Dentsu Inc. (President: Tateo Mataki; Head Office: Tokyo; Capital: 58,967.1 million yen), held a ceremony commemorating the 101st anniversary of the Company's foundation at 9:50 a.m. on July 1, 2002 at its Tokyo Head Office and at its Kansai and Chubu branch offices.

The ceremony took place in the auditorium on the 13th floor of the Tsukiji Head Office Building, where President & COO Mataki delivered a speech on general policy.

Following are highlights of the speech.

"All members of Dentsu led by Chairman Narita have made progress on many important reform platforms of historic significance, which will serve as a new infrastructure and framework for the Dentsu Group to excel in the 21st century. They include the implementation of reforms in the organizational structure, the launch of Group management, overseas strategies, the Company's initial public offering and the construction of a new Head Office Building. I believe my mission is to add the final touches to these projects to successfully see them through. For this, I have set out my management principles based on vision, performance standard and commitment.

"First, vision manifests Dentsu's commitment to becoming a partner in creating value. Over the course of 101 years, Dentsu has accumulated a wealth of expertise in the business of advertising communications, and with this comes a considerable amount of responsibility. Dentsu must become involved in the creation of brand values for its clients and the creation of added values for the enhancement of media content in a quest for more efficient, effective and appealing ways for clients to communicate their brand image. These challenges will give rise to more effective communications, which in turn will lead to the creation of values to benefit consumers, and will set the tone for the formation of a more affluent society.

"Well versed in its clients, media content and consumers, Dentsu produces values for each of the three and cross-matches them to offer optimal links. We can legitimately claim that this, which is unparalleled in the world, is a model unique to Dentsu. And based on this strength exclusive to us, we are poised to deliver the best services. We need to realize the value and the significance of this model again, give it more polish, and carve out new markets on our own based on our renewed awareness, with a goal of making a direct contribution to the vitalization of society.

"Next I would like to introduce the Company's performance standard, whereby every one of you, regardless of your respective positions, is expected to pursue your responsibilities with prime importance attached to action. These responsibilities cover a wider range of activities that go far beyond the realm of pure selling. Utmost emphasis should be placed on three elements: more advanced specialized skills, which need to be honed individually as communications professionals; a stronger team, based on mutual understanding of such specialization; and ultimate performance and execution.

"With respect to commitment, I have set out that the future growth of Dentsu will be fueled by what I call the 4•2•2 Strategy. This strategy aims at capturing four markets by setting up two main lines of activities, with the results measured from two perspectives.

"The first of the four markets is the domestic advertising market. I characterize the activities in this area as tapping deeply into the market. Through proactive efforts to enlarge its overall size, we should be able to achieve growth faster than that of the advertising market itself, which will be translated into an increased market share for us.

"The second is the market peripheral to the advertising market. This segment, noted for clients' marketing services activities, has not been fully exploited by us. Here, we will strive to invent efficient and effective services by taking full advantage of expertise we have developed in the areas of eSolutions and interactive communications.

"The third market is the overseas market. There is no way for us to successfully carry out Dentsu's standard of doing business unless we first establish a familiarity with the indigenous communications styles rooted in each country or region. Dentsu is positioned to maximize the alliance with Publicis, which boasts a strong presence in the European and U.S. markets, while parallel efforts will be made to strengthen Dentsu's own business organization in Asia and Japan. By linking these areas, Dentsu will be ready to build a global network capable of offering the best services around the globe.

"The fourth market is the new market. The possibilities of content business, such as those involving sports and entertainment content, are growing and will continue to do so. The goal here is to increase our future expertise in this area by expanding content marketing.

"In order to succeed in these four areas, we will set up operations based on two types of activities. These can be classified into activities that further consolidate Dentsu's current business models and activities leading to further innovation of new business models. These two should be executed in parallel, as the combined execution of the two is a strength traditionally embedded in our corporate culture. We need to become more aware of the importance of the parallel execution of the two types of activities in whatever challenge we set out to overcome.

"The results will be measured based on two criteria. The first will determine the degree of contribution made by strong individuals, who as a result of honing their professionalism can create results, while the second will measure the degree of power leveraged by a strong team, which is created by fusing together individual strengths. It is important to establish a simple evaluation system, and the new system of recognizing contributions by powerful individuals and strong teams, along with a policy rewarding them accordingly, exemplifies it. The three elements I have just outlined, vision, performance standard and commitment, need to be supported by none other than you all, our most precious assets. In order to successfully add the final touches to the corporate reforms—the task I will undertake with all the members of Dentsu—we need to pave the way in line with the three management principles. I will be at the forefront of our endeavors and intend to stay in front while demonstrating the principle that we are all creators of value."