Hakuhodo DY ONE Again Certified as Partner in Meridian, Google’s MMM Solution, in Japan/APAC

Tokyo, October 23, 2026 – We are pleased to announce that continuing from 2025, Hakuhodo DY ONE Inc. was certified as partner in Meridian, an open-source marketing mix modeling (MMM) solution provided by Google, in Japan and the APAC region for 2026.

In this connection, we decided to overhaul the existing guidebook prepared by the Hakuhodo DY Group to provide practical support for advertisers, into Meridian Playbook Ver. 1.0, a concise digest of our latest achievements and practical knowhow, to be launched as a new guidebook.

Background

Meridian is an MMM solution developed by Google for proper evaluation of advertising effectiveness and optimization of budget allocation while protecting privacy. By using aggregate data not individually identifiable, it calculates return on investment (ROI) across the channels with a sophisticated statistical model.

 With the sophisticated analytical solution Analytics AaaS, offered as part of AaaS®*, its advertising media business model of the next generation, the Hakuhodo DY Group has built analytical technology and a track record in the core domain of MMM for over a decade. Since 2025, we have been creating leading cases in Japan and the APAC region as certified partner of Google Meridian. Continued certification for 2026 attests to the recognition of Hakuhodo DY ONE’s substantial expertise and readiness to help clients solve their issues.

Features of Meridian Playbook Ver.1.0

With the present renewal, we updated the guidebook by reconfiguring it for enabling advertisers’ marketers to have a concrete image of implementation in practice and investment decisions. The Playbook is characterized by the following features to ensure a smooth process from consideration to introduction, and then to operation.

Selected pages from Meridian Playbook Ver.1.0

Download Meridian Playbook Ver.1.0 here：
https://solution.hplus.digital/articles/introducing-the-meridian-playbook-key-insights-from-hakuhodo-dy-group-on-maximizing-marketing-roi　

• Practical adoption steps to accelerate decision-making
  We moved a step further from the traditional, theory-centered description to visualize “adoption steps,” specifying how to use the model in practice. The practical guidance that can be used immediately in daily marketing activities effectively reduces the burden of deciphering a difficult theory.
• Actionable configuration that reflects the “view from the ground”
  The Playbook is structured so that it may be used by marketers directly as materials for internal consideration, reporting or proposal purposes. The illustrated, intuitive design and construct ensures smooth internal consensus-building and project promotion, regardless of whether you have relevant expertise or not.
• Practical case studies to provide concrete image of how to use the model
  The Playbook contains selected case studies from Japan and the APAC region that are representative of the findings accumulated by the Hakuhodo DY Group over the years. The detailed description of the entire process from actual introduction to the use of the result of analysis helps improve transparency in project promotion by clarifying the expected outcome and the image of operation after adoption.

Next Steps

 Going forward, Hakuhodo DY ONE will continue to offer advanced analytical solutions leveraging Meridian. We are determined to support the business growth of clients by accelerating case generation in Japan and across the APAC region, and further enhancing our analytical system.

 ※ AaaS is a next-generation model for achieving the digital transformation of the advertising media business championed by the Hakuhodo DY Group in anticipation of the transition from a business model based on selling of ad space (“reservation ads”), which has long been dominant in advertising, to one based on maximizing advertising effectiveness (“performance-based ads”). Implemented as MEDIA BLOOM, a module to maximize media impact in CREATIVITY ENGINE BLOOM, our integrated marketing platform, AaaS will be subject to further functional enhancement going forward, driven by sei-katsu-sha data and AI. AaaS® is a registered trademark of Hakuhodo.