Last week, I was reworking on our company profile materials. In the process, I again realized the importance of “knowing outside the box and having options.” We know outside the “box” of Japanese ad and marketing technology, and have introduced a variety of unique global solutions to Japanese companies. However, since the second half of 2021, I have learned of significant developments in technology in general outside of this “box” of “ad (advertising)” and “marketing,” and my interest has been piqued in this area as well. I hope to expand my own “box” even further by coming into contact with people in various industries and study topics during my MBA starting this fall. Today, I would like to explain the importance of the above, using Amazon’s Ad Optimization Solution as an example.

First of all, if you search for “Amazon Ad Optimization Solution” in Japanese, you will find

-m19 (provided by our company)
-Commerce Flow (provided by DAC/negocia)
-Kenshoo ECOMM (provided by Kenshoo)
-Perpetua (provided by Perpetua)
At a quick glance, these are about four of them. If we had not brought m19 to the Japanese market, it seems that one hand would have been enough for counting them.

Now, how about searching for “Amazon Ads Optimization Solution” in English?
-Feedvisor
-Finch
-Pacvue
-BidX
and so on and so forth…you can find more than 20 with a quick glance. (m19, good luck with your SEO;)) There are so many solutions that even if you use both hands and feet for counting, it’s not enough. This is just one type of digital advertising called “Amazon Ads,” but think about expanding this to digital advertising and marketing in general. If you can do the four arithmetic operations, you can easily calculate how much of a difference the choices make.

We try to look both inside and outside the box, always selecting from a larger number of options those that meet the market needs we want to address, and testing them a lot to make sure we provide them inside the box. The smaller the “box,” the narrower the choices, and the more limited the “weapons” we can use. Our vision is to be “a company that bridges the future of Japan and the world,” and we will continue to tackle this challenge, even if only in a tiny way.

Masaki “Mark” Iino
Founder & CEO
SOPHOLA, Inc