Hakuhodo DY Holdings and GrabAds accelerate omni-channel marketing across SEA

Hakuhodo DY Holdings has partnered with GrabAds, Grab’s advertising business unit, to help clients harness omni-channel marketing through Grab’s solutions.

Grab is a leading superapp for deliveries, mobility, and financial services in Southeast Asia. The multi-year collaboration will enable Hakuhodo DY Group companies’ clients to leverage GrabAds’ first-party data insights into changing Southeast Asian sei-katsu-sha^[1] tastes and behaviors, as well as its superapp advertising expertise in driving full-funnel conversion via GrabCar, GrabFood, GrabMart and GrabPay.

Since 2018, Hakuhodo DY Group companies and GrabAds have jointly developed several award-winning superapp campaigns that showcase the power of combining massive online reach with powerful offline brand experiences. This collaboration helped the client clinch prestigious awards, such as Best Omni-Channel Campaign in APAC at The Drum Awards for Digital Advertising 2021, PR Award Grand Prix, MMA Smarties APAC and so on.

Masato Aoki, Corporate Officer at Hakuhodo DY Holdings Inc. said, “Hakuhodo DY Group and Grab Group have been supporting clients’ advertising and marketing activities, executing R&D activities and PoC (Proof-of-Concept) projects for innovative solutions since 2018. We are very pleased to be the first Japanese advertising company to sign a regional multi-year partnership with Grab. Hakuhodo DY Group will do its best to serve as a bridge and a window between Southeast Asian communities, companies, and people and those in Japan.”

Ken Mandel, Regional Managing Director and Head of GrabAds and Brand Insights, adds, “Hakuhodo DY Holdings emphasizes the importance of a 360-degree perspective on consumers’ lives. Sei-katsu-sha Insight is the foundation of the company’s brand building philosophy. It reminds us that consumers are more than shoppers performing an economic function. They have heartbeats and distinct tastes and lifestyles. We are delighted to help Hakuhodo DY Group’s clients more deeply understand superlocal behaviors, trends and tastes across Southeast Asia and accelerate omni-channel marketing in this region.”

^[1] “Sei-katsu-sha” is a term Hakuhodo DY Group uses to describe people not simply as consumers, but as fully rounded individuals with their own lifestyles, aspirations and dreams.