d/b/a A trade name, trading name, or business name is a pseudonym used by companies that do not operate under their registered company name. The term for this type of alternative name is fictitious business name. Registering the fictitious name with ...

ADK, formerly known as Asatsu-DK, is a Japanese

advertising agency An advertising agency, often referred to as a creative agency or an ad agency, is a business dedicated to creating, planning, and handling advertising and sometimes other forms of promotion and marketing for its clients. An ad agency is generall ...

. Headquartered in the Toranomon Hills building complex in

Minato, Tokyo is a Special wards of Tokyo, special ward of Tokyo, Japan. It is also called Minato City in English. Minato was formed in 1947 as a merger of Akasaka, Tokyo, Akasaka, Azabu and Shiba, Tokyo, Shiba wards following Tokyo City's Local Autonomy Ac ...

since June 2014 (previously in

Tsukiji Tsukiji (築地) is a district of Chūō, Tokyo, Japan. Literally meaning "reclaimed land", it lies near the Sumida River on land reclaimed from Tokyo Bay in the 18th century during the Edo period. The eponymous Tsukiji fish market opened in 193 ...

Chūō, Tokyo is a special ward in the Tokyo Metropolis in Japan. The ward refers to itself in English as Chūō City. It was formed in 1947 as a merger of Kyōbashi and Nihonbashi wards following Tokyo City's transformation into Tokyo Metropolis. C ...

), the firm is Japan's third largest advertising agency after

Dentsu , simply known as , stylized as dentsu, is a Japanese international advertising and public relations joint stock company headquartered in Tokyo. Dentsu is the largest advertising agency in Japan and the fifth largest advertising agency network in ...

and

Hakuhodo is a Japanese advertising and public relations company owned by Hakuhodo DY Holdings. It is headquartered at Akasaka Biz Tower in Akasaka, Minato, Tokyo. History Hakuhodo is one of the oldest advertising agencies in Japan and was founded ...

. The agency has 80 offices in over 20 countries. One, Asatsu-DK Europe, was established in 1993 in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

Bain Capital Bain Capital, LP is an American Investment company, private investment firm based in Boston, Massachusetts, Boston, Massachusetts, with around $185 billion of assets under management. It specializes in private equity, venture capital, credit, p ...

has owned the company since 2018.

History

Asatsu Inc. was established in 1956 by Masao Inagaki. In August 1998, it entered a business tie-up with the

WPP Group WPP plc is a British multinational communications, advertising, public relations, technology, and commerce holding company headquartered in London, England. It is the world's largest advertising company, as of 2023. WPP plc owns many companie ...

. It soon merged with fellow advertising agency Dai-ichi Kikaku Co., Ltd. (established in 1951) to form Asatsu-DK (the DK stands for Dai-ichi Kikaku) on January 1, 1999. Inagaki died on April 16, 2015. In October 2017, it was reported that U.S. private equity firm Bain Capital was looking to buy Asatsu-DK for ¥152 billion ($1.35 billion). On January 1, 2019, it was reported that Asatsu-DK fully acquired d-rights. It had previously shared that company with Mitsubishi Corporation.

Subsidiaries and interests

It owns a variety of interests, including production companies

NAS Nas (born 1973) is the stage name of American rapper Nasir Jones. Nas, NaS, or NAS may also refer to: Aviation * Nasair, a low-cost airline carrier and subsidiary based in Eritrea * National Air Services, an airline in Saudi Arabia ** Nas Air (S ...

and d-rights; animation studio Eiken; animation studio

Gonzo Gonzo may refer to: People * Gonzo (nickname), a list of people with the nickname * Radislav Jovanov Gonzo (born 1964), Croatian music video director Radislav Jovanov, also known as Gonzo * Matthias Röhr (born 1962), German musician whose stage ...

; Nihon Bungeisha Publishing; film and print processor Taiyo Seihan; production studio Sun Artist Studio, Supervision Inc.;

television commercial A television advertisement (also called a commercial, spot, break, advert, or ad) is a span of television programming produced and paid for by an organization. It conveys a message promoting, and aiming to market, a product, service or idea. ...

production house Prime Pictures; and creative services company Tokyo Ad Party. Asatsu-DK is also involved in producing and providing its services to numerous

anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...

series, through itself as well as its subsidiaries, including recent installments of

Sunrise Sunrise (or sunup) is the moment when the upper rim of the Sun appears on the horizon in the morning, at the start of the Sun path. The term can also refer to the entire process of the solar disk crossing the horizon. Terminology Although the S ...

's Gundam series, such as the latest series ''

Mobile Suit Gundam 00 is a Japanese anime television series, the eleventh installment in Sunrise studio's long-running ''Gundam'' franchise comprising two seasons. The series is set on a futuristic Earth and is centered on the exploits of the fictional paramilit ...

'', '' Turn A Gundam'', ''

Mobile Suit Gundam Seed is an anime series developed by Sunrise and directed by Mitsuo Fukuda. The ninth installment in the ''Gundam'' franchise, ''Gundam SEED'' takes place in a future calendar era, in this case the Cosmic Era. In this era, mankind has devel ...

'' and '' Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Destiny'', as well as several other anime titles.

Controversy

In October 2022 ADK President Shinichi Ueno was arrested as part of a Prosecutors investigation into

bribery Bribery is the corrupt solicitation, payment, or Offer and acceptance, acceptance of a private favor (a bribe) in exchange for official action. The purpose of a bribe is to influence the actions of the recipient, a person in charge of an official ...

. Prosecutors alleged that ADK sent ¥47 million to a former executive of the Tokyo Olympics organizing committee through two different routes in exchange for preferential treatment of sponsorship contracts for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and

Paralympic Games The Paralympic Games or Paralympics is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of disability, disabilities. There are Winter Paralympic Games, Winter and Summer Paralympic Games, which since the 1988 ...

References

External links

Official website
* {{Authority control Advertising agencies of Japan Mass media companies based in Tokyo Service companies based in Tokyo Mass media in Tokyo Japanese companies established in 1956 Marketing companies established in 1956 Mass media companies established in 1956 Bain Capital companies Anime companies 2018 mergers and acquisitions Companies formerly listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange 1999 mergers and acquisitions