Rakuten and Dentsu form new marketing solutions firm

In a deal announced today, Rakuten group and Dentsu group will join forces to create Rakuten Data Marketing Co. Ltd.

The new company will offer digital marketing solutions that draw on both Rakuten's significant member base and big data sources and Dentsu's data and mass media knowhow. It also plans to offer customer strategy development support for brands and media planning services beyond digital. 

Makoto Arima, who joined Rakuten as group executive vice president and CRO this month, will be the president and representative director of the new venture. A veteran of Japan's online advertising scene, Arima's most recent role was vice president of Adroll Global; he previously served as Japan country manager for Google (2010-2014) and managing director, sales and marketing, for Yahoo! Japan (1996-2002).