Dentsu NYC Blog

Press Release

David Cameron, who for the last two years has served as Chief of Strategic Development for Dentsu Network West, is our new CEO.  Before joining Dentsu in 2010, David was managing partner of mcgarrybowen’s New York office.  He spent seven years at mcgarrybowen, where he helped build it from a twenty-person boutique to Agency of the Year in 2009.

David says: “I am extremely excited to be joining Dentsu America.  I’ve been lucky enough to spend the last two years getting to know people from all over the Network and digging deep into the essence of what’s made Dentsu Dentsu; what’s made it one of the most dominant and innovative agency brands this industry’s ever seen.  As the US flagship of the Dentsu brand, we have a lot to live up to.  A lot to create.  And a huge amount to draw from, extending the model and the values of Dentsu’s proposition to clients here.”

David Cameron

Press Release

ML Rogers is the latest agency to join the Dentsu Network, combining its clients and capabilities with Dentsu America under the leadership of newly named CEO, David Cameron.

Presumably, our clients choose to work with us because they believe us to be experts in our field, and therefore, the most adept at solving their advertising and communication challenges. Why, then, has it become standard practice for agencies to offer up so many options, and ultimately let the client choose the “best” solution? We often feel the need to show a range of thinking, so we rarely (if ever) go into a meeting with one direction and say, “This is it. This is the best solution.” But that’s exactly what legendary designer Paul Rand said to Steve Jobs when designing a logo for his company, NeXT. After Jobs briefed Rand on the assignment, they had this conversation:

Steve Jobs: “So I guess you’ll get back to me with some options.”

Paul Rand: “I don’t do options. I will solve the problem, and you will pay me. It’s up to you whether you use my solution…but I don’t do options.”

As this article goes on to say, of course Paul Rand did tons of options. He just didn’t show them to his client. He only showed his very best solution.

Maybe this way of thinking is far too risky for agencies. But I think it’s refreshing and inspiring. Read the full article here.

Well it took long enough. More precisely 5 years for Google to finally launch their social media competition to Facebook. Although still in beta form, the Google + network has taken the best aspects of Facebook/Twitter and finely tuned it to its own audience of Google users (via Gmail, Youtube, Picasa Reader, etc.) So what does this mean to you Facebook junkie? Well it depends on what you want to use network for but Google + is the legitimate competition to Facebook social media geeks have been waiting for.

Circles

The Circle system in Google + is basically what Facebook wanted their “Groups” to be. Once signed up to Google+ the user has the option to put their contact lists into circles of people with whom he/she would like to share information with. This idea is amazing because there are discussions one would like to keep within a certain group of people that they do not want the entire world to be privy to.  For example, a friend who is a journalist has started to use the circles system to share information with his fellow journalists on particular topics before going to press with an article. As he is editing the article, he is gathering insights on opinions, fact checking and general thoughts. Just over a year ago he would have to wait until he is article is posted/tweeted before insights can be shared. Now in over the 2 hours he takes to write the article, he can get valid up to the minute information and critiques as he is putting together the piece instead of waiting until publication.

I am no journalist but I have found great ways to use the Circle System for my own purposes. My “Circles” so far has aided in continuing discussions on soccer and music (two major passions of mine) as well as planning a mini vacation with friends who were in town for a few days. Although many would argue you can keep intimate conversations or sharing articles/videos using email or even the Facebook Message System, the interface of Google + makes it user friendly and addictive once the user gets the hang of it.

Hangout’s

The other strong feature of Google is “Hangouts”. As an extension of Circles a user has an option of extending the stream of conversation to a live format (most popular a group chats using the GChat interface or video chat). Although you have heard the same before presented by Apple, the Google + version is mass to all users with capabilities rather than limited to a small audience.

Where the Hangouts will improve the next few months is if Google will allow games to become a portion of the system. Recently I have enjoyed playing Facebook Games and idea of going against your friend list for top score has kept me addicted. If Google allows programmers to create Hangout games or use the technology for other purposes, the popularity of Google + will be limitless.

Even though the Google + is still in its early stages of development compared to the social media beasts of Facebook and Twitter, it has taken the best portions of both API’s and made it “Google”. There are many questions in how the system will proceed and the one noticeable lack of a Blackberry App which does prevent millions of users keeping the conversation going but right now take it for what it is. Google has developed a surefire competition to Facebook.

Dentsu’s “Your Second Shot” team is embarking on a road trip this Sunday to continue our project for Canon. First stop, San Francisco! We’ll be traveling the country and helping real people recapture meaningful photographs that didn’t turn out the first time around. Check out our new site! You can follow us on the map, read our daily blog, and see the videos and photos we capture along the way. There’s also a camera contest starting in a couple of weeks, so check back to score a free PowerShot camera. Later NYC!

We live in a world where cell phone photography has a tendency to steal the spotlight and capture headlines. And that’s unfortunate, because we also live in world with so much awe-inspiring photojournalism capturing everything happening all around the world. These images of war, change, uprising, triumph, turmoil and progress, among others, are often the work of VII–a collective of photojournalists committed to capturing images that define the turbulent times of the 21st century and then relaying them to the rest of the world.

Dentsu and Canon worked with VII to launch the VII Gallery where we’re sending VII photojournalists on assignment to interpret a single word–like CHANCE, NOURISH and CHANGE–and then capture it using the Canon G12, S95 and 7D cameras. The first project for CHANCE is now live at the VII Gallery and the VII photojournalists are busy working on the next assignments amidst their professional work throughout the world.

Follow along as we post new work in the gallery along with interviews and videos about the most unique interpretations. If you feel inspired, you can even photograph your own interpretation and submit it to hang in the gallery alongside the VII photojournalists’ work.

A couple of weeks ago, a few of us at Dentsu attended MIT Media Lab’s Sponsors’ Week in Boston. Being a sponsor of MIT, Dentsu is invited every year to check out the latest student projects and innovations coming out of Cambridge. While a lot of it was over my head, there were several interesting projects I found applicable to us ad folks that explored new trends in augmented reality and how the tablet can enhance experiences beyond the screen. Check ‘em out.

In just nine months, the Red Vines World of Sharing has officially finished its trip around the globe. Since launching, fans of the iconic licorice brand have flocked to Red Vines World of Sharing site to share positive messages with the world, with each new message adding a link to the growing chain of Red Vines circumnavigating the globe. And just last night, the final message was posted. As the Vine neared the end of its trip, several users jockeyed for position in an attempt to be the one to add the final message. This back and forth could be viewed in real time, as the site was designed to allow users to see their messages being added to the chain of Red Vines with no delay. Fittingly, the final message was in response to the biggest news of the decade, a story breaking at that same moment. It may not have been the final message anyone had expected out the outset, but it’s certainly an accurate reflection of the sentiment spreading around the globe at the very moment the Red Vines chain was completing its goodwill tour of the world.

Congratulations to Dentsu America’s Santa Monica office on recently winning the 2011 Award of Excellence in the Best Entertainment/Gaming Deployment category from the Digital Screenmedia Association.

The Get Your Game Face interactive kiosk was developed by Dentsu America in conjunction with technology partner InWindow Outdoor as an extension of our campaign promoting Union Bank’s San Diego Chargers sponsorship. The unique interactive installation engaged Chargers’ fans attending games at Qualcomm Stadium, adding a whole new dimension to their game day experience by transforming participants into Chargers’ super fans instantly through augmented reality and real time face tracking technology. To see how it works check out the video.

Remember when TV shows used to die of old age and poor Nielsen ratings? Remember those days before DVR and you knew your favorite show wasn’t your favorite anymore because you opted to actually skip an episode or three? You had time to prepare for that show being taken off the air because as a Nielsen rating, you were empowered and you clumsily believed when you stopped watching the show, it would go off the air shortly thereafter. Viewers broke up with the show and the show never broke up with us. Well, TV shows have started burning their GRP padded bra’s because not only are shows breaking up with their viewers, but some shows have ignored the relationship completely.
The rate amongst suicidal broadcast programming is going up and it would appear no amount of capitalistic counseling is stopping the trend. Top rated shows are dropping like flies leaving in their wake a legion of unsatisfied viewers. NYPD Blue, Seinfeld, The King of Queens and Monk were both critical and commercial darlings who crept out the backdoor leaving viewers to snuggle up to reruns and DVD boxed editions. Holding onto a DVD boxed edition of my favorite show is like hanging onto very hot pictures of an ex-girlfriend who is now taking very hot pictures for her new boyfriend. I’d rather not.

Some shows one can argue finished their story arcs like HBO’s The Wire but how could a show like Seinfeld which was literally about nothing, have nothing left to say? You weren’t saying anything in the first place so I presume silence was the next logical procession. The final season of F/X’s the Shield was so powerful it literally had me staring at the credits long after Vic Mackey disappeared off the screen. I was so angry. They broke up with me despite years of my faithfulness. There were plenty of times I could’ve made new kids with my wife but opted instead to watch The Shield and despite that sacrifice, it was now gone and I’m home alone with no Shield and an angry wife.

F/X didn’t stop there either. They’re the Charles Manson of network serial killers.
Despite growing ratings every year since its inception, F/X’s popular show Rescue Me is going into its last year with its July season and now I wish we had never met. Yes, I sound like a jilted ex-boyfriend but that’s exactly what I am. I’m not done laughing and caring for these characters. I feel as if every show is born on death row and headed towards an abbreviated life and there’ll be no last minute stay order from the governor to keep them alive. They’re killing themselves willingly. It’s a rejection of magnificent proportions and worse still, I can’t do anything about it. F/X is not releasing any press release expressing why they’re taking Resume Me off the air. I just have to accept it.

Son’s of Anarchy is currently my favorite show and yes, it’s on F/X. At this point I don’t know whether to stop watching it now to avoid the ultimate end not of my own choosing or should I stick it out like a desperate girlfriend praying for that wedding ring after years of dating.

Can you imagine the bloodshed that will happen when HBO decides True Blood is too expensive to produce? What do they expect us to do when that happens…read the books?! It’s hard enough reading a blog (ahem) damnit. Entourage is leaving us this year and for what reason? You don’t know? Well, join the club ‘cause nobody does especially the millions of people who still enjoy it.

Where is our viewers bill of rights where it states that unless a show falls below a certain rating over a course of time the viewer can expect the network to end the program within “x” amount of time? That sounds like a compromise to me because if fans are that loyal, they’ll start tuning in again to save the show. Networks should have a universal “jump-the-shark” panic button where we as viewers can let them know that the show we’ve loved for years is looking long in the tooth or has gone drastically off course and we want it fixed. We all knew when Miami Vice had lost its vice but we couldn’t do anything about it and soon, Crockett and Tubbs were fodder of childhood memories. Sigh, where have you gone Matt Houston and wherever you are, please tell Jake & The Gold Monkey I have never forgotten them. Tell Ten Speed and Brown Shoe I said hello and please let me know what was Alex Keaton’s reaction to Obamacare.

Sigh…

If the networks are going to prematurely end our favorite shows shouldn’t we have the ability to abort their efforts for us to fall in love with them in the first place? Dare I say all those True Blood advocates should flock to the books more than the show as a wanton display of power? Can we stage a national day of FM silence once they decide too many of us love Glee? Will Milwaukee literally blow up when Sons of Anarchy is cancelled and everyone considering a motorcycle universally decides to buy Japanese instead of American?

More Sigh…

It’s a pipe dream I know but the sooner viewers empower themselves the sooner we can ensure that the David Chase’s of the world don’t think they can disrespect our relationship with their show by giving us impotent and life crushing endings like he did the Soprano’s.

The finale of that show is an example of hubris unseen since Victor Frankenstein played God all those centuries ago. Ironically enough the Soprano’s never killed itself but made it a point of going out shooting all its viewers through the heart.

Somebody please Rescue Me…