Third Investment of Advertising Giant Dentsu in an Israeli Venture

Japanese advertising corporation Dentsu Inc. has signed a new investment and multilateral business cooperation agreement with Imprint Social, a Tel Aviv-based media technology company specializing in digital marketing engines.
 

Founded in 1901, Dentsu is the largest advertising and communications corporation in Japan with over 60,000 employees. Listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, it is valued at over $13 billion. It has been combing the Israeli marketplace in recent years to find exciting tech companies in which to invest. The corporation, one of the largest of its kind in the world, and ranked fifth after Omnicom, WPP, Publicis and Interpublic, is continuing with its acquisitions and investments in Israeli technologies, while growing its strategic operations.

Imprint is a digital communications company, barely six years old, which has developed remarkable capabilities to facilitate authentic personal networking in online communities around the world. A unique form of community marketing, Imprint’s technologies, and techniques are used to discuss ideas, disseminate high-quality information, and engage in public discourse and hot topics on social media. As a technology company, Imprint focuses on the application of digital marketing engines to organic interpersonal marketing and networking in the online social space.

The company conducts discourse-based market research on social media to gain sophisticated insights and develop precise messaging strategies that work with varied target audiences. Located in Tel Aviv and employing a staff of 100 people, Imprint is a proven expert in digital intelligence, audience psychology and the behavioral science of online communities.
While the exact scope of Dentsu’s investment in Imprint remains confidential, it is estimated at millions of dollars.

Masakazu Takemori, the Senior Solutions Manager of the Intelligence Solutions Center at Dentsu, stated, “Dentsu considers the strategic partnership with Imprint as both an investment and a tremendous opportunity. We’re delighted to be boosting Israel’s hi-tech sector to obtain innovative technologies and new services that Israeli companies have to offer.” He further added, “We will continue to actively seek new opportunities for the Japanese and broader Asian markets. We anticipate that the cooperation with Imprint will constitute a basis for the growth of the current transaction, as well as various future business developments.”

Imprint’s CEO, Mark Goldblatt, believes the partnership has huge potential: “We consider Dentsu’s current investment in Imprint as key to our strategic cooperation in Japan and around the world. Dentsu is a global superpower in digital advertising, and it sees an opportunity for exposure for the Israeli industry. Our cooperation, which has been underway for almost two years, is already generating results for both companies.”

Imprint’s Chief Technology Officer, Motti Koren, added that “As a global leader in advertising, Dentsu is making a strategic investment in Imprint, which it considers integral to its future as a digital marketing engine. We see Dentsu as a natural partner for growth and technological specialization that will provide a global solution for other corporations and companies, both local and global. The third investment in an Israeli company by a corporation of Dentsu’s size and stature reflects the strengthening ties between us as well as Dentsu’s commitment to the Israeli tech sector at large, and we’re excited about this.”