Dentsu Group Inc. announced the establishment of a joint venture with Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group on July 8, 2021. The new joint venture company, SMBC Digital Marketing Ltd. (President: Yoshitaka Takano; hereinafter referred to as SMBC Digital Marketing), will operate an advertising and marketing services business utilizing financial big data, and it will be an equity-method affiliate of Dentsu Group Inc. (1) Background of the establishment of SMBC Digital Marketing - With the recent rapid changes in the business environment and personal consumption behavior, it is expected that the digitalization of marketing areas in companies will further advance, and that the needs for advertising and marketing based on more accurate and reliable data will increase. The needs of individual customers of the SMBC Group are also diversifying and becoming more complex in an age where people are living to be 100 years old, and where moves toward digitalization and a cashless society have progressed.

The SMBC Group understands the needs and issues of each of its customers, and under the circumstances believes that advertising that provides them with an opportunity to come across products and services that solve these issues is useful. The SMBC Group has always endeavored to understand its customers, and offers suggestions and guidance to each customer with the focus on financial services according to life events and situations, but customer needs and issues are more than just finance. The Group believes that delivering information that is considered to be useful to its customers in the form of advertisements, whether financial or non-financial, will lead to the provision of new added value that enhances the quality of their lives.

The Dentsu Group aims to realize this by utilizing the Groups knowledge of advertising and marketing as well as solutions in the digital domain, and working together with the SMBC Group. In addition to utilizing its knowledge, the Group will maximize synergies and achieve sustainable growth by establishing a joint venture with the SMBC Group.