1978-

Dentsu Determined to Cover All Spheres of Communications

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From an Advertising Agency to a Communications Company

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In 1978, after having overcome the blows inflicted by the global oil crisis through top-down efforts to attain higher efficiency, Dentsu changed its English corporate name from Dentsu Advertising Ltd. to Dentsu Incorporated, signifying the beginning of its transformation into a communications company. The Company rapidly expanded its business domains as it began working with emerging new media and stepped up its involvement in large-scale public sector-led regional promotion projects.

Dentsu acquired an array of exclusive rights in Japan related to the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, and developed the "Gambare Nippon!" (Go Japan!) campaign through which national sports federations received corporate sponsorship in return for athletes' appearances in advertising campaigns, thus laying the foundation of its sports-related marketing business.

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As a key part of its overseas business strategy, in 1981 Dentsu signed a basic agreement with Young & Rubicam (Y&R)—the largest advertising agency in the United States—establishing an international strategic alliance. This led to the launch of DYR Worldwide, which built up a global network spanning Europe, the Americas and Asia.

Separately, Dentsu became a pioneer in the Chinese advertising market in 1980 by becoming one of the first international agencies to establish an office in Beijing.

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In 1986, Gohei Kogure, Dentsu‘s eighth president, introduced a corporate identity plan to symbolize the corporate philosophy of providing a "Total Communications Service."

In 1988, amidst the economic boom in Japan that would become known as the bubble economy, Dentsu's fiscal-year net sales surpassed one trillion yen, making it the first advertising agency in the world to reach such a level.

  • Photo 1:
    President Kogure giving a speech at the 1987 New Year's Back-to-Work Ceremony.
  • Photo 2:
    The corporate ad announcing the change of name from Dentsu Advertising Ltd. to DENTSU INC.
  • Photo 3:
    President Alexander Brody of Y&R International (right) and Dentsu’s seventh President Hideharu Tamaru.
  • Photo 4:
    The corporate logo combined the new corporate slogan—Communications Excellence—with the Dentsu name.

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