Macromill Ads will carry out activities including advertising planning and distribution to measuring advertising effectiveness.

The company will use data from Macromill’s domestic proprietary consumer panels in its work to help distribute and operate digital advertising. The panels cover around 1.3 million people in Japan.

Macromill Ads includes two tools: Macromill Ads Targeting, which targets advertising to particular segments based on research or behavioural data, and Macromill Ads Brand Optimizer, which examines advertising campaigns using measures such as product awareness and purchase intention.

In a statement announcing the formation of Macromill Ads, the company said: “Recently, we’ve seen consumer touchpoints and the customer journey diversifying in response to the rapid spread of smartphones and tablets, the rise of social media, and the increase in ecommerce purchasing.

“In addition, as the regulations around the handling of personal data are tightened, more privacy-friendly data handling is essential, and this means our clients are finding it harder to acquire data.”