International: Automobile major Toyota has joined hands with Dentsu Group to launch a new business structure that will take effect from January 2021.
Under the new structure, Toyota and Dentsu will work together with Toyota’s subsidiary, Delphys, to promote and accelerate Toyota’s marketing innovation and business creation. Dentsu will participate in the new business structure as a “business growth partner” and will promote marketing and the business transformation of client companies.
Both Toyota and Dentsu will operate under a holding company, which Toyota will own 66% of and Dentsu will own 34% of. There will be two operating companies created under the holding company, which have not yet been named.
The first operating company will conduct innovation of communication toward brand-building that generates exceptional customer trust, innovation of marketing that anticipates changes of the times, such as the advancement of a digital society, as well as the challenge of executing business in a mobility society.
Meanwhile, the second operating company will engage in the creation of new mechanisms and businesses, as a research entity in the field of digital communications, through the advancement of digital transformation in the retail domain. The holding company will preside over both operating companies, and will conduct strategic decision-making related to innovation in the marketing domain. According to a press release, Dentsu intends to invest in Delphys after obtaining approval and such from competition authorities in the countries concerned, with preparations being made toward the launch the new business structure.
The new business structure will integrate the strengths of Delphys, which specialises in automotive marketing and in the domain of retail centered on automotive sales, with Dentsu’s knowledge and know-how to promote the transformation of Toyota’s business model. Instead of using conventional methods, the aim is to go beyond the realm of automobile manufacturers and advertising agencies by accurately grasping information such as customer situations and needs, developing new businesses, and proposing them to the world.
According to Toyota, the new business structure comes as it sees the approaching of an era in which all of the things and services that support people’s lives are connected by information. Thus it aims to create business models that bring new value and happiness to its customers.
