Why We're Promoting "Creative × Technology" at Dentsu Inc.

What are Dentsu Inc.'s young 'digital creative talents' thinking about right now? And what will the future hold for Dentsu Creative?

This series will highlight the future of Dentsu Inc. Creative by introducing the "dentsu prototyping hub" initiative led by these "digital creative talents."

In 2020, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, the online workshop "TouchDesigner School," consisting of eight sessions, was held for creators within the Dentsu Group.

Over 100 employees from Dentsu Group companies participated in the "TouchDesigner School." Their interest and enthusiasm for acquiring skills in the technology domain exceeded the organizers' expectations.

TouchDesigner is a "visual programming language" that allows even those without coding skills to program by combining visualized objects.

Led by Kenichi Kawamura (Dentsu Digital Inc.—Japan's foremost TouchDesigner expert who also works as a creative director and media artist—this workshop aimed to expand the creative output of Dentsu creators by teaching them technology skills.

One of Kawamura's signature works, the "Super Techno Memorial Service," gained significant attention at events like Nico Nico Net Chokaigi. Real monks chant the Heart Sutra to electronic music, with visuals generated in real-time to match the chanting. TouchDesigner is used to control this system.

Over 100 Dentsu Group employees attended, with the vast majority responding that they were "satisfied" and "wish to continue learning in the future," generating significant positive feedback.

This workshop was planned by three individuals: Ryunosuke Ono, Taimu Fuji, and Kawamura, who served as the instructor. Ono and Fuji were young talents who had only just entered their second year at Dentsu Inc. when the project began.

They planned not only to use TouchDesigner but also to continuously conduct "Creative x Technology" workshops utilizing various tools, naming this initiative "dentsu prototyping hub. "

This time, Ryunosuke Ono, founder of the dentsu prototyping hub and a member of the Customer Experience Creative Center, shares his thoughts on this initiative.

*Digital Creative Talent = A new recruitment category established by Dentsu Inc. starting with the 2019 graduate hiring class. Talent who, unconstrained by the framework of advertising, combine technology and ideas to move people's hearts and create behavioral change.

 

Experiential Prototypes: The Challenges Faced by Dentsu Inc. First Digital Creative Hires

Hello, I'm Onuki from the Customer Experience Creative Center.

Joining Dentsu Inc. in 2019 as part of the company's first "Digital Creative Recruitment" cohort, I learned under trainers and senior colleagues that

I realized that while technology-driven projects
even when the content was interesting, they often struggled to reach implementation.

Why is that?

For example, TV commercials have storyboards and video storyboards. Graphic design allows for mock-ups. It's precisely because we can show such concrete outputs that we can share the finished vision of the plan with team members and clients, refining it in a better direction.

However, the projects we're expected to deliver are a bit different. Interactive content, data visualization, XR experiences, smartphone app experiences—these tech-driven projects make it difficult for team members and clients to visualize the "final product."

From the client's perspective, it's perfectly understandable that they can't invest money in something whose output is unclear. Simply showing a proposal document doesn't allow them to grasp "what kind of visuals or experience it will be."

"If things continue like this, the world might gradually lose out on interesting experiences that could have been offered from Japan."

After repeatedly experiencing projects we'd spent considerable time developing being scrapped, this sense of crisis began to take hold.

The breakthrough that came to mind was "experiential prototyping. "

Just as CM planners and art directors in traditional advertising have created storyboards and comps as prototypes, if we could propose experiential prototypes for tech-based projects, we could convey the excitement that proposals alone can't capture. This would lead to more outstanding creative work in the world.

To achieve this, planners themselves need to become proficient in using digital tools to create minimal, experiential prototypes. This is why we launched the dentsu prototyping hub—a workshop sharing digital prototyping tools with creators across the Dentsu Group.

Of course, not every creator needs to become a technology expert. However, we believe it will become essential going forward to acquire a level of technology proficiency that allows you to share a prototype with clients during proposal pitches or convey your vision to production partners, saying, "This is the kind of feel I'm going for."

The first initiative of this dentsu prototyping hub was the 2020 "TouchDesigner School," which we'll discuss here.

TouchDesigner: The tool that brought three people together and made ideas tangible

Let me share a bit about myself.

During my undergraduate and graduate studies, I specialized in mechanical engineering and created numerous devices designed to foster human-to-human communication.

A major turning point for me came when I met Mr. Kawamura, a media artist affiliated with Dentsu Digital Inc.

As a student, I learned about TouchDesigner through Kawamura's work and began attending the study sessions he hosted. Fujimoto, who would later co-found the dentsu prototyping hub with me, also participated in these sessions.

Kawamura-san will write in detail about the wonders of TouchDesigner next time, but

• "a visual programming language that can be used intuitively without writing code"
• "It excels at linking and controlling various devices,"
• "It's incredibly fast at creating prototypes"

For example, it's a tool well-suited for expressions that synchronize visuals and music, such as projection mapping.

 

The book "TOUCHDESIGNER Bible for Visual Creators" (Seibundo Shinkosha, Authors: Kenichi Kawamura / Yuki Matsuoka / Toyoshi Morioka), for which Kawamura served as the main author.

Then, in April 2019, Fuji and I joined Dentsu Inc. as part of their first-ever recruitment drive for digital creative talent.

As newcomers, we had some reservations about proposing a "Digital Tools Workshop" to the Dentsu Group. But our desire to "give it a try" ultimately prevailed.

We envisioned a future where not just us, labeled as "digital creative talent," but everyone in the Dentsu Group could standardize technology implementation and use technology-driven prototyping to develop and propose plans.

We believed that if this became reality, the world could be filled with more exciting experiences.

Envisioning that future, I consulted with Fuji and Kawamura and directly appealed to Yasuharu Sasaki, the Executive Officer and Head of the Digital Creative Center: "We want to hold a TouchDesigner study session with Kawamura as the instructor."

When Director Sasaki replied, "Let's do it," I was genuinely thrilled, thinking, "My vision has been understood!"

Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic struck. We transitioned to full remote work just before our second year at the company, and the TouchDesigner workshop we had planned was put on hold.

Remote work continued, and I spent anxious days wondering, "What will happen next?" But around August 2020, Director Sasaki contacted me: "About that workshop—how about doing it remotely?" This led to the TouchDesigner School, consisting of eight sessions starting in October 2020.

Dentsu Inc.'s strength of "Hey, let's just try it" expanded through technology

Originally planned as an in-person event, I'd hoped for around 20 participants. But perhaps the shift to remote proved beneficial—we ended up with 102 participants from across the Dentsu Group.

I'll leave the workshop details to Mr. Kawamura next time, but we actually created various interactive expressions using TouchDesigner without special tools, just the webcams built into laptops and smartphone sensors.

Just holding a cross-Dentsu Group workshop was a great achievement, but we were truly surprised by the post-event survey results: 92% said "I'm very glad I participated," and 96.2% expressed a desire to "continue participating."

We also received comments like, "Learning about the inner workings of interactive experiences and digital expression made me realize how it expands the possibilities for ideas and expression."

Alongside the relief that advocating for this workshop was worthwhile, this positive feedback is a huge encouragement for planning future initiatives.

Actually experiencing digital tools allows you to gain a "gut feeling" for "what can be achieved" and "where the challenges lie." We believe this is a crucial point when defining the scope for technology-driven projects.

While the initial goal of this project, as its name suggests, was to "enable planning prototyping using technology," I'm truly delighted if it became an experience that went beyond that.

What I personally realized is that this very prototyping might further expand Dentsu Inc.'s long-standing, positive sense of "Hey, I just gave it a try."

In presentations, we sometimes preface ideas with "We just tried this out" and propose something beyond the brief. Learning technology and increasing proposals that exceed client expectations—like data visualization or experiential prototyping—could become a new strength for Dentsu Inc.

I'm now convinced that the dentsu prototyping hub will become the very place where we generate that "just tried it out" spirit in the intersection of creativity and technology.

The dentsu prototyping hub we launched is just a small step. But I firmly believe this small step will lead to the "interesting creative work" and "interesting experiences" that will soon flood the world.

Next time, we'll hear from Mr. Kawamura, an instructor at TouchDesigner School, about the specific content of his lectures and the appeal of TouchDesigner. Stay tuned!