Office Building Media 'GRAND' | Explaining Simultaneous Reach to Entire B2B Decision-Making Bodies, Compared to Taxis and Trade Shows

GRAND Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo; President & CEO: Hitoshi Sakagami / Mitsubishi Estate Group), operator of the office building media platform 'GRAND,' presents a structural comparison of taxi advertising, trade shows, and office building advertising, tailored for marketing and business leaders evaluating B2B awareness and search strategies.

B2B purchasing decisions are not made by a single decision-maker but through consensus among a group including initiators, user departments, IT systems, and final approvers. This article highlights a structural difference: while taxi advertising strongly reaches 'individuals' and trade shows effectively engage 'initiators,' office building media like GRAND uniquely delivers the same ad, in the same space and at the same time, to an entire corporate decision-making body—thanks to advertising placed in daily office pathways such as elevators, which everyone uses when coming to work.

B2B decisions are made by 'group consensus,' not 'individuals'—therefore, the target of advertising must shift

High-value B2B purchases are not finalized by a single decision-maker. Standard B2B purchasing research indicates that product and service adoption follows a consensus process involving multiple stakeholders: initiators, user departments, IT, procurement, and decision-makers.

The primary reason deals stall is less often a clear 'NO' from the decision-maker and more often misalignment within the consensus group. Even if the initiator is enthusiastic, the user department may remain cautious, and the decision-maker might not even know the product—resulting in fragmented awareness and lukewarm interest across stakeholders, causing internal discussions to fizzle out. This 'stagnation without rejection' is a common occurrence in B2B.

Therefore, the target of advertising should not be the 'individual' but the 'consensus body itself.' Only when all stakeholders within a company are exposed to the same information, creating a shared understanding that 'I saw it, and my colleagues probably did too' (common knowledge), can internal consensus—'group deliberation'—move forward. GRAND is a media platform designed with this 'group deliberation' reach as its core principle.

Structural comparison of 'who is reached'—taxi advertising, trade shows, and office building advertising

Each medium has its unique role. Rather than ranking them, we compare them based on the unit of audience they reach.

Comparison Axis 1: Taxi Signage = Reaches 'individuals,' but 'who exactly' is unclear

This medium reaches individuals during transit. Whether it reaches someone depends entirely on whether they choose to ride a taxi—a personal behavioral choice. While it may reach executives or managers, contact is primarily with unspecified individuals, including shared rides. It's difficult to determine after the fact 'which specific person at which company was reached.' While it reaches individuals, it lacks a structure to simultaneously reach all members of a corporate decision-making group.

Comparison Axis 2: Trade Shows = Reaches 'initiators (proposer layer)'

Trade shows are a powerful touchpoint for capturing proactive attendees—initiators and information gatherers, i.e., the proposer layer. However, reach depends on the individual's choice to attend. Attendance by decision-makers and executives is limited. Even if you secure one entry point into the consensus body, how awareness spreads to user departments, IT, and decision-makers depends entirely on that individual's internal efforts—distributing materials, giving presentations, and initiating approvals. In other words, it relies on the effectiveness of internal evangelism. Even with a strong initial contact, whether the same information reaches all consensus members depends on the exhibitor's internal dynamics. Trade shows complement GRAND by serving as an outlet to convert the shared awareness created by GRAND into actual sales discussions.

Comparison Axis 3: Office Building Advertising (GRAND) = Simultaneously reaches 'all decision-makers'

Taxi ads reach those who ride; trade shows reach those who attend. In contrast, office areas—especially elevators—are part of the daily commute to work, a routine path that no one opts out of. Initiators, user departments, IT, and decision-makers all ride the same elevator to reach their office floors. GRAND delivers ads across all units, creating a design where the entire decision-making body of a company simultaneously encounters the same ad in the same space. This fosters not just individual awareness ('I know this') but shared knowledge ('I saw it, and my colleagues likely did too'), making internal consensus formation easier.

Primary Audience

Reach Condition

Reach Scope

Visibility of Who Was Reached

Taxi Advertising

Individuals in transit

Depends on riding (behavior-dependent)

Unspecified individuals (may include executives)

Difficult to see after the fact

Trade Shows

Initiators, information gatherers

Depends on attendance (behavior-dependent)

Entry point to consensus body (1 person)

Identifiable as attendees

Office Building Media (GRAND)

All decision-making stakeholders

Daily office commute (no additional action required)

Initiators to decision-makers within the same company

Company tiers reached are pre-visible

*This table does not compare the targeting precision of narrowed-down campaigns. GRAND values 'reach visibility'—knowing in advance which buildings and tenant company tiers will be reached—under its default full-unit distribution model.

Even with access to initiators (via trade shows) and individuals (via taxis), simultaneous reach to the entire consensus body to create shared awareness is only possible when three conditions align: full-unit distribution, office pathways that everyone uses regardless of role, and the co-location of the consensus body. Because everyone rides the same elevator when coming to work, only office building elevator media can be designed to simultaneously deliver the same ad to the entire decision-making body, from initiator to decision-maker.

Not 'targeting,' but 'visibility of who is reached'—'Reach Visibility'

Crucially, GRAND is not a medium that 'targets' specific companies or 'narrows distribution by account.' GRAND primarily uses full-unit distribution, and its value lies not in narrowing reach but in 'reach visibility'—knowing in advance which buildings and tenant company tiers will be reached before the campaign launches.

Across 1,700 installed buildings and 28,000 reachable tenant companies, GRAND reaches 1,620 domestic listed companies (41.3% of all 3,918 listed companies in Japan). The listed company occupancy rate in GRAND's buildings is 7.7%, approximately 57 times higher than Japan's national average of 0.13%.

*The 7.7% occupancy rate is calculated based on total tenant units (including duplicates); the 1,620 companies and 41.3% are unique company counts after deduplication—different calculation standards.

Because the target company tiers are known in advance, reaching the consensus body becomes a matter of 'design,' not just 'outcome.'

Key Point: Because the pathway doesn't exclude anyone, simultaneous reach to all decision-makers is possible (who is reached = unit of audience). Because of full-unit distribution, the company tiers reached are visible in advance (where it reaches = 'reach visibility'). The convergence of these two factors defines the structure of office building advertising.

Sources & Background

Ad Reach Rate (BLS Measured)

GRAND Ad Reach Rate: 64.6% (approximately 1.7 times that of JR Transit Advertising Channel at 37.6%)

BLS = Brand Lift Survey, provided free with all plans

310 contact samples / delivered within 15 business days after campaign launch

Listed Company Reach

Reachable listed companies: 1,620 = 41.3% of all 3,918 domestic listed companies (Source: Japan Exchange Group)

Listed company occupancy rate in installed buildings: 7.7% = approximately 57 times Japan's average of 0.13% (Source: National Tax Agency, FY2022, ~2.9 million corporations)

Calculation Notes

7.7% occupancy rate calculated based on total tenant units (including duplicates)

1,62