Hakuhodo DY ONE Appoints Tsuyoshi Sugihara as Executive Advisor

Hakuhodo DY ONE Inc. (Headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo; President and CEO: Hiroaki Kitazume; hereinafter "Hakuhodo DY ONE") announces the appointment of Mr. Tsuyoshi Sugihara as "Executive Advisor," effective April 1, 2026. Mr. Sugihara is highly conversant with the latest trends in the marketing and advertising industry, possessing multifaceted expertise and an extensive network.

Background and Purpose In recent years, the marketing and advertising sectors have been undergoing dramatic structural changes driven by the rapid evolution of AI and growing expectations for agentic advertising. Hakuhodo DY ONE believes that, to maintain sustainable competitiveness and to redesign and execute mid-to-long-term directions in such an environment, highly specialized insights from an external perspective are more crucial than ever.

Mr. Sugihara possesses profound expertise in the latest trends in next-generation marketing brought about by AI evolution—including platform advertising, retail media, e-commerce, and agentic advertising—as well as comprehensive insights and a broad network overlooking domestic and international industry trends. With Mr. Sugihara's participation, the company aims to qualitatively improve decision-making at the executive level and further enhance the precision and execution speed of strategy formulation.

Profile of Mr. Tsuyoshi Sugihara After working at KDDI and Intel, he was in charge of ad sales strategy at Overture (now Yahoo! Search Ads) and Google Japan. In 2009, he founded Atara Inc., which provides marketing consulting services and tools. He is also one of the few platform business analysts in Japan who disseminates the latest information on platform advertising and retail media. He has deep knowledge regarding the standardization of next-generation advertising (AdCP, UCP, ARTF, etc.) and understands the technical and business challenges in realizing agentic advertising. He runs the "Platform Thinking Circuit" channel on X, LinkedIn, and Voicy.

Comment from Mr. Tsuyoshi Sugihara "The marketing and advertising industry is currently in the midst of major structural changes, including the evolution of AI. I am deeply honored to participate in Hakuhodo DY ONE's efforts to strengthen its competitiveness at such a time. In phases where the business environment changes significantly, it is important not only to handle immediate tasks but also to redesign strategies with an eye on the medium to long term. By utilizing external perspectives and cross-industry knowledge, I intend to play a role that contributes to the company's decision-making and next stage of growth."

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<Company Overview> ■ Hakuhodo DY ONE Inc. https://www.hakuhodody-one.co.jp Hakuhodo DY ONE provides integrated digital marketing services by leveraging the digital advertising expertise and know-how cultivated since the dawn of internet advertising. With strengths in marketing strategy formulation, creativity, advanced operational and technical development capabilities, and robust relationships with media publishers and platformers, the company supports clients domestically and globally.