With the advance of information and communications technologies, a fully ubiquitous society is finally arriving. One-way communication is being replaced by interactive communication as individuals choose to use smartphones and tablet computers, and the information is then consolidated via social networking services

How should INTAGE respond to this growing diversified world brought about by the shift to the Internet? While rapidly identifying changing trends and taking proactive measures are essential, the key is to keep asking ourselves, “What insights do our clients really need?” We must sharpen our ability to pick out the wheat from the chaff amid the massive amounts of information available today.

Our overseas operations have entered a new era. Consumer spendings in Japan remains low as the birthrate continues to decline and the population ages, combined with falling incomes. Meanwhile, emerging nations in Asia are growing steadily, and in 2010 China overtook Japan to become the world’s second largest economy by nominal gross domestic product (GDP).

Many Japanese companies are therefore seeking to expand in China and other Asian markets. INTAGE was merged with INTAGE Marketing Consulting (Shanghai) which was established in 2002 and Shanghai Hyperlink Marketing Research which joined our group in 2009 to expand our operations in the Chinese market and support our clients’ businesses with sophisticated quality management and a solid network within the country. We will also develop our operating bases in Southeast Asian countries to lay the foundation for future growth.

In April 2011, we will start on the 10th mid-term business plan which focuses on “Creating new consumer-initiated intelligence” toward the new stage of our business (Next 50). Under a new management system, we remain dedicated to delivering useful insights to our clients over the next 50 years.

Kenji Miyakubi
President