“Gemini Day” Held: Combining AI-Driven Autonomous Operational Support with Human Creativity to Create New Value for Society and the Future

On September 8, “Gemini Day,” an event co-hosted by Google Cloud Japan and Dentsu Inc. was held at Dentsu Inc. Hall. Professionals from various fields discussed the impact of Google’s generative AI service, “Gemini Enterprise,” on business and marketing, as well as the latest case studies. The event highlighted the current state of AI-driven business transformation as it transitions from the “concept” phase to the “implementation” phase.

The following nine representatives from the Dentsu Group took the stage.

[Speakers from the Dentsu Group]
■dentsu Japan
Susumu Namikawa (Chief AI Officer, Executive Creative Director, Senior AI Master)

■Dentsu Inc.
Yasuo Ugori (Account Lead, Business Producers Division 20)
Motoki Kobashi (Future Creative Center, Creative Planning Division 6, Communication Creator, Copywriter)
Kohei Washio (Future Creative Center, Project Design Department)

■ Dentsu Digital Inc.
Yuya Eda (Group Manager, AI & Data Management Division)
Akira Sato (Group Manager, Data Strategy Division)
Minoru Suenaga (Business Unit Manager, AI & Data Management Business Unit)

■Ignition Point
Yuki Hamama (Executive Officer, Head of AI Innovation Hub)

■GNUS Inc.
Shun Arakane (Director, Solutions Group)

Enterprise AI: From “Chatbots” to “Autonomous Agents”

In the opening introduction of the event, Daisuke Fuchino, Executive Officer and Head of Customer Engineering at Google Cloud Japan, took the stage.He explained that AI technology is evolving from “AI chatbots,” which perform tasks such as summarizing and researching, to “AI agents” that autonomously carry out business operations. He also pointed out that, with information scattered across emails and chats, AI’s “ability to correctly understand the context of a task” is essential for making accurate decisions.

“Gemini Enterprise” is a generative AI platform that leverages data sources across the entire organization to provide autonomous business support based on an understanding of the business context. A projected demo video showed Gemini Enterprise autonomously executing the entire process—from generating a new campaign based on a single idea to delivering the campaign emails. The presentation also highlighted a case study in which Gemini Enterprise reduced a task that previously took about 150 hours to just 4 hours.

Mr. Fuchino concluded his introduction by stating, “It is extremely important to integrate business operations with AI and to utilize it while carefully considering which tasks to entrust to AI agents.”

The essence of business transformation through AI lies in “business process redesign”

In the keynote session titled “The Future of Business Transformation Brought by Generative AI,” Tomoko Mikami, Representative of Google Cloud Japan, and Mr. Namikawa of dentsu Japan took the stage.

Ms. Mikami began by likening AI-driven transformation to the “invention of electricity,” explaining, “The revolution brought about by electricity led to explosive productivity gains when motors were incorporated into individual machines, thereby changing the layout of the entire factory—that is, the business processes themselves.” She noted that this analogy applies to the modern use of AI as well, emphasizing that a perspective focused on redesigning business processes to align with AI is essential.

He also noted that at Google Cloud Japan, in response to the management challenge of supply chain risks stemming from rising AI demand, the company has achieved financial benefits in the tens of billions of yen by efficiently driving operational reforms through human-mediated AI use to accumulate knowledge.

Next, Mr. Namikawa introduced dentsu Japan’s AI strategy, “AI For Growth,” explaining that at its core are the following two AI engines:

・People Model: A simulation engine that predicts market reactions using AI personas representing 100 million people, based on survey data from 150,000 consumers
・AI For Growth Marketing Agents: A planning engine featuring 10 specialized AI agents that incorporate expert insights to support corporate marketing

Finally, regarding the future of AI adoption, Mr. Namikawa stated, “We should not only focus on improving operational efficiency through AI but also take on the challenge of enhancing the value we provide to customers,” bringing the session to a close.

AI as a Partner in Building the Foundation for Thought

The session titled “The Challenge of Transforming into an Organization That Thinks About Marketing Strategy Through AI” featured Gen Fujita, Assistant General Manager of the Public Relations and Advertising Department and Assistant General Manager of the Marketing Office within the Postal and Logistics Business Division at Japan Post; Mr. Ugome from Dentsu Inc.; and Mr. Eda from Dentsu Digital Inc. They presented Japan Post’s AI marketing initiatives for “Yu-Pack.”

Japan Post had long been aware of challenges inherent in its organizational structure, noting that “personnel rotations and siloed departments made it difficult to accumulate and utilize marketing insights.”

To address this challenge, and with the support of Mr. Ugome and Mr. Eda, the company undertook an organizational transformation under the theme of “Creating the ‘Yu-Pack × Moving’ Market,” utilizing Gemini Enterprise and Dentsu Inc.’s proprietary marketing agent. They conducted cross-departmental workshops and implemented the initiative from strategy formulation to creative production.

The results went beyond simply improving operational efficiency; by involving each department in the planning process, the speed of reaching consensus increased dramatically. There were even cases where AI-generated ad creatives outperformed those created by humans.

Mr. Fujita stated, “I believe AI is not merely a tool for producing results, but rather a partner that helps build the foundation for an organization’s thinking and works alongside us,” suggesting that AI has the potential to transform an organization’s way of thinking.

“It’s Not Just a ‘Nice-to-Have’”—Organizational and Operational Reform Centered on AI Agents

In a session titled “How Has Google Itself Changed Through AI: Practical AI-BPR Transformation Lessons from ‘Customer Zero,’” Mr. Makoto Hamada, Executive Officer of the Data Cloud Business Division at Google Cloud Japan, and Mr. Hamama of Ignition Point Inc. took the stage.

Mr. Hamama began by introducing a business design framework focused on “people and organization” that should be implemented when introducing AI. He noted that key points of this design include “drawing out tacit knowledge from the front lines,” “redefining the roles of people and AI,” and “creating a so-called mesh-type structure that operates in small, parallel units.”

The discussion then turned to the organizational transformation Google Cloud Japan undertook during its AI implementation. Mr. Hamada began by asserting, “Our efforts with AI agents are not merely ‘nice to have’—they are essential to the success of our operations,” demonstrating the company’s serious commitment to business reform based on AI agents.

He cited “supply chain reform” as a specific example of these transformation initiatives.

“In global supply chains, plans and forecasts often don’t go as intended due to uncertainties such as weather issues and international political situations. Therefore, the core of our reform lies in having AI agents monitor real-time data and determine how to flexibly adjust business processes in response to the situation,” said Mr. Hamada.

He also presented a case study in which a staff member used natural language to interact with Google Cloud Japan’s proprietary AI agent, enabling a single person to complete a process that previously spanned multiple departments.

Creating “B to Me” and “Me to B” Customer Experiences Through the Interaction of Data and AI

The session “Data Integration for Creating the Customer Experience of the Future” focused on a future customer experience where data and AI are fully integrated.

Mr. Suenaga and Mr. Sato from Dentsu Digital Inc. took the stage to discuss the importance of an “ecosystem” in which data and AI circulate.

At the core of this “ecosystem” are “optimization of the cycle”—which transforms data obtained through the use of AI agents into knowledge—and “automation of collaboration,” which facilitates seamless integration between a company’s own data, AI, and the platform infrastructure for executing initiatives. Mr. Suenaga explained, “By keeping these two cycles in motion, data and AI interact, creating a mechanism that continuously evolves the accuracy of AI responses and the customer experience.”

Next, Mr. Washio of Dentsu Inc. and Mr. Arakane of GNUS Inc. took the stage to present two prototypes of the “future landscape of the customer experience” that can be created by combining data from Gemini and Google.

One was “B to Me (Business to Me),” in which AI deeply understands a customer’s life context and automatically generates personalized creative content. Using a car sales website and customer service as examples, they demonstrated how a proposal plan complete with a video is created on the spot based on the customer’s needs. Mr. Arakane expressed his hope, saying, “Could AI democratize the proposal skills of top salespeople?”

The second concept is “Me to B (Me to Business).” By allowing users to feed vast amounts of personal data into the AI, the system visualizes their latent needs. Based on this, it autonomously selects the most suitable companies and engages in dialogue with them.As a model case, they conducted a demonstration involving the purchase of a custom-built home: potential needs derived from personal data were translated into visual representations of the home, and the process—including the selection of a contractor—was completed through dialogue between agents. Mr. Washio stated, “We can realize a world where companies gather around the future envisioned by customers, rather than customers chasing after companies,” presenting the potential for a new, customer-centric approach to marketing.

Achieving “Happiness” Beyond “Efficiency” Through the Power of People and Gemini

In the session titled “Can AI Create Time to Care for People? The ‘Gaze of Care’ Project,” Mr. Kobashi of Dentsu Inc. introduced a project that tackled challenges in the long-term care sector.

In the field of long-term care, there exists “tacit knowledge” regarding “quality care” that relies on the experience and intuition of caregivers; however, due to its highly individual nature, it was difficult to share this knowledge with others, making it hard to improve the quality of care at the organizational level.In the “Gaze of Care” project, conducted in collaboration with the National Association of Small-Scale Multifunctional Home Care Providers, experienced caregivers wore smart glasses to record their field of view, voice, and eye movements. Gemini analyzed this vast amount of data to visualize the nature of “good care”—something that had previously been impossible to put into words.

Furthermore, Gemini not only transcribes care records but also objectively evaluates care and generates interview questions that prompt caregivers to reflect on their own practices by asking, “Why did you take that action?” This enabled caregivers to objectively articulate the meaning of their work, which reportedly led to increased confidence and motivation, as well as organizational efforts to deepen understanding of older adults with dementia and reflect on team-based approaches.

“We’ve visualized the 14 principles and 30 practices that lead to ‘good care’—derived from smart glass recordings and Gemini’s analysis—in the form of posters and cards, which care facilities are now utilizing,” said Mr. Kobashi.

Finally, regarding AI, Mr. Kobashi stated emphatically, “I believe that taking a step beyond ‘efficiency’ leads to ‘happiness.’ We should combine the power of Gemini with human capabilities to bring about transformation in unsolved social issues.”

Moving beyond the confines of the business world, we aim to envision the future of humans and AI in society.

In the closing remarks, Mr. Namikawa took the stage once more. Reflecting on each session, he emphasized the potential for the pillars of data integration, marketing strategy, and customer experience to form a seamless connection—extending from business outcomes all the way to solving social issues.“We want to accompany you end-to-end—not just in operations, customer experience, data, and business outcomes, but also in addressing questions such as ‘What value do we deliver to society?’ and ‘How do we combine people and AI to envision the future?’” he said, concluding the event with a vision of a future co-created by people and AI.