The Code was launched in Denmark in the late fall of 2019. In 2020, they reached 600 Danish students with the programme, and look forward to continuing and building on the programme in 2021.

The Danish The Code programme targets students across elementary school, high school, and universities. For the elementary and high school sessions, the workshops give the students insight into the media industry, influence marketing, and data. At the end of the workshop, the students work with a case and present their work to the class.

The university programme is developed in cooperation with university professors and adapted to their specific wishes for lectures. Many professors wish to add a professional, practical perspective to their lectures, and therefore the dentsu experts create custom lectures for the marketing and communication studies across Danish universities.

Launched at Bulgaria's Digital Camp in February 2019, the initiative is a collaboration between dentsu Bulgaria and Isobar Commerce Bulgaria. In March 2019, 300 students (aged 14-15) across seven schools participated in the Rise Up digital marketing competition. Students tackled marketing and e-commerce briefs from clients Mastercard and Mondelez.

In 2020, The Code went digital in Bulgaria and for the first time expanded its reach to provide equal opportunities for schools from otherwise distant areas to take part in the Rise Up Challenge. It reached over 80 students, with one third of the schools from outside of Sofia and two of these schools reaching the finals. Students created a social media strategy for WWF’s most recent campaign aimed at fundraising for the protection of the brown bear species in Bulgaria.

Radoslav Nedelchev, Chief Operating Officer of dentsu Bulgaria and Social Impact Champion said: "This is a great opportunity for us to show in practice how the digital economy can work for the betterment of society. For us, social impact is not the "icing on the cake" but instead a must-do that empowers the future of our business.”

The Code in Poland, delivered with global education partner Junior Achievement, helped to improve the digital skills of over 600 young people in Poland in 2019.

High school students undertook insight days at the dentsu office in Warsaw, supported by volunteers from the organisation. They spent time working on a live marketing brief from client Gillette, and job shadowing DAN employees to learn about careers in the industry. The 2019 activity culminated in November, with dentsu volunteers visiting high schools to deliver The Code workshops to over 400 young people.

In 2020, the DAN Poland team will also support over 2,000 students around Poland taking part in the Junior Achievement Company Programme by developing an online educational resource to give them the tools to market their start-ups on social media.

The Code launched in the US in October 2019 – over 60 students participated in Insight Days at our New York, Detroit and Maryland offices.

In 2020, The Code had to quickly adapt to the global crisis that has been COVID-19. What seemed like a setback ended up serving as a chance to reach even more students, by adapting to a virtual format. It also allowed us to connect dentsu employees from the whole nation with the various organizations we work with, including MAIP, NAF, Genesys Works and the YMCA. Thanks to over 35 dentsu volunteers, endless support from our DEI community, and global Social Impact, we were able to reach 522 students from Miami, NYC and Chicago.

Ann Bookout, HR Director, Programs & Projects, said:
“Diversity of thought and voices in our industry is critical so that we reflect society and the various communities we serve. The Code is a fantastic way to educate high school youth across the US about marketing in a practical and accessible way.”

The Code was launched in Mexico in September 2020. Through immersive workshops and tutorials, designed and developed by dentsu experts, 527 students aged 15-18 from 17 different states participated in the largest virtual Rise Up challenge of 2020.

Delivered in collaboration with global non-profit organisation Junior Achievement and with the help of 94 dentsu volunteers, students gained access to the knowledge base of the marketing and advertising industry and worked on a project for client Spin Master.

Sebastian Tonda, CEO of dentsu Mexico, said “this initiative combines two fundamental aspects for the group, one of which is the culture of volunteering at dentsu and the value we place on freedom of thought, creativity and the use of our talents for the good of society. The other is our commitment to creating a diverse and inclusive digital economy, enabling the inspiration and empowerment of young people through technology worldwide.”

Dentsu China invited local Zhejiang A&F University students in for the launch of The Code in China in November 2019.

Welcomed by Dentsu senior leaders, students were given insights on what makes a great campaign, and giving them an opportunity to show their skills. Working on a client brief in groups, and with support from Dentsu staff, the students prepared a pitch presentation on their solution, and an overall winner was announced.

After the workshop, students actively expressed their interested in digital marketing, and we are now working on scaling up the programme for 2020.