FIVB

The Sports Marketing Giant Dentsu: No Longer Flying Under the Radar

tadashi-ishii
Dentsu CEO Tadashi Ishii
Dentsu is a $15 billion company, with a 25% share of the Japanese advertising market. It’s #1 in Japan, but not dominant, at least in terms of revenue. That’s fine, because Japanese companies, even large ones, don’t like to draw too much attention to themselves.

And yet, you can argue that Dentsu has become one of the most influential sports marketing companies in the world. Currently, Dentsu represents Tokyo2020 as exclusive agent to secure Japan sponsors for the upcoming 2020 Summer Games, signing up over 40 sponsors. It represents such international sports agencies as the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF), the International Football Association (FIFA), the International Swimming Federation (FINA), the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB), as well as the United States Olympic Committee (USOC), among many other sports organizations.

As sports marketing authority, David Cushnan, once told me, “if you are an international sports federation, or an international sports league that wants to go to Japan, then your first call is Dentsu. They can get you access.”

And as the Financial Times puts it, once you’re a client, they are so powerful it’s sometimes hard to tell who the client is. “It is not like any company in the world,” says a board member at one of Dentsu’s biggest clients. “You are the customer, but they are the master. Nobody ever says it, but over the years, you need them more than they need you. It is like an addiction.”

Dentsu may be glad to see 2016 over, however, as it was a tough year, nearly impossible to avoid the glare of the red-hot spotlight.

  • Black Tidings and AMS: In May, 2016, The British newspaper, The Guardian, revealed that a USD1.5 million payment was made in July, 2013 from a Japanese bank to an account with a person in a company called Athlete Management Services, affiliated with both the IAAF and Dentsu. This payment was prior to the vote for selection of the 2020 Olympic host city. After Tokyo was selected as the winning city in September, 2013, a second payment was made to the same account for another USD2 million.
  • Caught Overbilling: Toyota raised an alarm that they suspected Dentsu, hiding behind a notorious curtain of opaque transactional costs for online advertising, was overcharging them for ad placements. They were right. Not only that, over a 100 other companies were cheated as well, resulting in an announcement in late September, 2016 that Dentsu will reimburse an estimated 230 million yen ($2.3 million) back to customers.
  • Working Employees to the Extreme: Dentsu recently received the odious recognition being labeled the worst of the “Black Companies” in Japan. A “Black Company” in Japan is one considered a firm that blatantly exploits its employees. Much of this recognition was due to the horrible news that a first-year employee at Dentsu committed suicide. According to this article, the 24-year old woman, Matsuri Takahashi, jumped from the top of her company dormitory on Christmas Day in 2015, after working 100 hours of overtime the previous month.

Apparently, the notoriety around being considered a horrible place to work was the last straw. Dentsu’s president, Tadashi Ishii, announced last week that he would resign in March, 2017.

matsuri-takahashi-and-parents
Matsuri Takahashi and parents
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Rio’s Too Close to Call: Men’s and Women’s (Indoor) Volleyball, But Brazil has the Home-Court Advantage

Brazilian Women's Volleyball Team

Brazilian women are gunning for their third straight Olympic title, done only once before by women in the history of the Olympics. This after taking bronze, silver and silver the previous three Olympics. Brazilian men are hoping that three’s the charm, after finishing second to Russia and the US the last two Olympics, after taking gold in 2004.

But there are thin margins for error. In the men’s competition, Brazil is ranked number one in the world. But #2 Poland, #4 Italy and #5 USA (which defeated Brazil for gold at the 2008 Beijing Games) are considered strong contesters for gold. And then, there’s #3 Russia, which was reinstated by the IOC (and which defeated Brazil for gold in the 2012 London Games).

Brazilian Men's Volleyball

The Brazilian’s women’s team is ranked world number 2, but they won the World Volleyball Grand Prix in July, defeating #1 ranked USA in a five-set thriller. The Netherlands and Russia were also strong, although a favorite, #3 ranked China, did not finish well. All of those countries, including Japan, are in the hunt for gold in Rio.

But as they say, volleyball is Brazil’s national sport (because soccer is their religion). With the home crowd behind their teams, the noise deafening inside Maracanazinho Gymnasium, Brazil’s indoor volleyball teams, both men’s and women’s could possibly make it a home sweep.

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Rio’s Golden Favorites: Women’s Brazilian Beach Volleyball

Talita Antunes and Larissa Franca
Talita Antunes (L) and Larissa Franca of Brazil in action at Copacabana Beach, September, 2015

They own the top two spots in FIVB’s Provisional Olympic Rankings. Additionally, the next Olympics are being held on their home court, on the sands of Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro.

Clear favorites to win gold, and maybe silver, are the beach volleyball women’s pairs from Brazil.

The female duo of Talita Antunes and Larissa Franca are primed for gold, with a recent win over American competition in Switzerland, April Ross and London silver medalist Kerri Walsh Jennings. At the end of 2015, FIVB players, coaches, and officials voted on who the best players were: Talita Antunes was voted Best Spiker, while Larissa Franca was voted Most Outstanding.

Agatha Bednarczuk and Barbara Seixas
Agatha Bednarczuk and Barbara Seixas of Brazil celebrating at a competition in Prague, 2015.

The second ranked team of Barbara Seixas and Agatha Bednarczuk were voted “Team of the Year” over their compatriots after having gathered the most points in 2015 in the race to FIVB’s World Tour crown.

The Brazilian women will be ranked #1 in two of the four pools at the Rio Olympics. Home sand advantage goes to Brazil.

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Anatomy of a Dramatic Fifth-Set Collapse: Japan’s Vaunted Women’s Volleyball Team Nearly Fall to Upstart Thailand

The Japan’s Women’s Volleyball Team has legendary status, medaling in five straight Olympics from 1964 to 1984, excluding the boycotted 1980 Moscow Games. They fell out of contention over the 1990s and the “oughts”, but regained form taking bronze at the 2012 London Games.

But there the Japanese team was on the evening of May 18, losing significantly in the fifth and final set to Thailand, a nation that has never sent a volleyball team to the Olympics. This was the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) Women’s Rio 2016 Qualifier, and it was being played in the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium in Tokyo, the site of Japan’s gold-medal winning performance in the Olympic debut of women’s volleyball.

Japan vs thailand volleyball qualifier
Erika Araki (center) spikes the ball during Japan’s 3-2 Olympic qualifying win

Thailand was tasting it, they could see it – victory. They were up 10-5 in the fifth and final set. (Start watching the above video at the 2 hour 54-minute mark.) Japan served, starting an incredible rally. Thailand received a jump serve, it was returned to the setter waiting at the front of the net, who laid up an easy hit for a Thai striker who smashed it across court, right at a Japanese player who sent the ball out of bounds. The Thai players start slapping high fives. But a Japanese had lunged out of bounds to save the ball and send it across the net to the surprised Thais. Another Thai spike. This time, an amazing one-handed save by the Japanese. The announcer is incredulous. “Has it gone? It’s still in! It’s still in! I can’t believe it.” Back and forth it goes as the Thais re-group. And they have a chance, but their spike sails out. There’s a challenge, but no Japanese fingers touch the ball, and Japan climbs one point closer, 10-6.

They call it momentum. And one could sense it slipping Japan’s way.

Thailand managed to win the next two points to go up 12-6. A poor serve from Thailand made it 12-7. The announcer said, “Can Japan get some Harry Potter magic here and get a few points.” And that’s when it all started to fall apart for the Southeast Asian nation. If they win the set and the match, there’s a very real chance they would eventually qualify for their first Olympics in Rio. But they were on Japan’s home court and they were feeling the pressure.

Japan gets another point to claw closer to 12-8. It’s unclear why watching the broadcast of the match, but Thai coach, Kiattipong Radchatagriengkai, was upset, and challenged the call. The referee from Mexico, Luis Gerardo Macias, denied the challenge, leaving the Thai coach in a huff. Kiattipong calls a time out. When the time out ends and the Thai players go back onto the court, Macias calls the Thai players over to explain something. Macias raises a red card, and suddenly, the score is 12-9. You can hear Kiattipong say in surprise, “aray wa?”, which is a crude way of saying in Thai, “what the heck happened?”

Macias explaining the first penalty to Thai team captain
Macias explaining the first penalty to the Thai team captain

And that is a good question.

But life quickly goes on. Japan serves, the Thai player lets it go, and the ball falls safely inside the lines for the match’s only ace. It’s now 12-10. “Nerves must be jangling on Thailand’s side,” says the announcer. With the crowd roaring, Japan spikes to another point, and are behind by one, 12-11. Kiattipong calls another timeout. Japan serves, takes Thailand’s attack, and blocks for the tying point. It’s now tied, 12-12. Japan serves, sets up for a spike which the Thai defenders can’t handle. 13-12 Japan. That’s seven points in a row.

You can see Kiattipong prowling the sidelines in disbelief. The camera switches to Macias, who has an expression that essentially says, “I told him to shut up and he won’t shut up.” Suddenly, Macias indicates another penalty, and Japan is amazingly given another point by

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