Tag: Japan

Yokohama, Japan — Automobile manufacturer Nissan Motor has announced a senior management change in its communications division as it appoints Lavanya Wadgaonkar, current divisional manager in charge of global communications, to now become the vice president of global communications, effective as of April 01, 2022.

Wadgaonkar holds an extensive understanding of the industry with over 27 years of international experience in strategic communications, public affairs, brand management, marketing and sustainability. Prior to joining Nissan in 2012, Wadgaonkar worked at a printing company, Lexmark, petrochemical conglomerate, Reliance and diversified power management company, Eaton in various leadership roles in communications and marketing.

Wadgaonkar previously spearheaded and developed the communications and external and government affairs functions for Nissan Asia and Oceania. Now in the new role, she is tasked with the responsibility to lead all of Nissan’s communications including building the company’s reputation globally, engaging the internal and external audiences and driving sustainability communications.

Wadgaonkar will continue to report to Sadayuki Hamaguchi, corporate vice president for Nissan Global Communications.

Singapore – Japan-based virtual space office platform VoicePing has tapped global cloud communications company Vonage to power its virtual reality travel experience via its Dokodemo (Anywhere) Door Trip service, which uses 360° photography and video, as well as VR goggles and a computer, to enable users to enjoy virtual travel as if they were there in real life.

To provide a high-quality VR travel service, VoicePing needed to implement superior video calling capabilities quickly and seamlessly within their application and at scale. Using the Vonage Video API, VoicePing built a VR travel service that enables overwhelmingly realistic video playback, two-way voice communication, and automatic AI translation. 

In addition to Dokodemo Door Trip, VoicePing and MetaReal are developing a variety of VR services powered by the Vonage Video API, including Dokodemo Door Party, which creates a realistic karaoke experience; VR Therapy, which allows users to experience therapy in a virtual space; and VR Music, a live music distribution service. 

Kei Shimizu, project manager at VoicePing, said that their company aims at building solutions that empower people around the world to interact with anyone, anytime, anywhere, language-free, and enjoy their lives, work, and lifestyles through the use of the latest technology.

“We chose Vonage to develop the video function within our advanced VR experiences because Vonage provides high-quality video and audio, is easily implemented and operated within our applications, and has global reach and scale to grow as user adoption grows around the world,” Shimizu said.

Meanwhile, Amitha Pulijala, VP of product, platform services, AI and video at Vonage, commented that they are proud to enable innovative businesses at VoicePing to build immersive, interactive virtual experiences around the world.

“The pandemic has greatly restricted the ability to travel and experience new countries and cultures, and caused a major shift in the way we engage with one another. As more and more experiences become virtual, demand continues to increase for experiences that rival in-person interaction,” Pulijala said.

Los Angeles, California — Prolific video game developer Riot Games has announced its expansion into several countries in the Asia Pacific (APAC) as part of its business reorganization in the region. 

With a focus on hyper-localisation and fresh plans to extend its publishing reach to Japan and India, Riot Games will also open new publishing offices in the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand. Riot had previously run the SEA business out of its Singapore hub office and also had an office in Japan.

Riot has also brought in Alex Kraynov, its previous managing director of emerging markets for Southeast Asia, India, Latin America, Brazil, Middle East, North Africa, and Japan, as the new managing director for APAC to lead publishing.

The reorganization will also see a diversification of Riot’s operating model with publishing at the forefront, alongside its other business pillars of games, entertainment, esports and enterprise.

In this effort to strengthen their presence APAC, Riot has made the following regional appointments namely Shinji Komiyama as director of country management for APAC, Jennifer Poulson as head of publishing partnerships for APAC, Alasdair Gray as head of marketing for APAC, and Derek Winder as head of business development for APAC. Riot also made some appoint for its local division namely Yasushi Fujimoto as country manager of Japan, Joel Guzman as country manager of the Philippines, and Resha Pradipta as country manager of Indonesia and Malaysia.

Since re-establishing its Singapore HQ for Southeast Asia in 2018, Riot has significantly grown its workforce and is now doubling down on publishing in the region. This organizational expansion translates into the establishment of local offices and hiring country managers in key markets such as the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and India, joining publishing forces with Riot’s Japan office, and enhancing its publishing hub in Singapore to over 80 people across the region. Key departments within APAC Publishing include country operations, publishing partnerships, brand marketing, growth marketing and services, business development, and regional tech. 

Alex Kraynov, managing director of Riot Games Asia Pacific, commented that this is a natural step in progression for Riot’s publishing business in Southeast Asia, and they recognized that APAC has the potential to become the biggest region in the world for the company. Kraynov continued by saying that APAC is intricately diverse, with massive gaming communities that have diverse needs and a strong appetite for mobile gaming. 

“In the past few years, our offices in Singapore and Japan have worked hard to release several new games and have nurtured new esports leagues to excite and delight players. Working towards more physical presence in our key APAC markets, we’re extremely excited to double down on these efforts to continue striving towards being the most player-focused gaming company in the world,” Kraynov said. 

Beyond the gaming space, Riot has also released projects and campaigns in animation adaptation, music, and fashion. More recently, Riot also collaborated with Filipino urban streetwear brand Team Manila on an exclusive capsule collection to celebrate the launch of Neon, the first Filipino agent in its tactical shooter VALORANT.

With the goal of being the most player-focused game company in the world, Riot has in the last couple of years launched new titles including its recent shooter hit VALORANT. Riot’s games within the League of Legends universe have garnered over 600 million players globally in the past decade.

Tokyo, Japan – HIKKY, a Japan-based virtual reality startup, has raised another ¥500m (around USD4.3m) in a new series A funding round through a third-party allotment with management consulting company MEDIA DO. Said funding will help the startup amplify its services to the local and global market.

This funding follows the recent ¥6.5b funding round (around USD57m) raised by the startup with the aid of mobile phone operator NTT DOCOMO. In total, HIKKY has raised a total of ¥7b (around USD60.6m) in funding.

The funding will also aid in strengthening HIKKY’s organisational structure and building a new VR consulting service. Their services include development and operation of a Vket Cloud-powered open metaverse, Vket events and Vket Cloud.

Other objectives include service provision and development of the open metaverse, team building for Vket Cloud engine development, improving the development system for Vket events, launching a VR consulting business, and internal team recruitment.

“HIKKY is developing and providing services for the open metaverse using their proprietary VR engine, Vket Cloud, and with the help of many creators and partner companies connected by the Vket business. The open metaverse will also provide a variety of innovative services recognizing the unprecedented value of creativity and communication,” the company said in a press statement.

As part of the funding round, HIKKY and MEDIA DO also entered into a partnership, which entails the two companies creating an official publisher’s space where users can exchange their thoughts and opinions in the metaverse. In this place, users will enjoy meeting other fans of their favourite manga or other content, publishing and exhibiting their fan art, and expanding the possibility of IP collaborations with exhibitors at Vket events.

In addition, the partners will also pursue synergies with MyAnimeList, a global anime and manga communities and database site, which is operated by the MEDIA DO Group.

For Yasushi Fujita, president and CEO at MEDIA DO, they believe that the metaverse, with its diverse communities just as in physical reality, will become an ecosystem with a large area for content distribution as the gap between the metaverse and physical reality disappears.

“We are delighted to partner with HIKKY, organisers of a global event in the metaverse who develop a unique and open VR platform. We empathise with the concept of creating a new ecosystem in an open metaverse, and we take on the challenge of metaverse content distribution in a wide variety of sectors, including e-books. Together, we will deliver new experiences to users and help expand the distribution of all kinds of content,” Fujita said.

Meanwhile, Yasushi Funakoshi, CEO at HIKKY, commented that through leveraging the trust and experience that MEDIA DO has built with many publishers and bookstores together with HIKKY’s know-how, they plan to elevate how users read content in the metaverse.

“We also aim to build a new environment where users interact to share the charm of manga and other content, either with other users or with publishers. I am confident that these initiatives will further expand creator potential,” Funakoshi said.

He added, “Today’s announcement with NTT DOCOMO and MEDIA DO is a first step towards the realisation of other ideas in the works, and we will continue our efforts to expand the metaverse and provide experiences that bridge it with the real world.”

Tokyo, Japan – Investment and asset management has become the norm for people to grow their money, and more and more young people in Japan are showing interest in these topics and discussing them more frequently with their peers, new research from comprehensive real estate service platform RENOSY shows.

More than 70% of the young people in their 20s interviewed say that they do discuss asset management with their friends while only 30% of the older generation in their 50s discuss it. In addition, around 60% of interviewees in their 20s said that they do not worry about the assets build-up arrangement they are doing for now.

However, around 80% of the people interviewed answered that they feel they do not have enough money to support their lives after retirement relying on pension only.

In terms of the average amount they are willing to spend on investing, the average amount of investment for the younger generation is about ¥50,000 per month, while the older generation responded to an average of ¥150,000 per month.

“Since asset management will become part of the new high school curriculum starting from April 2022, we are expecting to see the younger generation become more cautious and familiar with money,” RENOSY said in a press statement.

In terms of the woes of the respondents in regards to having enough money to support investment after their retirement, the company remarked, “As people tend to live longer nowadays, the issue of finance after retirement will become a more and more serious problem for most people. As a result, we could see from the research result that 87% of the people we interviewed feel anxious about the financial arrangement after retirement.”

Tokyo, Japan – Japan-based multinational conglomerate Hitachi has joined the strategic partnership program of experience management company Medallia in Japan. Through the partnership, Medallia will align with Hitachi’s Financial Institutions Business Unit to reinforce support for sales and service delivery efforts.

Said partnership is catered to Hitachi’s clients within domestic financial institutions, ranging from customer experience (CX) advisory service to system adoption.

Denise Miura, who was recently appointed as vice president for Asia-Pacific at Medallia, noted that the CX solution market in Japan is hitting a major tipping point in terms of expansion.

“In such a market environment, there is significant importance to forming a partnership with a first-rate company such as Hitachi. We are looking forward to this partnership,” she stated.

Meanwhile, Shigeru Suzuki, senior director for financial information systems, 2nd Division, at Hitachi, commented, “We feel honored to have this collaboration opportunity with Medallia to provide quality CX service to our customers in Japan. We look forward to providing new value through this excellent experience management program that will contribute to the improvement of customer experience value.”

Medallia’s presence in Japan has been ramped up in recent years, including inclusion of Japan-based tech system integrator Dirbato, as well as a partnership with multinational conglomerate SoftBank.
Irence Wee, APJ head of alliance and ecosystem at Medallia, commented, “We are very happy to announce our partnership with Hitachi in Japan. We look forward to accelerating the adoption of experience management programs by Japanese companies through our closely aligned effort with Hitachi.”

Singapore – Following the company’s funding in April this year, coffee chain Flash Coffee has officially extended its operations in South Korea and Japan, with branches opening up in each country’s capitals, Seoul and Tokyo.

The coffee chain launched with two outlets in Seoul, a two-storey flagship establishment at Sinsa, and a store in Yeoksam, both located in the heart of the bustling, upscale Gangnam district. In Tokyo, Flash Coffee unveiled a two-storey concept in the city’s iconic shopping destination within Omotesando.

David Brunier, CEO at Flash Coffee, said, “We are very excited to officially launch in both Seoul and Tokyo, and introduce our mission to provide high-quality coffee at affordable prices to these cities. These markets are known to embrace technology, and we hope to bring ease to the lives of consumers with our digital-first solutions, ultimately changing the face of coffee consumption across Asia for the better.”

The coffee chain will continue to grow its footprint across the seven markets it is currently in: Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Taiwan, Hong Kong, South Korea and Japan, with a goal of opening over 350 stores by early next year. The coffee chain has also set sights to enter three new countries next year; Malaysia, Vietnam and the Philippines.

Un Koh, managing director for South Korea at Flash Coffee, said, “South Korea is filled with coffee enthusiasts and our coffee consumption rate ranks within the top 10 in the world. We are confident that our high-quality beverages crafted by award-winning baristas at Flash Coffee will appeal to South Korean coffee lovers. Our goal is to make our specialty coffee accessible to all, so for those who’ve not come across Flash Coffee yet, you will find us brewing very soon in a location near you. ”

Meanwhile, Shu Matsuo Post, managing director for Japan at Flash Coffee, commented, “Coffee culture has been prevalent in Japan for many years, and we’ve observed the rising preference for premium coffee locally. Specialty coffees tend to be expensive, but with Flash Coffee, consumers can now enjoy it at an affordable price point. We look forward to sharing our award-winning menu with customers in Japan, and hope they will enjoy our innovative creations.”

Tokyo, Japan – After numerous suspensions, the Tokyo Olympic 2020 games finally pushed through this year, but despite successfully making its run, the lockdowns and social restrictions that had been in place since the pandemic affected how the organization and its brands and media partners spent their ad budget and the platforms they chose to invest in. According to data by IPG’s media investment and intelligence arm MAGNA, the muted vibrancy of the Olympics had a direct effect on the growth of several ad markets. 

The report showed that the net impact of the Olympics on television advertising revenues was relatively minimal overall, as some brands opted not to run creatives tied to the Olympics before and during the event, due to the mixed feelings of the public towards the Games. Still, revenues for the major television networks were up by double-digits in the second quarter of 2021 compared to the second quarter of 2020 but were flat or down compared to 2019. 

In addition, the Olympics also had a relatively mild impact on OOH advertising, as the games were held during a state of emergency during which people were discouraged from going outside or using public transportation. Additionally, people were barred from entering the areas near the Olympic stadiums. 

OOH revenues, both static and digital, were ultimately up just +3% for the full year, reaching US$3.8b (¥400b). Transit mobility was slow to recover in 2021 and was still down -19% in November 2021 compared to the January 2020 baseline, contributing to reduced exposure to advertising. 

Television fared slightly better, with revenues rising +7% to reach US$14.7b (¥1.6t), around 95% of the pre-COVID total. Radio, cinema, and print continued to lag through 2021. Radio revenues eroded by another -2%, cinema by -4%, and print by -3%. 2022 is expected to bring a recovery for these linear ad formats, in addition to continued growth for television (+4%) and OOH (+5%). Over the long term, however, the report anticipates that linear advertising formats will continue to lose share to digital, with total linear revenues eroding by -3% to -5% per year and falling to US$20.8b (¥2.2t) by 2026, a 34% market share.

Generally, digital ad sales in Japan will continue to drive market growth, with total digital net advertising revenues anticipated to rise +15% to reach US$30.5b (¥3.3t), with a 56% market share. Linear net ad revenues will also see some growth, +4%, though will remain well below 2019 levels: US$24.4b (¥2.6t) compared to $26.9b (¥2.9t) in 2019. 

Japan remains the third largest ad market in the world and the second largest in APAC, behind China, with US$50b (¥5.3t) net ad revenues in 2021 and US$55b (¥5.6t) expected by the end of 2022. Meanwhile, the APAC region’s advertising economy grew by +16.5% in 2021, following the recession of 2020 (-0.8%). In 2022, the Asia-Pacific ad market will expand by +11.2%, close to the global average of +12% and in line with the pre COVID long-term regional growth.

Singapore – A group of independent public relations agencies representing Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Japan, as well as Singapore, and South Korea has joined forces to form the new ‘PerfectPitch Asia PR Network’ in SEA. 

The new network aims to support global companies in strategizing and implementing their business communications programs as they venture into Asian markets. It is composed of female founders who are experts in brand strategy, public relations, and integrated marketing, as well as social media.

PerfectPitch founders include Constance Chao, the founder of Media Plus for Mainland China and Taiwan, Maggie Chen, independent representative for Hong Kong, and Yukiko Harada, TrainTracks’ managing director for Japan, as well as Melinda Ilagan, I.M. SEA Communications’ managing director for Singapore, and June Cha, TwinTracks’ managing director for South Korea.

Harada said, “We have come together combining the depth and breadth of our experiences in various industries, practices, and our respective geographies to provide global clients good counsel and strong execution to help them succeed in Asia’s mega-economy.”

Meanwhile, Ilagan shared that SEA continues to experience brisk growth as global enterprises and disruptive innovators set their eyes on the region’s young, tech-savvy talent and consumers.

“Our experience is that global companies and our counterpart agencies in the western hemisphere seek expert advisors in the most economically vibrant countries like Singapore, Mainland China/Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, and South Korea. They come to us because of our intimate understanding of this diverse region,” said Ilagan.

Chao also noted, “With over 20 decades of media experience in Mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan via Media Plus and Maggie Cheng, PerfectPitch can provide the total solution for the companies who want to enter into these comprehensive markets.”

As free trade agreements get ratified and borders start to reopen amid COVID-19 PerfectPitch said it is anticipating a fresh burst of business opportunities coming into the region.

Tokyo, Japan – Global professional services Accenture has announced that it will be acquiring Tambourine, a Japanese-based commerce customer experience (CX) agency. Said terms of the transaction were not disclosed as of this moment.

The company, founded in 2015, provides integrated commerce services on the Salesforce platform. It delivers customer experience design and engineering, develops web services and applications, and offers consultancy services to optimize customer touchpoints. 

Tambourine already has a proven track record in using Salesforce Commerce Cloud to deliver seamless commerce experiences for consumer goods and entertainment companies in Japan. 

Through the acquisition, Tambourine will enhance the world-class suite of sales and commerce transformation services, from product and platform engineering, to omnichannel delivery of commerce experiences. 

Speaking about the acquisition, Flaviano Faleiro, president for growth markets at Accenture Interactive, said, “Brands understand that when they respond to new consumer behaviors with a seamless commerce experience, it makes them more relevant and valuable. The combination of Tambourine and Accenture Interactive will further enhance our ability to leverage creativity, technology and deep human insights to accelerate growth of our clients.” 

Tambourine is the latest in a series of acquisitions that Accenture has made to rapidly scale commerce expertise and excellence, including Experity in Brazil, Glamit in Argentina and Openmind in Italy. In Asia, the company had also acquired Malaysia-based marketing consulting/agency Entropia.

Atsushi Egawa, Accenture’s market unit lead for Japan, said, “Digital customer experience and brand reputation is so closely intertwined that it can impact a company’s growth. In considering ways to deliver the best of commerce experiences, brands are turning to data and the cloud for leverage. By weaving in Tambourine’s unique offerings into Accenture’s, we will continue to help accelerate our clients’ growth.”

Meanwhile, Tatsuya Nakao, CEO of Tambourine, commented, “Tambourine is founded on the premise of achieving excellent outcomes as a team. Now, as part of Accenture, we look forward to extending our digital commerce expertise across the entire customer experience and work closely together to create [a] deep impact for our clients.”