The key to the blockchain revolution lies in its "community nature"!

<Table of Contents>
▼Communities Foster "Community Spirit" and Accelerate Innovation
▼DBCC and FINOLAB Inc.'s Open Innovation
▼Television, Digital, Community... Blockchain Applications in Each Domain
　 ・Can Data Marketing Evolve with Blockchain?
・Solving Programmatic Advertising Challenges with Blockchain
　 ・Building Mechanisms to Foster Community Cohesion with Blockchain

Communities Foster "Community Spirit" and Accelerate Innovation

I'm Hasumura from the Dentsu Inc. Blockchain Community (DBCC).

Blockchain is a groundbreaking technology, but it doesn't directly provide any services to people itself. It is fundamentally an infrastructure that "supports various services."

Simply thinking about what can be done with this infrastructure from a purely technical perspective won't yield good ideas.

In other words, to drive innovation with blockchain, we need to think: "What kind of innovation can we create by combining blockchain with the business or operations we already deeply understand and are actively engaged in?"

That's why DBCC was launched as a cross-departmental organization within Dentsu Inc. It's an organization where employees with expertise in various fields consider how to apply blockchain within their own domains.

The launch of DBCC was spearheaded by myself, Wataru Kishimoto from Dentsu Media Services / Radio,TV Division, and Ryota Murayama from Dentsu Digital Inc.

The three of us were classmates at the Dentsu Management Institute (DMI), the group's management training program, and spent an incredibly intensive seven months together.

Employees gathered at the Dentsu Management Institute

During that time, we had daily discussions about what kind of innovation would emerge if three people from different specialties applied cutting-edge technologies, particularly blockchain, to their respective fields.

As I previously contributed to the Dentsu Inc. News, I believe the source of innovation lies in "neighborhood dynamics." That is, "open, organic communication" and "encounters between different fields."

※What is Neighborhood Character?
Originally a technical term used in architecture and real estate. A neighborhood is said to have "neighborhood character" when diverse people—including locals and visitors—come and go, connect, and form a community. By extension, Hasamura defined a community as having "neighborhood character" when it possesses "an organic, dense, and open network and communication sufficient for innovation to occur." Looking back, this "space" where we learned broadly and deeply about management through the development program was simultaneously a place that embodied 'neighborhood character' itself. Regardless of seniority, we ate meals together at the Dentsu Inc. Kamakura Training Center and spent days discussing all manner of things.

This experience would later lead to the establishment of DBCC.

FINOLAB Inc. and DBCC's Open Innovation

The purpose and function of DBCC is to shape a "community spirit" among employees interested in blockchain—the next-generation social infrastructure, a technology often called the "Internet of Value."

Simultaneously with the DBCC launch announcement, we held a kickoff meeting integrated into a FINOLAB Inc. meetup. FINOLAB Inc. is Japan's first and largest FinTech community space, where I've been involved from planning to operations, with nearly 50 FinTech startups participating.

As stated in DBCC's press release, fostering organic interaction between Dentsu Inc. employees and FINOLAB Inc. members to promote open innovation is also one of DBCC's objectives.

On the day of the kickoff meeting, leading Japanese blockchain startups who happened to be at FINOLAB Inc., along with FINOLAB Inc. mentors who are top experts in cryptocurrency-related legislation, naturally joined the DBCC kickoff gathering's afterparty. This led to extremely deep discussions.

We feel that the ability to seize such opportunities through serendipity and the flow of the moment is a direct result of the community spirit FINOLAB Inc. has cultivated over the past two and a half years.

Television, digital, community... leveraging blockchain in each specialized field

DBCC founding members wearing matching DMI hoodies. From left: Ryota Murayama (Dentsu Digital Inc.), Toshiaki Hasemura (BD&A Division), Wataru Kishimoto (Media Services / Radio,TV Division)

Though newly established, DBCC already has many members working on blockchain applications within their respective fields. Here, I'd like to briefly touch on the activities of the three co-founders.

Can Data Marketing Evolve with Blockchain?

Mr. Kishimoto from Media Services / Radio,TV Division has long been involved in the utilization of " SHAREST (β version) ", a TV ratings prediction system using deep learning, and " STADIA", an integrated marketing platform spanning TV and digital.

Mr. Kishimoto is exploring whether blockchain can enable the widespread aggregation of TV viewing log data and DMP data, obtained with user consent, by providing new blockchain-based services to consumers.

He is also researching and verifying various pioneering cases to develop marketing frameworks that integrate diverse IDs around a core wallet ID, as well as mechanisms where consumers—not businesses—control the distribution of their personal information and behavioral history.

SHAREST (beta), developed by Mr. Kishimoto, can predict the viewership ratings of programs before they air.

Solving Programmatic Advertising Challenges with Blockchain

Currently seconded to Dentsu Digital Inc., Mr. Murayama has been involved in the development of healthy programmatic advertising. He spearheaded the proposal and launch of the "Dentsu Private Marketplace" (Dentsu PMP), which operates on high-quality digital advertising media and ad slots, and also initiated and promoted the "Ad Verification Promotion Council."

He has also been involved in building the "People Driven DMP," exploring ways to provide new value through various data integrations.

He has begun concrete discussions with partner companies to explore whether "data sharing" using blockchain and other technologies can solve the significant challenges in Japan's programmatic advertising space: data volume and data accuracy.

Furthermore, he has launched a project to visualize the contribution of advertising to attitude changes and actual actions (attribution), considering blockchain as one potential solution.

Mr. Murayama, who is actively engaged primarily in the technology and data fields, has also contributed numerous articles to Web Dentsu Inc. News.

Building mechanisms to foster community through blockchain

I, Renmura, am a planner and one of the founding members of FINOLAB Inc., a FinTech industry hub I've been operating since 2016. Since its establishment, I've promoted open innovation between FINOLAB member startups and Dentsu Inc.

In the realms of industry creation and ecosystem production, I constantly ponder how leveraging digital assets, tokens, and smart contracts can further accelerate these efforts.

As mentioned in a previous series, merely providing a physical "space" does not create a "community." Conversely, simply inviting startups, experts, and corporate representatives into that space is insufficient; it does not foster organic interaction or lead to community formation. We are currently exploring mechanisms utilizing "blockchain" as that crucial "next step" to bridge this gap.

FINOLAB Inc. functions as a major hub where Japanese fintech ventures gather. Hasamura is involved from planning to operations.

Including the topics introduced here and others, DBCC plans to proceed with Proof of Concept (POC) and similar initiatives moving forward. Next time, we hope to introduce one such effort.