Macromill Group

Tokyo, February 12, 2020 - Macromill, Inc. (Headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo; Scott Ernst, Representative Executive Officer, Global CEO; hereinafter, “Macromill”) is pleased to announce that it celebrated its 20th anniversary on January 31. Macromill began providing “Online Research”, a new marketing research solution in early 2000, as the internet began to become widespread. Since then, the Company has been striving to be the first to apply the latest technologies available to the marketing research services it provides.The Company is pleased to announce the expansion of participating companies in the Macromill Consortium that has been established in our 20th anniversary year. The purpose of its establishment is to accelerate Macromill’s evolution into a “Research” × “DATA” company, a goal set in its mid-term business plan announced on August 7, 2019.

1. Purpose of establishment

Our clients see a dramatic increase in the number of consumer touchpoints and diverse data sources based upon the expansion of IT and mobile technologies. Many of Macromill’s clients are attempting to utilize big data, AI and advanced marketing tools to address increasingly complex marketing issues.

At the same time, the protection of personal information and consumer privacy is of paramount importance when handling these data. This has made it difficult for client companies to solve their marketing issues without a trusted partner, partly because of their insufficient knowledge of technology in the digital marketing field and the serious shortage of human resources available to plan and execute digital marketing initiatives.

Macromill consumer research panels combine behavioral data (including purchase, internet advertising, website activity and geographic location data) along with awareness data (including brand recognition and product selection) for online research purposes. Macromill’s strengths are its ability to link diverse data sets with attribute data (including gender, age, and place of residence) for integrated marketing insights. In addition, the Company’s ample consumer research panels allow, in many cases, for the combination of our consumer research panels with user data possessed by our client company which enable marked improvements in marketing effectiveness and precision.

Macromill strives to be a trusted partner for its client companies, working together to address their various marketing issues beyond the framework of marketing research alone. To accomplish this goal, the Company will combine competitive advantages it has cultivated to date along with strengthening the teams that handle integrated data, specialized business analytics and consulting to advance Macromill’s evolution into a “Research” × “DATA” company.

Also, critical to achieving our evolution are the establishment of alliances with external companies as a necessary part of this initiative. Thus, Macromill has established the Macromill Consortium (MC), and today announces the addition of three new member companies that bring their unique expertise and strengths, mainly in the data/marketing consulting fields, to the MC.

The MC will provide one-stop support for client companies seeking to solve their increasingly complex marketing issues.

The establishment of the MC enables its member companies to reach Macromill’s more than 4,000 client companies around the world. The MC will also allow for the combination of internal and external resources and technologies, enabling the expansion of new capabilities and solutions, which are necessary for clients’ success in today’s marketing environment.

Through these initiatives, Macromill will accelerate its evolution into a “Research” × “DATA” company.

2. About Macromill Consortium

The Macromill Consortium will initially focus on the following.

(1) Joint seminars

Macromill and MC member companies will regularly hold joint seminars, mainly for Macromill’s client companies. These seminars will be aimed at showcasing member companies’ capabilities to client companies creating new opportunities for clients, Macromill and MC members.

(2) Collaborations on individual projects with Macromill clients

Macromill and MC member companies will collaborate on individual projects with Macromill’s client companies. Macromill has business relations with more than 4,000 companies globally, allowing MC member companies to reduce the burden on their own sales resource. We believe that the MC will improve Macromill’s capability to handle extremely complex projects while the collaborations will create new sources of revenue and increase orders for various research services.

(3) Temporary transfer of Macromill employees to MC member companies

Macromill will transfer employees temporarily to MC member companies, aiming at facilitating smooth collaboration between Macromill and each member company. This measure is also aimed at improving the transferred employees’ problem-solving skills on the frontline of the data / marketing consulting fields.

Macromill and MC member companies aim to build win-win relationships through the above initiatives. A diagram visualizing the concept of these initiatives as follows.

3. Overview of the new member companies
    (In the order of the year of their foundation)

(1) Hojosen Co. Ltd.

Business name:	Hojosen Co. Ltd.
Representative(Profile):	Takayuki Takahashi, President, Representative Board of Director Mr. Takahashi worked at Accenture, where he participated in work and operational reform projects for government agencies. After completing his postgraduate studies abroad, he worked at Japanese think-tank MM Research Institute, Ltd., where his duties included planning and consulting for IT services, and investigative research for new services. He then moved to Procter & Gamble (P&G), where he gained experience in market analysis, consumer research, brand and sales strategy formulation, and sales volume prediction. He later joined Advanced Mark, where he engaged in hands-on business revitalization consulting, and was involved in a wide range of activities as corporate business division manager and marketing division manager, including business and brand revitalization, organizational structuring, marketing, PR, sales, creative work and negotiations with overseas investors. He established Hojosen in 2012, wanting to focus his efforts on his specialty as a social scientist.
Location:	Chuo-ku, Kobe
Foundation:	October 2012
Main business:	Planning, creative direction, surveys, research, analysis and consulting services relating to management strategy, business strategy, marketing and sales promotion; planning, operation and consulting services for businesses aimed at promulgating Japanese culture
URL:	https://www.hojosen.co.jp/en/

(2) Insight Peaks Inc.

Business name:	Insight Peaks Inc. Business, career & diversity research institute
Representative(Profile):	Emiko Yoneda, President, Representative Board of Director Ms. Yoneda worked for over 20 years in P&G’s Consumer & Market Knowledge (CMK) division. After working in various areas including product development strategy and marketing strategy in areas such as fabrics & homecare, hair & beauty care, and new business development, she was later responsible for business management and distribution strategy in Japan as an executive officer at P&G Japan. After working as head of Konami Digital Entertainment’s Public Relations and Promotion Division, she became an independent business, career and diversity consultant, and now undertakes insight consultancy projects.
Location:	Setagaya-ku, Tokyo
Foundation:	January 2018
Main business:	Business strategy consulting, organization and HR development support

(3) Penguin Tokyo Co., Ltd.

Business name:	Penguin Tokyo Co., Ltd.
Representative(Profile):	Yusuke Sekine, CEO After working in overseas product marketing at Panasonic, Mr. Sekine later joined the Accenture Group where he led many consulting projects in areas such as new business development, service design, formulation and execution of marketing strategies, brand communication strategy planning, marketing organization / operations design, and marketing analytics. He later established Penguin Tokyo intending to be a bridging role of marketing strategy and execution.
Location:	Minato-ku, Tokyo
Foundation:	May 2018
Main business:	Strategy and communication development support, agency management support, development and deployment of marketing theory
URL:	https://penguin-tokyo.com/

4．Establishment and schedule

Macromill Consortium was established on January 31. Presently, Macromill has been working with the MC member companies in launching new initiatives to provide one-stop support for addressing the marketing issues faced by the client companies of Macromill.

Macromill will continue to evaluate additional candidate companies, beyond those listed the above and the member companies announced at the previous announcement, towards their participation in MC. The Company will make separate announcements as new MC member companies join this initiative.

As mentioned above, Macromill and MC member companies will regularly hold joint seminars, the first seminar will be held on February 14, 2020 jointly with Marketing Force, Inc. Additionally, the second seminar will be held on March 6, 2020 jointly with Penguin Tokyo Co., Ltd. For details, see the information about the seminar provided separately (Note: Only available in Japanese).

5．Future prospects

Although the impact of the establishment of MC on Macromill’s business performance may be limited, its impact --- including future development – may be difficult to estimate at present. Macromill will disclose additional information relating to the progress of this initiative in the future.