Dentsu Group and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Establish SMBC Digital Marketing, Ltd. as a Joint Venture

Dentsu Group Inc. (Tokyo: 4324; ISIN: JP3551520004; President & CEO: Toshihiro Yamamoto; Head Office: Tokyo; Capital: 74,609.81 million yen) announced today the establishment of a joint venture with Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (President and Group CEO: Jun Ohta; Head Office: Tokyo; hereinafter referred as the “SMBC Group”) on July 8, 2021. The new joint venture company, SMBC Digital Marketing, Ltd. (President: Yoshitaka Takano; hereinafter referred to as “SMBC Digital Marketing”), will operate an advertising and marketing services business utilizing financial big data, and it will be an equity-method affiliate of Dentsu Group Inc.

(1) Background of the establishment of SMBC Digital Marketing
With the recent rapid changes in the business environment and personal consumption behavior, it is expected that the digitalization of marketing areas in companies will further advance, and that the needs for advertising and marketing based on more accurate and reliable data will increase.

The needs of individual customers of the SMBC Group are also diversifying and becoming more complex in an age where people are living to be 100 years old, and where moves toward digitalization and a cashless society have progressed. The SMBC Group understands the needs and issues of each of its customers, and under the circumstances believes that advertising that provides them with an opportunity to come across products and services that solve these issues is useful.

The SMBC Group has always endeavored to understand its customers, and offers suggestions and guidance to each customer with the focus on financial services according to life events and situations, but customer needs and issues are more than just finance. The Group believes that delivering information that is considered to be useful to its customers in the form of advertisements, whether financial or non-financial, will lead to the provision of new added value that enhances the quality of their lives.

The Dentsu Group aims to realize this by utilizing the Group’s knowledge of advertising and marketing as well as solutions in the digital domain, and working together with the SMBC Group. In addition to utilizing its knowledge, the Group will maximize synergies and achieve sustainable growth by establishing a joint venture with the SMBC Group.

The Dentsu Group is working to strengthen its competitiveness by focusing on its four new business domains^*1 with the aim of evolving into an Integrated Growth Partner that commits to the sustainable growth of client companies and society. The establishment of this joint venture is positioned as an initiative to accelerate the strengthening of all of these areas.

(2) Content of SMBC Digital Marketing’s business
By utilizing information such as attribute information and usage history that Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation has received from its customers, SMBC Digital Marketing can guess at their potential interests and lifestyle, and deliver advertising content that is considered suitable for them through channels such as the Sumitomo Mitsui Banking App^*2. Furthermore, in the future, by fusing the diverse knowledge and know-how of the Dentsu Group and the SMBC Group, the new company will promote the development of new advertisement distribution destinations and services, and strive to provide new added value to customers.

□ Handling of customer information that is handled by SMBC Digital Marketing
When SMBC Digital Marketing uses information from Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation customers, it will be used only for the purpose of shared use^*3 within the SMBC Group under strict control. In addition, the company will carry out regular monitoring with outside experts such as lawyers to see if personal information is being properly managed. Personal information will not be provided to Dentsu Group companies^*4 and corporate customers who are advertisers.

Profile of the new company

Name:	SMBC Digital Marketing, Ltd.
Location:	1-3-2 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo
Capital:	100 million yen (Capital reserve 100 million yen)
Investment ratio:	Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group 66.0%, Dentsu Group Inc. 34% (The new company will become a consolidated subsidiary of Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group and an equity-method affiliate of Dentsu Group Inc.)
Executives:	Yoshitaka Takano, President, Takuya Okubo, Vice President, Yuki Hirate, Director
Date of establishment:	July 8, 2021
Line of business:	(1) Planning and production of advertising and marketing measures (2) Business related to data analysis and advertisement distribution (3) All other business incidental to or related to the preceding items
Company logo:

*1 AX (Advertising Transformation) domain: Domain to maximize the sophistication and efficiency of advertising
BX (Business Transformation) domain: Domain to support the business transformation of client companies
CX (Customer Experience Transformation) domain: Domain to design and deliver the optimum customer experience
DX (Digital Transformation) domain: Domain to facilitate transformation of the marketing infrastructure

*2 Sumitomo Mitsui Banking App: An application provided by Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation that allows its customers to easily use some functions of Internet banking (SMBC Direct)

*3 Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation jointly uses personal information, in accordance with Article 23-5-3 of the Act on the Protection of Personal Information, to strengthen cooperation with companies of SMBC Group to provide various value-added products and services, and to enhance business and risk management for the overall group. It shares personal information only with SMBC Group companies that have implemented the prescribed system.

*4 Excluding SMBC Digital Marketing which is part of the SMBC Group

Contact:
Shusaku Kannan
Executive Director
Group Corporate Communications Office
Dentsu Group Inc.
Telephone: +81 (3) 6217-6602
E-mail: s.kannan@dentsu.co.jp