Japanese Agency Draws Up Plans for Cartoons

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A division of the fifth largest advertising agency in the world has started producing cartoon shows for children.

Is this a parent’s worst nightmare?

The division is Santa Monica-based DCI-LA, a new unit of Tokyo ad giant Dentsu Inc. Dentsu is the Tokyo-based agency that handles Japan’s most formidable brands.

“Although Dentsu is primarily known for its advertising business, the management of television commercial time led the company into program production,” the company stated. “Today the company is a leading investor and producer of Japanese animation.”

DCI-LA plans to take its Japanese connections to U.S. and European creative types with the goal of producing global Japanimation TV hits. The programs will target children 6 to 12 and males in the 17-25 bracket.

Dentsu already has its first success in “Deltora Quest,” a TV series based on fantasy books by Australian writer Emily Rodda. The show has established an audience in Asia, and DCI-LA will seek to get airtime in the U.S. and other territories.

“Although Japanese animation has achieved significant global success, many productions we currently see in development do not have broad appeal outside of Japan,” said Yuma Sakata, the senior vice president who heads DCI-LA. “Working with Western partners in preproduction, and then production teams in Japan for animation, we can create content that will appeal to a wider audience.”

Parents can rest easy for now: “Deltora Quest” hasn’t had any product integrations with Toyota, Dentsu’s biggest name client.


Measuring Media

Inter/Media Group of Cos. in Encino has formed a subsidiary, InfoTech Development, in order to create advanced reporting and data tools for media, advertising, marketing and retail sales.

As one of the largest buyers of direct-response media in the nation, Inter/Media has a major interest in bringing science to the art of media buying.

InfoTech’s mission is to create proprietary software to maximize clients’ advertising budgets, thus increasing return on investment in media buys. Also, InfoTech will update Accutrak, Inter/Media’s established optimization platform. The program enables the agency and its clients to test new variations of ads, networks and times of day to maximize ad performance.

“We are firmly committed to having the most advanced analytics in the advertising industry,” said Inter/Media President Robert Yallen.


Australia Rising


With fuel prices propelling plane fares to new heights, a trip to Australia might not be the first destination on travelers’ minds. So the nation’s tourism officials are bringing the power of movies into the equation.

Writer-director Baz Luhrmann, known for hits “Romeo + Juliet” and “Moulin Rouge,” has agreed to produce an international TV campaign for Tourism Australia. Set to launch in October, the campaign will coincide with the worldwide release of Luhrmann’s new feature film, “Australia.”

“The combined weight of the film and this campaign will provide Australia with its most powerful push in decades,” said Geoff Buckley, managing director of Tourism Australia. “This is a remarkable, and we think, unique project.”

“Australia” is a nostalgic romance in the 1930s about a wealthy lady who tries to keep her outback estate safe from a greedy takeover plot.

Luhrmann will work with DDB Worldwide, the agency of record for Tourism Australia.


Agencies & Accounts

Ad agency Zambezi has created a new TV campaign for Teva, a sports footwear company based in Goleta, Calif. Shot in Vail, Colo., the spots feature slow-motion sequences of outdoor sports. Spanish-language TV now has an animated character a worm to promote Donate Life California, the state-authorized registry for organ donors. One Legacy in Los Angeles created the spots. RPA Inc. in Santa Monica has started a branded entertainment division. The unit will form teams with Hollywood creative types to develop content for marketing campaigns. Steve Rossmann, who joins RPA from the Gersh Agency, will manage the operation. Political PR firms Englander & Associates and Arnie Berghoff & Associates have announced that they had merger talks with National Strategies Inc., but the talks ended “after failing to agree on technical issues surrounding the transaction.” Hispanic agency Power Media Group in Santa Clarita won the Latin Business Association Sol Award 2008 for best company among those with revenues between $1 million and $5 million. L.A.’s Wounded Warrior Project has promoted its Aug. 11 golf tournament with a new print ad titled “Looking for a Few Good Corporations,” playing off the long-running Marine Corps campaign. The project raises money for injured veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Quigley-Simpson has won the account for LasikPlus. The L.A. ad shop has already built a Web site and a direct-response TV campaign for the eye surgery chain. The city of Santa Monica has selected Southard Communications, a New York-based PR firm with an office in Santa Monica, to launch a $150,000 campaign to raise awareness of the city’s no-smoking laws. David & Goliath;, an L.A.-based ad boutique, has hired Tim Anderson as director of strategic planning. Previously, Anderson was at TBWAChiatDay in Playa del Rey.


Staff reporter Joel Russell can be reached at [email protected] or at (323) 549-5225, ext. 237.

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