Hakuhodo boosts CRM capabilities

Japan's second largest agency Hakuhodo has announced a new initiative to make CRM an integral part of brand building in Japan, launching a new company together with three partners, Toppan Printing, Digital Advertising Consortium (DAC) and IBM Business Consulting. <br><br> The new venture, BrandXing, which translates into English as 'Brand Crossing', is slated to open for business in June with over 50 employees and Hakuhodo executive Masahiko Hara (pictured) as president. Each company will provide BrandXing a different area of expertise: branding from Hakuhodo; marketing execution from Toppan, which also runs its own call centres; interactive media solutions from DAC; and consulting from IBM.