AKQA and ITOCHU accelerate business growth and transformation in Japan

AKQA and ITOCHU Corporation expands its partnership after five years of collaboration that aligns global creative excellence with deep local market presence to accelerate innovation and digital transformation across Japan. This next phase of the partnership unifies existing Japan operations into a single, integrated AKQA-branded organisation.

The expanded partnership strengthens AKQA’s long-term investment in Japan and elevates the services and scale available to clients across the region. With an end-to-end model spanning creativity, design, intelligent production and emerging technologies, the unified entity will help brands move beyond incremental transformation, unlock new value and establish future-facing models for growth and brand experience.

Global CEO AKQA Baiju Shah said: “Japan is home to some of the world’s most inspiring design, craftsmanship and ingenuity. As AI continues to reshape how organisations operate and compete, the real opportunity lies in how it is guided by imagination, craft and cultural understanding. This venture allows us to bring these elements together with precision, helping brands move beyond optimisation and towards the creation of new sources of growth. Our expanded partnership with ITOCHU brings together the full depth of AKQA’s global capabilities with an exceptional local foundation, supporting organisations in shaping what comes next with clarity and purpose.”

Executive Officer and Chief Operating Officer ICT Division Masato Horiuchi said: “Customers today expect experiences that seamlessly blend creativity, utility and emotion. Delivering on this requires a sophisticated integration of design, technology and strategy. This is the driving force behind the evolution of our partnership with AKQA. By merging ITOCHU’s deep market insight with AKQA’s global leadership in creativity and design, the unified AKQA is uniquely positioned to help businesses navigate this change. Together, we will empower our clients to translate ambitious ideas into the tangible, future-ready experiences that will define their brands in the Japanese market and beyond.”

Since the collaboration began in 2020, AKQA and ITOCHU have partnered to support leading Japanese organisations on their transformation journeys, combining AKQA’s global design and innovation expertise with ITOCHU’s market knowledge and corporate network.

The new partnership brings together AKQA Tokyo, AKQA’s original Japan subsidiary, and AKQA uka, the joint venture established with ITOCHU in 2022 into one consolidated organisation. Powered by WPP Open, WPP’s AI platform for marketing, the unification of AKQA Tokyo and AKQA uka enables the partnership to serve both domestic brands and global organisations entering the Japanese market.