Dentsu Keeps It Real
January 22, 2008
Dentsu is suffering from the rough seas of advertising. For the next year, no matter what the shop does, the ongoing saga of Steve Biegel will remain on center stage. In the latest chapter of As Dentsu turns, Biegel has submitted documents that portray his boss, Mr. Shigeta, as a tyrant and “described the workplace atmosphere at Dentsu America as one filled with fear.” So not cute. Get more dirt here.
Meanwhile, Japan’s biggest advertiser, fell the most in almost five years after Merrill Lynch cut its rating to “neutral.” That hasn’t stopped the company from cutting deals. Focus Media Holding Limited , China’s largest digital media group, announced that its subsidiary, Hua Kuang Advertising Company has entered into a joint venture agreement with Dentsu to form a new Internet advertising company in China. Dentsu Inc. will own 67% of the joint venture while Hua Kuang will own the remaining 33%. [Source]
We’ve never been to Dentsu headquarters. Have you? What we did find was this video, which apparently plays in their elevators. Doesn’t it remind you of an old school Atarti game? The Dentsu Headquarters Building has 48 floors and is the eleventh-tallest building in Tokyo and second-tallest in Shiodome.
January 22, 2008 at 3:43 pm
Yes, I’ve been to Dentsu headquarters, and toured some floors meeting three creative directors who were “creative directors on THIS floor”. They made it sound like they had hundreds. This stuff wasn’t playing in the elevators at the time, I’ve only seen it on their website.
January 22, 2008 at 4:18 pm
This stuff doesn’t play in their elevators, it is their elevators.
Each one of those colored bars represents one of the elevators in their massive death star. On the website you can see the position of each elevator in real time.
January 23, 2008 at 12:11 am
Which elevator takes you to the Champagne Room?
January 23, 2008 at 4:05 am
High Jive… No… which one takes you to Shigeta’s hot tub with all the hookers?
DaBitch… Don’t forget, you can pack in a lot more CD’s when they’re only three feet tall… Jesus, you could have an army of Poisoned Dwarfs on every floor.
Cheers/George
January 23, 2008 at 5:20 pm
I worked there for a few months, back when it was DCA and the word “fear” certainly couldn’t be used to describe the atmosphere. I only met Toyo a few times, but he was the nicest, quietest man. I guess it’s true what they about the quiet ones…they’ll be the ones to force you into sex with a Czech prostitute.