As announced this week, the Japanese advertising giant Dentsu Inc will become Facebook’s official sales and marketing support representative to companies in Japan.
Under the partnership, Dentsu will help companies optimize their use of Facebook for social media marketing. With its 600 million users worldwide, there is no doubt that Facebook represents “a vital communications medium” and the agreement will “play a key role in [Dentsu’s] initiatives to further strengthen links between consumers and corporations” (Akira Sugimoto, executive officer at Dentsu).
This collaboration is mutually beneficial for the two giants: Facebook Japan will have access to Dentsu’s list of major clients, ready to spend millions of dollars for campaigns. As for Dentsu, it will have exclusive access to Premium Ads for a year, which it will then integrate into campaigns using other media such as print or television.
As the statistics show, with its modest 2.6 million users in Japan, this deal is the right approach for Facebook to try to penetrate the Japanese market: by using Dentsu’s insider knowledge, it hopes to help brands connect with its customer base. Last month alone, Japan gained more than 500,000 Facebook users. Even though Facebook is far from Mixi’s 22 million users, the growth is encouraging and with the help of Dentsu, Facebook is well equipped to expand and overcome Japan’s unique cultural challenges.
How do you think the deal between Facebook and Dentsu will impact your business? Leave a comment below to let me know!