Facebook Japan today inked a quite spectacular deal with Tokyo-based Dentsu, one of the biggest advertising agencies in the world. Under the deal, Dentsu will become the official representative of Facebook Japan’s sales and marketing operations (also see here).
Dentsu will consult Japanese companies interested in placing ads on Facebook on how to create effective Facebook pages, sell premium ads, and “offer new marketing strategies utilizing Facebook that are tied into ad placements in the mass media to advertisers in Japan.”
(For marketing itself, Facebook Japan has chosen Tokyo-based PR agency Bilcom.)
Here is the Facebook Japan-Dentsu press release in full:
Dentsu and Facebook® Announce Agreement to Support Advertisers in Japan
Dentsu Inc. (Tokyo: 4324; ISIN: JP3551520004; President & CEO: Tatsuyoshi Takashima; Head Office: Tokyo; Capital: 58,967.1 million yen; hereinafter “Dentsu”) and Facebook, Inc. (CEO: Mark Zuckerberg; Headquarters: Palo Alto, California, USA; hereinafter “Facebook”) announced today an agreement under which Dentsu will become the official representative of Facebook’s sales and marketing support to companies in Japan.
Under this agreement, Dentsu, as Facebook’s official ad sales representative in the Japanese market, will provide consultation on effective Facebook Page (see Note 1) development, exclusively market Facebook Premium Ads, and offer new marketing strategies utilizing Facebook that are tied into ad placements in the mass media to advertisers in Japan.
“Dentsu will be a valuable partner for us as we seek to support marketers in Japan to connect and engage with their customers,” said Blake Chandlee, Vice President & Commercial Director, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Emerging Markets, Facebook. “Dentsu understands the unique social marketing opportunity on Facebook, and will work directly with brands here to help them create and implement campaigns that will impact their businesses in meaningful ways.”
“As communication styles diversify, social networking, which directly connects consumers to other consumers, has become a vital communications medium in the world today,” said Dentsu Executive Officer Akira Sugimoto. “I believe that our collaboration with Facebook will play a key role in our initiatives to further strengthen links between consumers and corporations.”
Facebook has more than 500 million users worldwide, and many brands and businesses around the world are already integrating Facebook as part of their marketing activities. Campaigns in which advertisements in Facebook are linked to a wide variety of advertisements in the mass media are becoming increasingly apparent.
Through this alliance, Dentsu will propose and implement new communications strategies and marketing activities utilizing the Facebook platform to advertisers and media companies, in addition to creating new advertising models that will generate new revenue streams.
cyber communications inc. (President & CEO: Hideyuki Nagasawa; Head Office: Tokyo; hereinafter “cci”), a subsidiary of Dentsu Inc., will act as the media representative for sales of advertising space on Facebook.
Looking forward, the Dentsu Group will provide optimal solutions for the new marketing activities required by companies in this age of social communication.
The main points of the agreement are as follows.
1. As Facebook’s official ad sales representative in the Japanese market, Dentsu will obtain from Facebook the latest technical information and examples of how to use the services, and will provide consulting services to advertisers and media companies.
2. With the cooperation of Facebook, Dentsu will create Facebook Pages that maximize the platform’s functions in order to provide added value to advertisers and media companies.
3. Dentsu will have exclusive sales rights to the premium advertising space on Facebook for a one-year period from February 18, 2011, and will develop new advertising strategies in Japan that link advertisements in the mass media (such as television, newspapers, magazines and radio) with advertisements on Facebook.
4. Utilizing the technical support provided by Facebook, Dentsu will develop new plans and business related to advertisements and promotions that utilize the Facebook platform.
5. Dentsu will proactively incorporate into its proposals to clients Facebook Premium Ads with social context (see Note 2) that Facebook currently offers.
