Hakuhodo acquires majority shareholding in Malaysia’s Kingdom Digital Solutions

Hakuhodo Inc has acquired an 80% stake in Malaysian independent digital agency Kingdom Digital Solutions and has made it a consolidated subsidiary.

Established in 2007, Kingdom Digital is a digital agency that provides a wide array of services, including digital campaigns, social media and content marketing and digital creative automation, to clients in Malaysia and ASEAN. Sophisticated digital planning and digital creative skills are its strengths, as well as its ability to deliver personalised digital creative ads at scale and speed. Kingdom Digital’s superior services are highly regarded in the industry and by clients, and the agency has won numerous awards, including Malaysia Independent Agency of the Year (Gold) at Agency of the Year 2021, hosted by Asia’s largest advertising journal, Campaign Asia-Pacific.

The Hakuhodo Group has worked with Kingdom Digital previously many times, and will further strengthen its response capabilities in Malaysia’s rapidly growing digital domain by welcoming the company into the Group. Moreover, we will strive to increase our ability to provide solutions to local, multinational and Japanese clients’ challenges by continuing to monitor trends in the ASEAN advertising markets.

Vin Chinnaraja, Chairman of Kingdom Digital said: “We have found the perfect partner in Hakuhodo for Kingdom Digital to realize and speed up our ASEAN expansion ambitions, tapping into Hakuhodo’s regional presence to be able to deliver multinational work for our clients and brands.

“We are looking forward to combining Hakuhodo’s creativity and sei-katsu-sha insight with our Digital Creative Automation (DCA)* platform to deliver personalized experiences for our clients and brands so that they can develop long lasting relationships with their customers.”

Shuntaro Ito, Senior Corporate Officer, Hakuhodo, and President & CEO, Hakuhodo International said: “Malaysia was the first country in which Hakuhodo set up an overseas office—Hakuhodo Malaysia—in 1973, and next year will mark the 50th anniversary of our first foray overseas. We are absolutely delighted to welcome Kingdom Digital, which is regarded so highly in the industry, as a member of the Hakuhodo Group at this milestone juncture. I’m certain Kingdom Digital will be able to contribute to our clients’ growth by providing them with sophisticated digital solutions in a Malaysian digital marketplace that will only continue to develop in the future. I look forward to Kingdom Digital being a leading presence, alongside Hakuhodo Malaysia, in further strengthening our digital capabilities in Malaysia and ASEAN.”

Pictured above from top left: Wei-Chun Chu, Edmund Lou (Head of Strategy), Xiao Yee, Lui (Head of Account Servicing), Ryusuke Oda, Steven Yap (Head of Digital & Operations), Hisashi Hirano, Yusuke Miyabe
From bottom left: Hideaki Sato, Yasutoshi Hiratsuka, Vin Chinnaraja (Chairman), Ryan Ong (CEO)