DENTSU INC.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 22, 2014
Dentsu Inc. (Tokyo: 4324; ISIN: JP3551520004; President & CEO: Tadashi Ishii; Head Office: Tokyo; Capital: 74,609.81 million yen) announced today that on December 20 (Japan Standard Time; December 19 Canadian time), its global business headquarters Dentsu Aegis Network Ltd. reached an agreement with the principal shareholders of digital agency The SPOKE Agency Ltd. (Head Office: Toronto, Canada; hereinafter "SPOKE") to acquire the company.
Founded in 2009, SPOKE is a progressive digital agency that offers a wide range of services including strategic planning, creative and content production, and media planning, buying and placement for brands in the lifestyle, retail and entertainment sectors. The company also has strengths in experiential marketing (a marketing technique that allows a consumer to actually experience a product or a service through a marketing event designed to increase his or her engagement with and awareness of a brand). Highly regarded for its creativity, the company's gross profit more than doubled in the three years from 2011 to 2013. The driving force behind this rapid growth is the leadership of CEO Jeff Greenspoon and Executive Creative Director Kai Exos, who co-founded the company while they were in their mid twenties. Greenspoon was named PROFIT Magazine's Young Entrepreneur of the Year in 2009, and Exos has served on numerous advertising awards juries.
After the acquisition has been completed, SPOKE will combine with Isobar Canada, further accelerating its development into a true full-service digital agency. Isobar Canada is part of the Isobar digital communications agency network, one of the Dentsu Group's global network brands. Greenspoon will assume the role of CEO and Exos the role of Chief Creative Officer of the new Isobar Canada operation, and they will continue to lead the business.
In its September 2014 worldwide advertising expenditure forecasts, the Group's media
communications agency Carat announced that digital ad spending in Canada grew 14.6% in
2013, and predicted a growth rate of 12.9% for 2014 and 12.2% for 2015 respectively, both exceeding the overall market growth rate (around 2-3%).
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The impact of this transaction on Dentsu's consolidated financial results for the fiscal year
ending March 31, 2015 is expected to be minimal.
Company Name: The SPOKE Agency Ltd
Headquarters: Toronto, Canada
Offices also in Vancouver and New York
Date of Establishment: October 2009
Shareholding Ratio*: Dentsu Aegis Network 100%
*After acquisition has been completed
Gross Profit: CAD 1,673,000 (year ended December 2013) Representatives: Jeff Greenspoon (CEO)
Kai Exos (Executive Creative Director)
Number of Employees: 25
Line of Business: Provision of a wide range of digital marketing services
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Contact: Shusaku Kannan
Senior Manager
Corporate Communications Division
Telephone: (813) 6216-8042
E-mail: s.kannan@dentsu.co.jp
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