Apple and the Dentsu Group — which offers national, multinational and global clients a range of advertising and marketing services — has announced a partnership to expand Apple’s iAd mobile advertising network to Japan in early 2011. Dentsu will be responsible for the selling and creative execution of iAds in Japan, and Apple will host, target and deliver the iAds to its iPhone and iPod touch users.
“After an incredibly successful launch in the US where we’ve already doubled the number of brands on the network, we’re excited to bring iAd to Japan,” says Andy Miller, Apple’s vice president of iAd. “Dentsu is one of the world’s most prestigious advertising agencies, making them an ideal partner for iAds in Japan.”
“We’re thrilled to be joining with Apple to introduce such a powerful new ad platform in Japan,” adds Ryuichi Mori, senior executive vice president, Dentsu. “Mobile advertising is Japan’s fastest-growing platform and iAd’s rich media experience and engaged audience of iPhone and iPod touch users make it uniquely positioned to capture mobile’s full potential for advertisers and developers.”
Dentsu subsidiary cyber communications (cci) will provide one-stop services for iAd in Japan including creative production and media planning. cci, established in 1996 as a subsidiary of Dentsu, is an interactive, one-stop marketing service company that provides Internet advertising services including media planning, ad serving technology, ad creative service and market analysis.
iAds combine the emotion of TV advertising with the interactivity of Internet advertising, according to Apple CEO Steve Jobs. Apple has iAd commitments for 2010 totaling over US$60 million, which represents almost 50 percent of the total forecasted US mobile ad spending for the second half of 2010, says Jobs.
He adds that iAd, which is built into iOS 4, allows users to stay within their app while engaging with the ad, even while watching a video, playing a game or using in-ad purchase to download an app or buy iTunes content.