AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)01/14 Report--

In less than half a month, there have been a number of heavy events in the market, from Tesla Model Y price reduction listing, Wei Lai ET7 high-profile appearance, to the chip crisis caused a number of car companies to face shutdown, these information all indicate that 2021 seems to be an extraordinary year! This is not true. Recently, the circulation of a real-name whistleblower letter has once again caused heated discussion among netizens.

According to a number of media reports, on January 11, a report letter titled "Real name report dX Dentong Digital CEO Zhang Zhexiang bribing GAC executives, sexually assaulting his subordinates and insulting Chinese employees" circulated online. The real name whistleblowers included employees of Guangzhou Branch of Dentong Digital, responsible persons of Dentong Digital GAC Toyota Business Department, GAC Honda Business Department, GAC Chuanqi Business Department, etc. As can be seen from the report letter, the payment time is January 11,2021.

The whistleblower wrote: "XX (Chuanqi) of Guangzhou Automobile Group, etc., hooked up with Zhang Zhexiang, entered a large number of fake investments, established suppliers, and obtained company profits." In fact, XX and Zhang Zhexiang have a secret account. Due to false accounts to conceal profits, Dentsu Digital Guangzhou Branch has reduced taxes paid to Guangzhou City Government by 90% since 2019."

According to the contents of the report letter, Maruyama Bozhi, head of Guangzhou Branch of Dentsu Digital (DX for short) advertising company, and Zhang Zhexiang, CEO of Dentsu Digital, committed the following illegal acts, including bribery and sexual harassment of female subordinates. In the report letter, the whistleblower pointed out that there were three illegal acts: 1. hooking up with some personnel of GAC Group and embezzling together;2. insulting Chinese people, especially bullying and insulting female employees in the workplace;3. forcing business employees to participate in bribery together.

At present, whether the contents of the report letter are true or not cannot be confirmed. However, according to Economic Observer Network contacted people familiar with the matter, people familiar with the matter said the report letter is true, but the inside story is also more complex, can not replace the whistleblower to make a reply.

According to Sky Eye Inspection, Diantong Digital (Beijing) Advertising Co., Ltd. was established in May 2008 with Zhang Zhexiang as its legal representative. The company headquarters was established in Beijing and branches were set up in Shanghai and Guangzhou. Its business scope includes design, production, agency and publication of various advertisements at home and abroad. It is a company dedicated to integrating market resources, creative resources and media resources and providing comprehensive services for interactive fields. According to media reports, Guangzhou Branch of Dentsu Digital (Beijing) Advertising Co., Ltd. is a long-term advertising service provider for Japanese brands such as GAC Toyota. The team has just won the advertising case of GAC Toyota's heavy new car "Sena".

It is worth mentioning that, just on January 8, Nanfang reported that the company team received a resignation request from Zhang Zhexiang and his assistant Maruyama Bozhi. At present, the team members have received HR email notification for six consecutive times to sign the Agreement on Negotiation and Termination of Labor Contract. The specific reasons are unknown. Just received GAC Toyota "Sena" advertising case, the team was resigned, combined with the exposed report letter content, it is difficult not to let netizens link the two together.

According to the data, Zhang Zexiang, CEO of Dentsu Digital, is a veteran of the communication industry. He once worked for well-known media companies such as Ogilvy Century, Competitive Media and GroupM China. In March 2019, Dentsu Aegis Group announced the appointment of Zhang Zhexiang as Chairman and CEO of Dentsu Digital, and concurrently as the head of Shanghai and Guangzhou branches. In addition, XX is vice minister of marketing department of GAC Chuanqi Automobile Sales Co., Ltd.

Data show that the predecessor of Dentsu Group was "Japanese Advertising" founded in 1901 and "Nippon Telegraph News Agency" founded in 1907. In 1936, the news communication department was transferred and changed to a monopoly advertising agency. In 1995, it officially changed its name to Dentsu Corporation. In 2013, Dentsu Group completed the acquisition of all equity interests in British marketing group Aegis. In 2014, Dentsu Network and Aegis, the overseas business of Dentsu Group except Japan, officially merged into Dentsu Aegis Group. As for Dentsu Digital, formerly known as Beijing Dentsu Network Interactive Center, Dentsu Group funded the establishment of Dentsu Digital (Beijing) Advertising Co., Ltd. in 2008 and renamed Dentsu Digital (Beijing) Advertising Co., Ltd. in 2016. The company is headquartered in Beijing and has established branches in Shanghai and Guangzhou. The company adheres to the self-created marketing concept of "camp"+"sales" and provides services for more than 50 well-known international and local brands.

In response to the contents of the report letter, Dentsu Group issued a statement on the 13th saying,"We take allegations of this nature very seriously and Dentsu China leadership is investigating the matter." We also reserve the right to pursue any allegations that are found to be false during the course of our investigation." This open letter comes from the business department of Dentsu Digital. Because of the signature, the media once mistakenly thought that the whistleblower came from inside GAC. Therefore, GAC Group issued a statement in the early morning of 14th, saying that "the whistleblower signed online is not an employee of GAC Group system". At the same time, the statement also said that the whistleblower is welcome to report to the discipline inspection commission of the Group or the superior discipline inspection commission and reflect the appeal through formal channels.

As stated in the statement, public allegations are not equivalent to relevant evidence. In the report letter, the Commission for Discipline Inspection is required to "immediately obtain evidence from Dentong Digital and seal the account and verify". In fact, there is not much operability. To a certain extent, the whistleblower needs to bear the obligation of proof. Of course, this open letter was mainly directed at the CEO of his own company. The resignation of the party concerned was probably inevitable. Regardless of whether the matter was true or false, it had already brought a huge impact on Dentsu. Dentsu, which takes on the advertising and communications business of automakers to eliminate negative voices and build positive brand images, has put itself at the center of a scandal. Dentsu reiterates its statement that values are being investigated, weakly and sarcastically.

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