What 'Momentum' Did Creative Technologists Bring to Dentsu Inc.?

This series highlights the future of Dentsu Inc. creative approach through the cross-group workshop "dentsu prototyping hub(※)" led by young " digital creative talents."

Part 1:Why We Promote "Creativity × Technology" at Dentsu Inc.
Part 2:Freely Controlling Devices and Visuals. The "Fastest Prototyping Tool" Transforms Creativity

In the final installment, workshop initiators Ryunosuke Onoe and Hiromu Fuji from Dentsu Inc., along with Kenichi Kawamura from Dentsu Digital Inc., discuss the future of creativity revealed through the workshops and the role creative technologists should play within Dentsu Inc.

What emerged was a vision of the future where creativity and technology are seamlessly integrated.

※ dentsu prototyping hub

Under the theme "Bringing Ideas to Life with Technology," workshops were held using the visual programming language "TouchDesigner" (no coding required) and the 3DCG modeling software "Blender." To date, over 300 people from the Dentsu Group have participated.

 

<Table of Contents>
▼The Significance of Advertising Creators Making Technology Their Own
▼What Are the Strengths of Having a Creative Technologist on Your Team?
▼The Power to Bridge the Gap Between Ideal and Reality: "Momentum"

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The Significance of Advertising Creators Making Technology Their Own

Axe: After running these two workshops, how did you both feel?

Fuji: When planning the proposal, I thought, "If we can get about 10 people, that'd be good." But from the very first "TouchDesigner School," over 100 people participated. I was surprised to see so many people within the Dentsu Group who were actively seeking to learn technology on their own.

Kawamura: Not only the number of participants, but also the enthusiasm of the attendees exceeded our expectations. Advertising creators who have been making TV commercials and ad graphics produce output of extremely high quality for client challenges. I get excited thinking about what kind of output might emerge if such people internalized technology-driven creativity as their own thing. I feel like we could see creative work unlike anything we've seen before.

Axe: And thanks to the buzz around "TouchDesigner School," the number of participants doubled for the second "Blender School"! We also got more comfortable running things by the second session. Thanks to instructor M design carefully teaching Blender's fundamentals in a way beginners could understand, I think it turned out to be a really solid introductory lecture for stepping into the world of 3D modeling. Actually, they put a lot of thought into making it easy for people who learned to continue self-studying Blender going forward.

Kawamura: Watching "Blender School," I also felt the content was very accessible for existing ADs (Art Directors). Even within the Blender community, people like M design, who possess what you might call "design-oriented knowledge," are quite rare. So, as an instructor for advertising creators, it was an excellent choice. Right now, with the pandemic, the virtual realm has become huge, right? I think Blender will be a major weapon for the ADs at Dentsu Inc. to leverage their existing know-how in that space.

Axe: Lately, Blender's applications have become incredibly diverse. I often see it used in films and anime. It's been great to work with everyone on this "hot tool" right now (laughs).

Kawamura: Personally, I was also inspired by the diverse organizations and teams from Dentsu Inc. Group companies participating in the workshop. Meeting XR specialists I hadn't known about before made me want to collaborate with them on future projects. I think the discovery of "Oh, there are people like this in the Dentsu Group!" wasn't just for me, but for everyone who attended. It would be exciting if this workshop became an opportunity to learn about and connect with the various creative teams across the Group companies.

What are the strengths of having a Creative Technologist "on the team"?

Axe: The original motivation behind launching the dentsu prototyping hub was this idea: "Just as we've created storyboards and comps as prototypes for mass advertising creative, if everyone could propose experiential prototypes for tech-based projects too, we could convey the excitement that proposals alone can't capture. That should lead to more amazing creative work in the world." Kawamura and I have raised this issue in this series too, but what do you think, Fuji?

Fuji: I agree. And I realized there are more people within the Dentsu Group than I expected who feel a sense of urgency about the current situation, thinking "I want to change" but "I don't have the opportunity." Hearing them say "I'm glad I got this chance" was truly rewarding.

Axe: Indeed, "I wanted an opportunity to learn technology" was a common sentiment in the survey. Regarding satisfaction with "Blender School," 95% of respondents answered "Satisfied."

Fuji: However, we're still just getting started. The biggest challenge going forward is how to effectively feed the learning from these workshops back into daily work. It would be a waste if people just learned something in a short workshop and thought "That was fun," only to stop there. As we plan for the third and fourth sessions, I think we need to offer intermediate-level content – things that can be concretely applied to specific projects.

Axe: Absolutely, that's true. That said, even at this stage, it was heartening to hear, for example, that a senior AD immediately applied what they learned in the school, created a prototype in Blender, presented it to a client, and received positive feedback. Then there's the senior who said, "I've found a new joy in life!" (laughs). Hearing stories like that makes me feel that even though it's only been two workshops, changes are starting to happen little by little, and seeds are sprouting that could broaden Dentsu Inc.'s creative expression.

Fuji: Plus, this time we had many participants from "non-creative" backgrounds, right? One project manager said, "By getting hands-on with areas I'd previously delegated as outside my expertise, I now feel much more connected to the work." It's crucial for people in project management roles to understand the creators' perspective, don't you think?

Axe: Yeah. The value lies in creating a "common language" for working together, right?

Fuji: In that sense, I think this workshop also served as a place for participants to realize that "technology-based creativity" isn't something special, but rather something that greatly expands the creative possibilities cultivated by Dentsu Inc.

Axe: That's true. This workshop might have helped bridge that gap in awareness. Our original goal was to increase the number of people who could create prototypes, or at least rough drafts. But after running two workshops, I now think that increasing the number of players who can take things all the way to final delivery will be crucial going forward. Recently, working on a certain project really drove this home: there are things you simply can't produce unless your team can handle the entire process internally. If you can't complete the loop of creating a prototype and then refining it within your team, I feel like more and more projects just can't make it all the way to the finish line.

Kawamura: That's true. If you can't handle things internally to a certain extent, you can't do that "trial and error" right there.

Axe: Exactly. Even for tech-focused projects, accelerating the "speed of trial and error" requires having technologists on the same team.

Fuji: Plus, from the client's perspective, it's hard to just say "Let's do it" for an unknown proposal that's hard to visualize concretely. Spending budget on something unclear is naturally scary. That's precisely why Dentsu Inc.'s team needs to create prototypes of "interesting experiences" to turn the client's anxiety into excitement. I think that's a major role of the Creative Technologist.

Axe: The "skill to convert into excitement" that creative technologists possess is effective not only for clients but also for team members. Personally, on a VR project, the proposal alone sparked doubts within the team like, "Is this really going to be fun?" So I made a VR prototype and had the members experience it. Then everyone got on board, and while wearing the headsets, we got tons of positive feedback like, "Wouldn't it be more fun if we improved it this way?" (laughs). It was an experience that really drove home the importance of "thinking while building."

Fuji: If you can align on a concrete direction using prototypes from the early planning stages, you can share the target destination within the team and also improve client satisfaction, right? I also had an experience where I brought an AR prototype to a competitive presentation. The client was impressed and added budget to adopt it.

Kawamura: I think cases like that will definitely increase going forward. From my experience, creating a prototype that people can actually interact with, letting everyone try the UX during meetings or presentations, and combining planning, design, and development is an effective approach for projects utilizing technology. It's a common pitfall I hear about lately: people who don't have tech expertise involved from the planning stage end up proposing unrealistic ideas that don't fit the conditions, and then everyone scrambles afterward.

Fuji: It's incredibly painful when a proposal gets approved, and then you try to build it only to find it doesn't fit the budget or isn't technically feasible... Creatives must constantly strike a strict balance with budgets, so creative technologists should also take on the role of "guaranteeing output." Even without always building prototypes, having a creative technologist involved from the proposal stage allows feasibility to be assessed.

Kawamura: In that sense, fostering a culture where creative technologists participate from the early stages of various projects is incredibly important.

Fuji: In reality, companies strong in technology-driven creativity have creative technologists deeply integrated from the very start of projects. This is absolutely how it should be going forward; without it, creating new and interesting things will become difficult.

Axe: In that sense, I feel the dentsu prototyping hub's raison d'être has evolved beyond just teaching tools. It now involves sharing the "creative technologist mindset" and driving internal cultural transformation. By having diverse people actually get hands-on experience, we can shift the culture where " " or "technology is something special."

The power to bridge the gap between ideal and reality: "Momentum"

Fuji: Honestly, I thought changing the perception that "technology is something special" would be difficult. But through this workshop, I learned about the heightened sense of urgency and interest in technology within Dentsu Inc., and my perspective changed. Starting from the dentsu prototyping hub, I think we might be able to create a new culture where creativity and technology blend together as a matter of course.

Kawamura: That idea of "sharing a mindset" is crucial. Technology evolves constantly, so sustaining an environment for continuous input is vital. Beyond just the technology itself, I hope the dentsu prototyping hub can serve as a "learning community" that fosters the mindset for ongoing learning.

Axe: Of course, as organizers, we also want to provide technical support so participants can create prototypes at a level ready for client proposals. Looking ahead, beyond what Fuji mentioned about "intermediate" or "advanced" levels, we'd like to try workshops tackling abstract challenges similar to those Dentsu Inc. faces daily—solving them using tools like TouchDesigner or Blender.

Fuji: That's precisely the biggest challenge I see with these workshops—how to effectively feed back into actual work.

Kawamura: That's great! Actually, this is what I really wanted to say today. The biggest achievement of this initiative is that young members like Mr. Ono and Mr. Fuji have generated the "momentum" to bridge the internal gap between creativity and technology.

"Momentum," simply put, is the "drive and energy to bridge the gap between ideal and reality." I place tremendous importance on this "momentum." Why? Because after over 20 years in the tech world, I've seen that when you measure creative success not by the output itself, but by the impact and real-world effects it generates, it fundamentally changes how creators act.

Technologists tend to focus intensely on creating outputs. That's not wrong, but overwhelming the world with sheer technical prowess alone requires considerable experience and time. However, with just a shift in mindset or action, you can create "momentum" that exceeds your current position and capabilities. That's what these two achieved at the dentsu prototyping hub.

I believe there is tremendous value in the fact that this cross-group workshop—rare even within Dentsu Inc.—emerged organically, led by young professionals on the front lines. This was possible because of the unique passion and action of creative × tech talent, driven by the conviction that "we must bridge the gap between ideal and reality." And I'm deeply moved that their actions resonated with Dentsu Inc.'s creators, leading so many to participate.

Axe: Hearing that from Mr. Kawamura, a senior creative technologist, is incredibly encouraging...

Kawamura: Dentsu Inc. has a long history in mass advertising, and I believe the technologist culture is something that will be cultivated going forward. That's precisely why the mindset of "I'm going to pioneer this myself," like you two have, is so important. Approaching things with this kind of mindset will surely make it fun to take on challenges across various fields (laughs).

The initial spark was as Axe-san wrote in the first installment, but I believe the dentsu prototyping hub has brought Dentsu Inc. a "momentum" that surpasses even our wildest imaginations. It's becoming a place where Dentsu Inc.'s creators cultivate a technological perspective, and it will also serve as a "hub" for launching projects with the potential to impact the world. I truly believe this will become the "flow" where new creativity is born.

Dentsu Inc. has so many amazing creators, so they should just keep trying new tools and quickly turn ideas and visions into reality. There's no need to be bound by preconceptions or existing fields. Believe in yourself, your ideas, and your teammates, and have fun delivering your message. I'm confident that by doing this, we can create even more of that exciting "momentum" that gets everyone buzzing.

Axe: Through the activities of dentsu prototyping hub , I believe that combining the creative power Dentsu Inc. has cultivated over the years with the weapon of "technology" will give birth to new creative work that will astonish the world. By taking the initiative ourselves, we want to increase the number of colleagues creating interesting creative work going forward.