India – Dentsu has announced a significant global expansion of its pioneering innovation hub, Dentsu Lab. Alongside this announcement, Dentsu has promoted Sven Huberts to the dual role of president of global innovation and experience and president of Dentsu Lab, while Naoki Tanaka will lead Dentsu Lab Tokyo as chief creative officer.
Dentsu’s first global labs will be opening in London, Amsterdam, Warsaw, Mumbai, and Bengaluru, with further international labs planned for 2025. The new international network will work towards a shared mission to innovate human experiences that move people’s hearts, impact business, and improve society.
Each lab will be overseen by dedicated local leadership, to be announced in the coming months, supported by a team of specialists focused on bringing a wide range of services to market. These services will include creative R&D that integrates contexts and technologies such as events, sports, gaming, installations, retail, new products, proposition design, new realities (AR, VR, MR), data visualisation, AI, mobile, IoT, and rapid prototyping.
The labs will be fully integrated with each other and dentsu’s offices to expand on the network’s innovation offer.
Together with this expansion, Dentsu has also appointed Huberts and Tanaka to lead the global rollout of the pioneering Dentsu Lab in Tokyo.
In his new dual role as president of global innovation and experience and president of Dentsu Lab, Huberts is responsible not only for spearheading the global expansion of Dentsu Lab but also for scaling the mission across the network to deliver client growth via Dentsu’s combined experience and innovation capabilities.
Meanwhile, as the new chief creative officer of Dentsu Lab Tokyo, Tanaka will leverage his academic background in science and technology and years of professional experience to continuously push the boundaries of creative technology for clients.
This global initiative builds on the success of Dentsu Lab Tokyo, founded in 2014 by global chief creative officer Yasuharu Sasaki. Over the past decade, the Lab has delivered renowned projects like “All Players Welcome,” which empowers creativity for individuals with disabilities, enhanced international event ceremonies, and used algorithms and data visualisation to improve sports experiences.
Jean Lin, global president of global practices at dentsu, said, “The launch of Dentsu Lab continues a proud 120-year tradition of innovation sitting at the core of dentsu’s offering. We know from Dentsu Lab Tokyo how powerful the outcome for society and business can be when you bring the best creative technologists together to imagine and invent. To be making this possible on a global stage is an exciting moment for dentsu, clients, and society.”
Commenting on his appointment, Huberts shared, “We are at an inflexion point of human creativity and technical sophistication where the opportunity for genuine innovation has never been so compelling. I couldn’t be more excited to be partnering with Naoki and our Lab leaders to empower our growing global team of creators, partners, and institutions with the most powerful technology and tools in the world to create experiences that truly touch hearts, impact business, and, most importantly, move society forward.”
Tanaka further added, “Since launching ten years ago, Dentsu Lab Tokyo has revolutionised the intersection of technology and creativity, solving societal challenges and creating visionary expressions that touch hearts and minds. Our talented international team of dreamers and innovators, equipped with cutting-edge technology, is poised to take this impact worldwide and accelerate our clients’ growth while making a profound impact on society. We take the outlier’s perspective to open up new possibilities and find new answers through play. The future isn’t just on the horizon; with Dentsu Lab’s global vision, it is here and now, ready to transform the world.”
