Who does advertising belong to? The potential of "Crowdfunding × Advertising"

<Table of Contents>
▼Advertising for Every Message You Want to Deliver: "AD MISSION" Enables Individual Advertising
▼Are Ads Becoming Increasingly Disliked?
▼Who Owns Advertising? Updating and Liberating "Advertising"
▼Why Dentsu Inc. is Tackling Crowdfunding × Advertising
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Advertising for Every Message You Want to Share. "AD MISSION" Enables Individual Advertising.

Are you familiar with "crowdfunding"? Many may have heard of it or vaguely understand the concept, yet remain unclear on the specifics. Crowdfunding—often called "Crowfund"—is a low-risk funding mechanism where a project calls for relatively small contributions from an unspecified number of people, executing the project once a set amount is raised. The term literally combines "crowd" and "funding."

Over the past two years, as societal values and people's lifestyles have shifted at an accelerated pace, countless industries and companies have suffered economic blows. To rescue them, numerous crowdfunding projects have been proposed by volunteers who raised their voices. Among these, some projects have succeeded in securing quite large-scale funding, raising hundreds of millions of yen.

Perhaps due to the prolonged pandemic drawing more attention than before, crowdfunding projects aimed at rescue or support tend to catch the eye. However, crowdfunding is fundamentally just one means of raising funds, and its purpose and goal setting are essentially up to the initiator. Conversely, every crowdfunding project has various goals set by its initiator. The more unique or resonant the action, the more likely it is to raise significant funds and move the project into execution.

Surprisingly, many projects ultimately set "advertising" as their desired action. These include projects like promotional ads for supporting someone you admire, calling on like-minded people to deliver a message; collaborative projects seeking people who share the same purpose to create something together; or even relief projects needing funds for "advertising" as a means of raising awareness.

Advertising for every message you want to deliver. Launched with this vision, "AD MISSION" is a new service platform for advertising activities. By leveraging crowdfunding, it enables anyone, even individuals, to conduct advertising communication using mass media. Launched as a joint venture between MOTION GALLERY and Dentsu Inc., it handles everything from project proposal to fundraising, while Dentsu Inc. undertakes the advertising work—including media buying, review and delivery of ad materials, and creative work as needed.
https://www.dentsu.co.jp/news/release/2021/1020-010451.html

Using "AD MISSION," anyone can run ads, even without the necessary advertising budget. By sharing compelling actions, ideas, and the passion to realize them with a wide audience, you can gain support. You also receive various forms of support throughout the creative and media buying processes. Even if your proposed project doesn't gather the desired support and fails to reach its goal, it simply ends without funding; there are no upfront costs involved.

The vision of "AD MISSION" is to demonstrate the desire to make advertising function as a means to realize the crowdfunding philosophy of supporting activities with social significance that cannot be fully measured by economic yardsticks, and as a voice to deliver those individual aspirations to the world. It also embodies various self-reflections on advertising.

So, what self-reflection on advertising is embedded here? From this point on, I'd like to share the background and journey leading to this service's launch, intertwined with my own personal thoughts.

Is advertising increasingly disliked these days?

Whether you're in the advertising industry or not, many people probably feel that ads these days are uninteresting, lacking in taste, or just plain intrusive—that "ads are disliked right now." For us who create ads daily, this is a painful truth to hear. Yet it's undeniable that in recent years, the environment surrounding advertising has grown increasingly strict and restrictive. We've seen heightened focus on effectiveness, efficiency, granular metrics, compliance, and reputation risk (damage to one's standing). Furthermore, the pandemic dealt a significant blow to the advertising industry.

Efficiency, metrics, and compliance are all crucial, of course. But if ads that somehow clear every hurdle and make it into the world are dismissed as "uninteresting," then the whole effort loses its meaning. We need something that catches the eye, even if just for a moment. Struggling daily with this challenge, and driven by a desire to absorb the spirit of advertising from an era that was once "free" and "interesting," I visited the Yasumichi Oka exhibition held in October 2021. Amidst the nostalgic, still dazzling TV commercials and Oka's many famous quotes that must have stirred countless hearts, one phrase suddenly caught my eye.

"I feel like people have always been saying 'Today's ads are boring.'"
It's like saying "This year's cold is really bad," something someone is always saying.

For the person saying it, it might just be a casual complaint muttered without much thought. But it's true, it feels like every year someone says things like "This year's heat is insane" or "This year's cold is nasty," and I couldn't help but laugh. Yes, it's not that "advertising is hated now"; advertising has always tended to be disliked and often seen as boring. Its very nature—forcing its way into people's daily lives—hasn't changed since the beginning.

Our job is to do everything we can to prevent that. It's through trial and error, trying to overcome that barrier, that we've produced such great work up until now. Even if the media and methods of advertising change somewhat with the times, creativity lies in generating ideas that are loved or resonate with people, far from being disliked. When I was feeling a certain kind of deadlock, Mr. Oka's words from reminded me of this obvious truth all over again.

Who Does Advertising Belong To? The Advertising Industry's Update and Liberalization

It goes without saying that the transformation of advertising's role and the expansion of creativity have been called for within and outside the industry for years. Various initiatives are already underway, adapting to shifts in societal trends, media diversification, and new social challenges. Yet, from the perspective of those immersed in the field, it often feels like advertising remains trapped by established conventions.

One such point is that "only a select few companies and communicators can actually execute advertising, especially mass media advertising." This is understandable, given the significant budget required for mass media advertising. However, while I didn't feel strongly about this reality when I first started working in the industry, I've gradually developed a vague sense of doubt: Is this really okay?

Now, we truly live in an era where anyone can be a content creator. Even without initial funding, anyone can gain significant influence—on par with established media—through ideas and effort, like YouTubers or TikTokers. Compared to that, what about "advertising"? In this era, isn't mass media advertising communication becoming the only closed system? Who does advertising belong to in the first place?

During these pandemic days filled with reflection, I found myself pondering this "liberalization of advertising." Advertising should be freer, more open—something anyone can do if they choose. And as the environment surrounding the advertising industry undergoes rapid change, I've even begun to suspect that therein lies a clue for updating advertising itself.

Why Dentsu Inc. is Tackling Crowdfunding × Advertising

Around that time, I had the opportunity to handle the creative for a project launched via crowdfunding. While learning about its mechanisms and origins, I also began researching the significance of crowdfunded projects supported by many people and the keys to their success. Theaters that weathered the pandemic crisis through crowdfunding, innovative services from companies seeking to pioneer new frontiers, high-IQ and passionate opinions aiming to expand the circle of support into society...

There, like items at a trade show, were numerous challenges posed to today's society. Accompanied by truly well-thought-out ideas and passion overflowing with the desire to somehow get them out into the world. Many projects made me want to support them immediately. It made me appreciate crowdfunding's appeal anew and also realize the common ground with the advertising communication planning we do daily. It seemed our skills and knowledge could often be useful for crowdfunding too.

It goes without saying that ideas capable of capturing widespread attention are crucial. Yet today's advertising is constantly scrutinized for how it engages with society. Its position as communication is increasingly expected to be grounded in solutions to social issues. In the crowdfunding world, where identifying problems, devising solutions, and the strength of the voice delivering them to society are vital, the skills and knowledge we've cultivated in advertising are likely needed.

Furthermore, if the desired action is "advertising," even after successfully raising funds, the process of actually launching the ad into the world is far from simple. How do you buy media ad space? How do you manage scheduling and media reviews? And fundamentally, you need someone to produce the ad itself... the list of tasks is endless. Especially regarding mass media, isn't there something we can offer in terms of support to navigate these specialized processes?

We reasoned that if we provided "problem discovery" and "idea generation" during project planning, followed by "execution support," it wouldn't just help many crowdfunding project creators. It could also lead to the "liberalization of advertising," where anyone could freely disseminate "advertisements." We approached Motion Gallery's President Takeshi Ohtaka with this idea. Mr. Ohtaka readily agreed to this seemingly impossible request, and together we refined the concept for a service integrating crowdfunding and advertising.

Thus, AD MISSION, a joint venture between Dentsu Inc. and MOTION GALLERY, was born. Since its launch in October 2021, we've received many inquiries, and several projects are currently underway. While corporations and companies can certainly initiate projects through "AD MISSION," most offers so far have come from individual creators with overwhelming passion and clear visions. Some projects have already successfully raised funds and completed placements in newspaper ads and other media.

Here are a few examples...

• Support ads to send messages to sports teams and talents
• Advertisements serving as proof of support for idols and artists
• PR actions raising awareness to solve pressing social issues or local problems
• Awareness campaigns to revitalize traditional culture and local communities

The purposes and goals of the proposed projects are truly diverse.

At "AD MISSION," the project initiator is the advertising client. When a creative request comes in, I meet with each individual to receive the production brief. I've already spoken online with several initiators. While we provide various forms of support, there are also many instances where we must ask the initiators themselves to handle certain tasks. I imagine it's quite challenging with unfamiliar work, but I'm truly impressed by how highly motivated everyone is.

While embracing that passion, I'm also realizing daily how our cultivated skills and knowledge in creative ideas and the practical aspects of crowdfunding and ad placements can contribute to each project's success. I sincerely hope that the passionate visions of as many people as possible will gain the empathy and support of diverse individuals, leading to their realization. And that "advertising" will become the "voice" delivering those visions to society. As one of the founders of this venture, this is my strong wish.