Massive Act is at the forefront of digital marketing services, providing tailored solutions to help its clients grow their businesses. This organization not only provides consultative and advisory services, but it also utilizes integrated digital marketing strategies and digital transformation (DX) support. Dedicated to the unrelenting pursuit of exceptional outcomes, Massive Act is at the forefront of technological advancement.

In today’s fiercely competitive business world, the principles of honesty and sincerity are the foundation of the organization’s ethos. These principles, which prioritize transformation over incremental change, reflect the commitment and tenacity of their clients in attaining concrete results. In order to co-create value in every project it works on, Massive Act is committed to developing strong relationships with both partners and clients.

Driven by the passionate endeavors of its members, Massive Act stands out as a breeding ground for innovators, with each member making a substantial contribution to the project’s accomplishment. The fundamental idea of the organization is to always raise the bar by combining the unmatched force of creativity with the power of data. Dedicated to the idea that knowledge and action go hand in hand, Massive Act wants to shape the future by constantly staying one step ahead of the competition with unmatched quality.

As we explore the philosophy and goals guiding this forward-thinking business, join us for an insightful conversation with Mr. Takahagi, the CEO and founder of Massive Act.

What motivated the launch of “Massive Act” and how will you highlight its applicability in the modern digital marketplace?

The motivation behind starting Massive Act was rooted in my prior experience founding a different company. While that previous company experienced rapid growth to over 11 billion yen in annual revenue within a year, the internal systems, performance evaluation, and goal-setting were very ambiguous. The company was overly focused on profitability and external factors like clients and customers, neglecting the care and wellbeing of its own employees.

As a result, employee morale declined and the team began to fall apart. After a few years of independent working, I realized that to sustainably provide value, an organized company structure is necessary. Reflecting on the failures of my previous experience, I decided to take a people-centered approach this time. With a “member-driven management” philosophy, I founded Massive Act as a way to put people first and learn from the mistakes of the past.

Massive Act’s applicability in today’s digital market is exceptionally high. The services we offer are vital for accelerating companies’ digital transformation (DX) and enhancing their competitiveness.

In particular, our innovative approach of integrating generative AI with digital marketing directly addresses current market needs. By leveraging the power of AI, we can dramatically improve the accuracy and speed of marketing, enabling more precise targeting and personalized communication. This leads to increased customer engagement and maximized business outcomes.

The expansion of our DX consulting services plays a crucial role in realizing companies’ digital transformation. We provide optimal solutions tailored to each project phase and establish mechanisms to achieve maximum results with minimal resources. This allows clients to efficiently solve complex DX challenges and achieve rapid transformation, ultimately boosting their competitiveness in the digital landscape.

Given Massive Act’s keen awareness of the VUCA era and technological innovation, what sets it apart from its competitors?

In the VUCA era, Massive Act sets itself apart through its unwavering commitment to execution and its deep understanding of technological advancements. While our guiding principle of “Driven by Execution” is rooted in the philosophy of “Practical Wisdom,” we also possess a keen awareness of the rapid pace of innovation.

While our competitors may engage in prolonged discussions, we firmly believe that a single decisive action is worth far more than a hundred debates. Our teams are imbued with a sense of accountability, constantly striving to translate our insights into tangible impact for our customers and society. We do not merely react to changes, but proactively shape the technological landscape through our bold, well-informed actions.

It is this fusion of execution-driven philosophy and technological foresight that allows us to consistently outperform the competition.

Could you describe the integrated digital marketing strategies you use to support your clients’ business expansion?

Massive Act’s key strength lies in its comprehensive support throughout the entire process, from planning and execution to evaluation and refinement. Its experienced consultants guide clients through each phase, ensuring a flexible and adaptable approach to address their unique needs and drive business expansion. Our company is able to assemble specialized teams and provide the necessary resources and operations from any phase, maximizing the effectiveness of project implementation.

Additionally, our company supports the digital transformation of its clients. The company assists with the introduction of advanced technologies like IoT and AI to automate business processes, as well as the development of the necessary organizational structures and talent to drive digital transformation. By leveraging optimized online marketing and digital transformation support, Massive Act provides its clients with a holistic and integrated approach to facilitate their business growth.

What is the ultimate creative power of data, and why is it important for digital marketing success?

At Massive Act, we believe that the ultimate creative power of data lies in its ability to deeply understand customers and deliver optimized experiences for each individual. In the digital age, collecting and analyzing vast amounts of customer data allows us to gain detailed insights into their behavior patterns, preferences, and needs.

This enables us to develop highly personalized marketing strategies and build strong relationships with our customers. By making data-driven decisions, we can continuously measure and improve campaign effectiveness, maximizing return on investment.

The creative power of data is crucial for success in digital marketing. To survive in today’s competitive digital landscape, companies must differentiate themselves and consistently provide higher value to customers. This requires deep customer understanding derived from data and personalized approaches based on those insights. Continuous improvement and optimization are impossible without data. In essence, the creative power of data holds the key to success in digital marketing.

One of your main philosophical tenets is “transformation.” In your opinion, how do you differentiate between transformation and change, and why is the former more important?

In my view, the significant difference between “change” and “transformation” lies in their scale and depth of impact. Change refers to minor modifications to existing systems or methods, often superficial and without altering the fundamental structure or thinking. For example, a company adjusting its marketing strategy or product lineup can be considered a change.

On the other hand, transformation signifies a more profound and dramatic shift, re-examining the way things are done from the ground up and rebuilding based on a new vision and values. It involves not just improvement but a paradigm shift. Digital transformation (DX) is a prime example of transformation, leveraging digital technologies to fundamentally alter business processes, products, services, and business models.

Transformation is more critical as minor changes are inadequate to adapt to environmental changes and maintain competitiveness. With disruptive innovations occurring rapidly, companies must continuously self-transform. Moreover, transformation brings new possibilities to organizations by thinking beyond existing frameworks, fostering innovation, and creating new value.

Additionally, your message clarifies the importance of avoiding chasing after quick gains. How do you balance managing stakeholders’ expectations for immediate returns with long-term success planning?

Pursuing short-term profits alone cannot lead to sustainable growth. At Massive Act, we aim to balance stakeholders’ expectations and long-term success by adopting a long-term perspective.

The first crucial step is to share a long-term vision through dialogue with stakeholders. It is essential to clearly communicate the direction of value creation for the future, not just immediate profits. Then, it becomes vital to strike a balance between short-term and long-term goals.

Specifically, in formulating business plans, we strive to reconcile long-term growth strategies with short-term revenue targets. For example, by simultaneously investing in new businesses and optimizing existing ones, we maintain a stable revenue base while sowing the seeds for future growth. We believe that such balanced management leads to gaining stakeholders’ trust.

Balancing short-term profits and long-term success is not easy. However, building trust with stakeholders and continuing management with a long-term perspective is the true path to success.

Is there any project or initiative that your company has worked on where you applied a novel approach that made it stand out from the competition?

We have undertaken a project for a major conglomerate company that focused on cross-functional utilization of data held by each group company, resulting in a dramatic improvement in ROI. This digital transformation support project particularly emphasized cost-effectiveness, which is often overlooked or becomes opaque in DX projects, and placed importance on KPI design and PDCA. Our company, which has its roots in the advertising business, has strengths in direct response marketing. We support our clients with a cost-effectiveness perspective, data integration, CRM, and overall management of DX projects. Each company urgently needs to acquire and educate DX promotion personnel, and in the operation/execution phase, it becomes necessary to have a promotional perspective, a meticulous PDCA viewpoint, and advanced data analysis/analytics capabilities. We believe that understanding customer data and marketing data more deeply, taking a customer-centric approach while complying with various regulations, and managing and utilizing data with transparency will determine success in DX. Through our consulting services, we will continue to promote projects and aim to improve the productivity of our clients’ businesses.

It appears that Massive Act is deeply committed to playing the part of a change agent. In light of emerging technologies and consumer demands, how do you envision this role changing?

In today’s fast-paced digital era, the rapid evolution of technology and shifting consumer needs are transforming the business landscape. As a change agent, our mission at Massive Act is to adapt to these changes and lead the way forward for our clients.

The role of a change agent is to become increasingly diverse and complex. With the emergence of new technologies like AI and IoT, the very nature of business and society is being fundamentally altered. To navigate this landscape, we must continually acquire cutting-edge knowledge and skills to guide our clients effectively.

Simultaneously, consumer values and lifestyles are undergoing significant shifts, from material consumption to experiential consumption, ownership to sharing, and a growing concern for sustainability and social responsibility. Understanding these changes deeply and helping brands engage with and deliver value to consumers in this new context is another crucial aspect of our role as change agents.

Moreover, to lead change effectively, we must embrace continuous learning and self-transformation. By boldly tackling new technologies and business models, we accumulate practical wisdom that we can apply to promote our clients’ digital transformation. The question is, can those leading the change continue to transform themselves?

At Massive Act, we are committed to maintaining our role as change agents, even in these turbulent times. As partners to our clients and members of society, we strive to be a bridge connecting technology and people, business and society. This is our unwavering vision and the path we will continue to pursue.

How do you ensure that every team member feels appreciated and inspired to contribute more by implementing the idea of a “member driven” organization?

The company strives to create an organization that combines the best of large enterprises and startups.

One key initiative is our flexible work arrangement. Our flex-time policy has a 100% utilization rate, allowing employees to adjust their schedules as needed without having to provide detailed reasons. This flexibility directly contributes to high employee engagement, as we understand the importance of work-life balance. We have also enhanced our remote work infrastructure, providing work-from-home equipment and covering home internet costs to support flexible work styles. Weekly remote work days further promote a healthy work-life balance.

As a leader, I actively leverage these programs myself, setting an example that encourages others to take advantage of them. This has fostered an environment where employees feel empowered to use the available resources, whether for childcare, self-development, or personal circumstances. By addressing diverse work-life needs, we have seen significant improvements in individual performance and team productivity.

Additionally, we have invested in streamlining processes through automation and documentation, minimizing administrative burdens. As a result, our average monthly overtime has been reduced to under 5 hours, with a recent 3-month average of less than 3 hours. By empowering our members to thrive without sacrificing their personal lives, we have also expanded our leave policies, including anniversary days, family birthdays, and generous paid time off.

This has resulted in significant improvements in individual performance and team productivity, allowing us to obtain awards and recognition such as the “White Company Award” and the “Forbes JAPAN WOMEN AWARD.”

How does Massive Act collect and incorporate diverse perspectives into its projects?

Our approach starts by welcoming team members from diverse backgrounds. Specifically, since our founding, we have actively hired individuals with varied expertise, cultures, and industry experiences.

Next, we foster an environment where all members can freely exchange opinions through regular discussion forums. This natural integration of different perspectives and ideas sparks new concepts and solutions. We also actively network with outside experts and leaders across industries to incorporate fresh external viewpoints.

As part of our efforts, we cultivate a corporate culture that emphasizes diversity and inclusion. This aids in introducing multiple perspectives into our projects. Consequently, we take pride in our ability to deliver more creative and innovative solutions.

By embracing diversity in our team composition, encouraging open dialogue, seeking outside perspectives, and promoting an inclusive culture, we synergize varied viewpoints. This multi-faceted approach allows us to develop unparalleled solutions that capitalize on the strengths of our diverse talent pool.

Which were the main obstacles you encountered when trying to advance your business, and how were they resolved?

One of the main obstacles we faced in advancing our business was strengthening internal controls and maintaining cultural consistency amid organizational growth. Particularly, expanding the organization without diluting our culture was a significant challenge. While sharing environments, training programs, and use cases helped maintain a certain level of communication and work attitude, doubts remained about whether everyone could consistently understand and sustain the high-energy culture.

To address this, we focused on enhancing communication. We held regular company-wide meetings to share our vision and mission with all employees. Additionally, we incorporated cultural fit into our evaluation criteria, asking questions like “Do you fit with our culture?” This was not about forced alignment but helping employees understand the importance and reasoning behind cultural fit, encouraging them to internalize it.

Through these efforts, we overcame the obstacles and achieved sustainable growth. We will continue to strive for both employee growth and client success.

What advice would you like to give to aspiring young business owners who want to create businesses as revolutionary and impactful as the Massive Act?

It has been about 10 years since the term “DX” started being used, and during this period, the digital literacy of the market has dramatically improved. In an era where information asymmetry makes it difficult to provide value to society, I believe it is a time when execution and driving force are highly sought after.

As pioneers exploring unknown worlds together, I look forward to sharpening our skills and growing together.

To achieve amazing results, how important is it to do the right thing with the right team?

Firstly, we place a strong emphasis on thoroughly examining and determining what is truly “right.” We carefully consider the ethical implications of our actions and strive to align our decisions and practices with our core values. As a company, we are committed to providing “uncompromising value” – value that is underpinned by a steadfast commitment to doing what is morally and ethically sound.

Secondly, we recognize that the composition and structure of the team executing these “right” initiatives are just as crucial as the initiatives themselves. We meticulously curate our project teams, ensuring that each member is well-suited and aligned with the task at hand. We do not tolerate factors that may compromise the team’s ability to create value, as we firmly believe that value creation must be the sole focus.

Ultimately, Massive Act’s pursuit of “doing the right thing with the right team” is not just a philosophical stance, but a practical approach to ensuring that the company’s activities and outputs consistently align with its core values and mission. By upholding this principle, we aim to create an organization that delivers genuine, uncompromising value to our stakeholders and the broader community.

And Mr.Takahagi, as CEO and Founder, you play a pivotal role in envisioning the path for the company’s future. How do you inculcate in your team the virtues of empathy, resilience, and teamwork?

As a CEO and founder, fostering a sense of empathy, resilience, and teamwork within the organization is crucial.

The monthly one-on-one meetings provide an opportunity to not only demonstrate your commitment to the personal growth of employees, but also to strengthen the trust between employees and the management team.

Cultivating resilience is another important element. Rather than punishing failures and mistakes, it is essential to foster a culture where people can learn from them, reflect, and either apply the lessons learned or develop improvement strategies, empowering them to take on challenges without fear.

Teamwork is vital in holding the organization together. By instilling core values such as respect, consideration, and teamwork in the company credo, we are able to cultivate a shared sense of purpose among the employees. Promoting cross-departmental collaboration and communication, as well as recognizing and celebrating team achievements, helps to foster a strong sense of collective ownership and pride.

Additionally, we regularly organize seasonal events, which serve to strengthen interpersonal relationships among employees and cultivate a sense of community within the organization.

Company Name: MASSIVE ACT
Website: www.massive-act.com
Founder & CEO: R.TAKAHAGI