiTH Collective.
This new creative offering signals the beginning of a new, more integrated chapter for the business says Murray Streets, Managing Director, Dentsu Creative Aotearoa.
He says this combining of skills will mean clients get access to greater capability.
โItโs all on one PnL, so theyโre not having to worry about our financial battles internally or turf wars about whoโs going to get what part of the budget.
โUltimately they should get stronger thinking and execution as a result of us being able to mix the varied skillsets from across those businesses. Itโs easy because itโs just under one brand,โ he says.
โThere is a lovely phrase from Marc Pritchard, Chief Brand Officer of Proctor and Gamble: โYour complexity should not be our problemโ. Iโm a big believer in that. Clients want strong solutions, they donโt care about what happens under the bonnet at the agency and they shouldnโt have to.โ
So why now? Murray says that the move was a way to simplify and focus on creativity in the dentsu network globally, especially with Fred Levron coming on board as Global Chief Creative Officer.
โFor our [New Zealand] clients there was no change, it was simply a re-articulation of what we are trying to do, this time with a stronger sense of identity which I think is good for our people as well. People like to see businesses and brands that are clear and have meaning and consistency.โ
It is also in recognition of the changes happening in the industry at the moment, he adds.
โThe desire for digital, data, technology and creativity to marry more powerfully for the benefit of clients has been a demand for a while. But like all of those future directions, itโs sort of a case of โgradually, gradually, suddenlyโ. Change happens like that.โ
The marketplace is now at a โbit of an inflection point where the power of digital, data, media, technology, and creativity come together is being realisedโ, he says.
โI think both traditional agencies, and emerging agencies like dentsu Aotearoa, which Dentsu Creative is part of, are all essentially moving to try and find a new integrated offering to clients businesses as they digitise and hold onto the best of creativity.โ
Murray says, in this way, dentsu is very of the moment as a business as it tries to marry those offerings together.
The Dentsu Creative offering will mean more seamless operation across technology, data and creativity, putting its people in a position to be able to execute across multiple challenges.
โFred Levron always says we are seven years young. And we are actually very young, so if we are going to do this now, we have every right to create this proposition against everyone else, so we should back ourselves and go for it.
โUltimately clients want to work with partners where they can say โhereโs whatโs going on in my business, here are some of the challenges we have got. We are looking for partners who can diagnose some of those problems and then assemble the right set of skills around that problem and offer, initially good strategic thinking, and then excellence in execution on how that turns upโ.
โThat could be digital experience or a content strategy or it could be the need for advertising in a more traditional sense.โ
Although this is still a work in progress, this intent is shared by all the senior leaders at dentsu Aotearoa, and is the reason people want to join their team, Murray says.
โWe love the thought that we have all the pieces and can bring those people together to collaborate around a problem. We can really step change some of the thinking that we do and improve the quality of the output.โ
This could be as simple as creative, media and strategy working better together or as complex as strategy, digital experience and user design specialists working together, which Murray says is when you โstart to get really interesting, strong thinking coming out that will help to solve clientโs problemsโ.
โIโve always appreciated the fact that you can never be a specialist or deeply knowledgeable in all the disciplines, but I love the choreography of different disciplines, and when that happens itโs quite magical.
I think thatโs what clients ultimately want. They would like a partner that can say โwe can see the problem youโre trying to solve and weโve got the people in our team with the right capabilities that can come together around thatโ.โ
So what does this collaboration look like exactly? It looks like saying yes to the mess, according to Murray.
โCollaboration isnโt a flow chart. You have to have just the right amount of structure. You have to allow the serendipity of people coming together with different perspectives, you have to allow them a little bit of divergent thinking, and then you have to allow them to come together with some decisions before you go back to the client.
โItโs freedom in a framework, in the best way. It is a bit of an art versus a science. Good Project Managers know youโve got to allow for a little bit of โtwo steps forward one step backโ, and youโve got build in a little room for error and mistake making throughout the process because often youโll get to a better place.โ
To see some real life examples of what Dentsu Creative can achieve, check out the following case studies.
TVNZ warns Kiwis of the perils of endless free streaming in new TVNZ+ campaign
TVNZ launched the reimagined streaming brand recently to better reflect its digital offering, repositioning the platform as a destination rather than a catch-up service. The work was โbuilt off a strategic proposition that encouraged Kiwis to โget their fixโ of quality content on TVNZ+,โ says Stevie Weber, Strategy Director at dentsu Aotearoa. โWe wanted to capitalise on the idea that bingeing fresh content puts you in good social standing and gives you something to talk about while also triggering this little dopamine hit, making us generally happy. Our research also showed that the breadth and depth of the content meant that โhunting out what youโll watch nextโ was an equally exciting activity. So, it was a no-brainer that we should celebrate Kiwis getting their binge on.โ
Featuring across TV, online, OOH, radio, and social channels, โthe work was a brilliant opportunity to delve into the world of content that the TVNZ+ platform delivers,โ says ECD Anne Boothroyd. โConjuring a mix of action, drama, and romance that will have people reaching for their devices to experience it for themselves.โ
UNFILTERED HISTORY CLEANS UP AT CANNES LIONS 2022
Vice World News, a newly formed brand, wanted to challenge itself to grow its cross-platform audience while sticking to an editorial mission of placing Vice at the forefront of conversations around under-reported issues like colonialism. Enter The Unfiltered History Tour, a secret tour of the British Museumโs stolen artefacts via Augmented Reality. The tour took place right under the noses of the British Museum, offering accounts of each artefactโs theft through the words of the communities they were stolen from, and generating over 18 million impressions in the process.
The tour was a landmark piece of work for newly formed Dentsu Creative, whoโs India office took home Agency of the Year at the Cannes Festival of Creativity earlier this year, with Unfiltered History winning the Titanium Lion in the process.
For more on Unfiltered History click here and for more on Dentsu Creative Aotearoa get in touch with [email protected]
This article was originally published in the September/October 2022 issue of NZ Marketing.
