During Cannes in June 2022, dentsu international announced the launch of DENTSU CREATIVE (DC), an entirely new global creative network, uniting its diverse creative agencies and expanding its entertainment, earned attention and experience capabilities. The launch forms part of a broader strategy aimed at simplifying client engagement and injecting creativity in everything dentsu International does, all backed by a depth and breadth of creative capabilities that are unparalleled in the market.

Blending dentsu’s unique DNA of 120-year-old Japanese heritage and craft with its rich experience of building brands in the modern media landscape that connects the best creative talent from across the globe, DENTSU CREATIVE is poised to transform brands and businesses through the lens of Modern Creativity, which looks to deliver ideas that create culture, change society and invent the future.

Globally led by Fred Levron, who joined dentsu International as Chief Creative Officer in November 2021 and has demonstrated the transformative power of creativity throughout his acclaimed career; DENTSU CREATIVE will be comprised of 9,000 creative experts in 46 markets connected to 37,000 media and CXM experts across dentsu International.

“If you had the chance to build a brand new global creative network designed for the modern world, what would it look like? That is what we are answering with the launch of DENTSU CREATIVE. Clients, talent and the industry at large are craving for a change: in the way we build brands, in the way we collaborate and in the role we give to creativity. If the current players have set the rules of the previous century, we have the ambition to set the rules for the decades to come.”- Fred Levron.

Following the global launch, DENTSU CREATIVE has made huge strides within the industry with DC Bengaluru winning the coveted Cannes Lions 2022 Agency of the Year, as well as being awarded a Titanium, three Grand Prix, two Gold Lions and three Silver Lions for “The Unfiltered History Tour”.

Globally attracting the industries best, creative talent with recent new appointments namely, Rafael Rizuto, Avish Gordhan and Mandie van der Merwe, Riccardo Fregoso, Sumeer Mathur, Pedro Perez and Michael Schachtner, DC is fully embracing Intelligent Scale, by connecting creative talent around a challenge, wherever it sits in the world.

Locally led by Michael Zylstra as Managing Partner for DENTSU CREATIVE SSA, dentsu South Africa (SA) along with Kenya, Nigeria and Ghana launched DC during Loeries Creative Week 2022. Launched as an entirely new network and operating model, the SA market will see FoxP2 and John Brown Media consolidating to form one creative brand. In Nigeria, Isobar and dentsu McGarryBowen will also transition into a single integrated creative network and in Kenya, Isobar will also shift into the globally recognised creative brand.

Commenting on the local launch, Michael Zylstra says: “As a global creative brand that is young enough and scaled enough with 140 + creative experts in SA and 600 + across Africa, we have all the capabilities to re-look the creative agency model and reinvent the way we build brands and businesses for the modern world whilst supporting dentsu’s ambition to own horizontal creativity and to become the most integrated network in the world.

With modern creative magic at our core, our rich heritage and incredibly talented leaders as part of our dentsu Africa family, we look so forward to creating ideas that are big enough to live everywhere, bold enough to chart new executional territory and rich enough to connect personally with global audiences.”