Dentsu bespoke gaming….. Tailored to Fit the Wrong Guy?

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Dentsu caught my eye and lost it just as fast….but why? Dentsu Is a international marketing company. In other words they are the plug. From product development, to marketing, this company has been around since 1901 and knows how to make an impact. So I am sure you can imagine how stoked I was to see the article headline  “Dentsu launches bespoke gaming solution to help brands navigate booming category”. Yes I know the long name, which is why only two things stood out to me, bespoke and gaming.                                                                                            


Dentsu has always made the claim to be a company that listens to its employees on every level, and to always be ahead of the curve, and this claim of bespoke gaming was no different.  Dentsu’s goal is to help new developers break into a competitive market, and integrate marketing into games, without breaking immersion; such as the integration of Jake from State Farm as an npc into the NBA 2K franchise, as mentioned in this article.


Dentsu boasts a massive international market, and hires some of the best developers, media content creators, and now is offering to help companies “dip their toe into” the world of the gaming market; through integrated marketing?... The problem is that Dentsu ….. I DON’T KNOW WHO YOU ARE?1 Now of course I know who they are, I am a business major so duhhhh, but they have never been the focus of a conversation with my friends while I am gaming. The problem is, when I think of gaming, I don’t think of Dentsu. Dentsu to me is cars, medicine, and energy. And yeah okay they have Jake from State Farm NFL 2K, but that is a super small market when you are advertising yourself as the go to for a massively expanding market. Dentsu is not who I would trust to help me dip my toe in the water, when I’m not sure they can even swim.


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 https://youtu.be/qHt3UA9MITo


TRAGICALLY UNINSPIRED! I was no joke disappointed by this commercial. The problem to me is that it seemed like they were advertising to CEOs, and not to gamers…. You know the people they are claiming to want to help break into this market. Let me break this down; basic music, close up of a controller into a pc setup transition ( to show they are cross platform friendly), people gaming together transitions into rising popularity on Twitch, and finally the classic seeing your art move from wireframes to in game models. I have seen this commercial what feels like a billion times from Twitch, Steam, DigiPen, Ubisoft, blizzard…. Really the list goes on. It is a bog standard call to be at the forefront of change and make gaming your lifestyle.


God I am so bummed…. There are so many ways to do this better. One option would be to approach five people on Fiverr, and have them create gag characters for brands that Dentsu is partnered with, without telling the content creators who you are before the project is complete. Then once the “Jakes” were made, Dentsu could approach them and show how their integrative resources could be beneficial. Paying people to do stuff on Fiverr is just old enough to be relevant, and make a joke about being late to the party, which is more relatable. The development of these characters would get community involvement. The character integration would show Dentsu’s resources at work, and could be used at a press release. And these characters, which will of course be buggy at first, can be recorded and used as a blooper reel on youtube; showing off how fun and interactive the company is, and how the project developed in a short time. Lastly of course any good PR for Dentsu is good PR for the companies they are associated with.


After reading this article I learned two things. Just because you are one of the largest in your field, doesn't mean you can't drop the ball….. In this case by recycling content I have seen. And second, though I am sure this targeted marketing was tailored right to fit someone else,  it was not a fit for me. 


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