Dentsu Corporation of America, a subsidiary of the world’s largest agency group, Dentsu, of Tokyo, has moved into Canada via a joint venture partnership with Montreal-based Cadence Advertising.

Dentsu-Cadence Advertising Canada has opened a Toronto office under the direction of Michael Vasquez, a shareholder in the company and executive vice-president, chief operating officer.

Albert Barbusci, president and owner of 15-year-old Cadence, holds a larger portion of the agency.

Barbusci will continue to operate the Montreal office as Cadence Communications.

Vasquez is a 15-year veteran of Ian Roberts Advertising, and former executive vice-president general manager of now-defunct Ian Roberts Ross Roy of Toronto.

The first client for dca, Toronto is a former Ian Roberts Ross Roy client, and one that Vasquez has worked with for 15 years – Canon Canada.

Canon is one of Dentsu’s international clients, specifically in Europe, Asia, Japan and the u.s., and Cadence had already been doing some work for Canon retail unit oe, for the Quebec and Ontario markets out of Montreal.

Dentsu, of Tokyo, was established in 1901 and reports annual billings of US$12 billion from its worldwide network.