TOKYO, JAPAN – Hakuhodo DY Holdings Inc. (Minato-ku, Tokyo; Masayuki Mizushima, President) is pleased to announce that its strategic operating unit kyu has acquired 100% of the shares in US communication company Godfrey Dadich Partners LLC.
The advance of digitalization and dramatic changes in the media environment enabled sei-katsu-sha to autonomously collect, choose and post their own information, and their grip on the initiative for their own information behaviors is getting firmer. Moreover, in a world overflowing with masses of information as new media appear in quick succession, companies and brands need information strategies for the age that tell them what messages they should send to sei-katsu-sha and how.
Godfrey Dadich is a communications company that plans and implements information strategies for today’s media environment. Leveraging superior content production capabilities and editorial strengths, the company has grown as a trusted partner since its establishment in 2017 due to its methods, which pluck the information that will maximize clients’ corporate value and convey it using methods that impact society, whether print, video, online or other means.
Godfrey Dadich’s Co-CEOs are Patrick Godfrey, who brings a wealth of experience and knowledge of advertising and marketing in the technology domain, and Scott Dadich, who previously served as editor in chief of WIRED magazine. Under their leadership, the company delivers high-value content using information craft capabilities and storytelling techniques that derive from combining teams comprising ex-WIRED writers, editors, designers, producers and others on the one hand, and highly creative producers, designers, planners, account service people and media planners on the other.
The investment in Godfrey Dadich by kyu is undertaken toward strengthening response capabilities for borderless corporate activities by recruiting specialized and innovative companies into the Group, one of the fundamentals for growth (see note) that was outlined in the Group’s previous Medium-Term Business Plan and continues in the current five-year period.
- Note: The three fundamentals for growth are: (1) Establish a leading position in the broader digital domain, (2) Strengthen response capabilities for borderless corporate activities, (3) Accelerate innovation through external collaborations
Since its establishment in 2014, kyu has welcomed eight corporate groups as members, including design firms and consulting companies in the United States and Canada.
The Hakuhodo DY Group, through kyu, will continue to enhance specialization and innovation within the Group in order to realize our core medium-term strategy: “With sei-katsu-sha insight as our cornerstone, the Hakuhodo DY Group will combine its creativity, integrative capabilities, and data and technology utilization skills to play a leading role in evolving companies’ marketing activities and generating innovation in a completely digitalized era. In this way, we will continue to impact and provide new value to sei-katsu-sha and society as a whole,” while also contributing to the growth of revenue from the Group’s international operations.
The impact of the acquisition of Godfrey Dadich on consolidated performance in the year ending March 31, 2021 will not be material.
Overview of GDP
Company name: Godfrey Dadich Partners LLC
Headquarters: San Francisco, USA
Offices: San Francisco, New York
Established: 2017
Founders and Co-CEOs: Patrick Godfrey, Scott Dadich
Employees: 58
Business: Information strategy planning, branding, branded content production, editorial production, documentary production
Key clients: Apple, Netflix, IBM, Nike, National Geographic, among others
