Hakuhodo, Hakuhodo DY ONE and Payke Enter into a Strategic Alliance
〜Launching Integrated Inbound Marketing Solutions covering the whole inbound phases, including before and after travel〜

Tokyo, November 28, 2025 –Hakuhodo Inc., Hakuhodo DY Inc. and Payke, Inc. have entered into a strategic alliance to drive the inbound tourism market, which has become a major industry in Japan. Within the framework of this alliance to leverage the strengths of the three companies, we are launching Integrated Inbound Marketing Solutions to clarify the full-funnel behavior of tourists visiting Japan with the aid of AI, including the phases before and after travel. We thus aim to revolutionize marketing activities by businesses and local governments and elucidate the fundamental purchasing behavior of inbound tourists.

In Japan, the inbound tourism market has grown so rapidly in recent years that the government announced its objective of developing it into a \15 trillion market by 2030. However, marketers on the ground continue to face serious challenges. 

The purchasing behavior of inbound tourists is becoming increasingly diverse and complex depending on nationality and culture, resulting in the segmentation and diversification of players in inbound marketing. For this reason, businesses struggle to identify which products are purchased by customers from a specific country or culture, and for what reason. Moreover, they are uncertain about the return on their marketing investment, and unable to identify the impact of their ad spend, making it difficult to offer integrated solutions to their emerging marketing needs.

To meet this challenge, the three companies decided to combine their strengths strategically to launch the unprecedented Integrated Inbound Marketing Solutions powered by AI technology, capable of tracing the full-funnel behavior of tourists visiting Japan, including the phases before and after travel.

Respective strengths and roles of alliance partners

• Payke, Inc.: Boasting a share of almost 10% among inbound tourists, Payke operates the sole platform app in Japan capable of collecting real-time data on in-store behavior including when and where the user became interested in a specific product. The company serves as “first-party data provider” to underpin the alliance.

• Hakuhodo Inc.: Building on the real-time data on the behavior of inbound tourists supplied by Payke, Hakuhodo provides AI-powered integrated data analyses by adding purchase and other sei-katsu-sha data owned by the Hakuhodo DY Group. The company analyzes and gains insights on different issues for specific companies and local governments that are aiming to capture inbound demand. Its role is to ensure the planning, design and overall direction of integrated marketing initiatives for solving specific issues from a full-funnel perspective encompassing the phases before, during and after travel.

• Hakuhodo DY ONE Inc.: Our unit specialized in cross-border marketing, i CROSS BORDER JAPAN, collaborates with Hakuhodo on overall design to operate media strategy, ad delivery, sales promotions and CRM initiatives for inbound tourists in each of the phases before, during and after travel. Specifically, we provide: diverse solutions including on ad delivery leveraging the network of Hakuhodo DY ONE; support for the implementation of influencer/KOL marketing; content production; CDP building specialized in inbound data and e-commerce initiatives in collaboration with local units; as well as ad delivery on the Payke app. We are also planning to combine Payke’s data with the huge volume of data owned by Hakuhodo DY ONE for use as proprietary audience data.

 Next steps

At the initial stage of collaboration, we are specifically planning the following actions through AI-powered data analysis and learning.

• Building an integrated DMP on inbound tourists: We will integrate multiple datasets, including Payke’s real-time behavior data and Hakuhodo DY Group’s sei-katsu-sha data, for seamless monitoring of tourists before, during and after travel to realize high-precision behavior targeted advertising and impact measurement.
• In-depth analysis of inbound consumption: We will integrate Payke’s scan (interest) data with purchase data to visualize reasons for lost opportunities such as “scanned but not purchased.” We will thus contribute to the product development and strategy planning of manufacturers and retailers by answering their questions regarding sales performance.
• Launching retail media for inbound tourists: We will launch new “retail media” as a point of contact at purchase by building a network of signs in major retail stores so that AI may deliver optimal ads to inbound tourists immediately depending on their nationality and interests.
• Wide-area itinerary solution for regional revitalization: We will provide AI-powered analyses of the alliance’s databases to find solutions to local issues facing governments and Destination Management/Marketing Organizations (DMOs) on attracting tourists and promoting round tours, among others. We will thus support data-based revitalization of the local economy. 

AI professionals from HCIA Professionals, a group of AI experts across Hakuhodo DY Group, will work with clients on data analysis and learning.

Corporate Information

Hakuhodo Inc.

Hakuhodo DY ONE Inc.

Payke, Inc.