Corporate Identity｜株式会社５（5 co.）

Corporate Identity

The character of 5 co. and its role in society, in the words of our CEO.

Statement

The social responsibility and role of marketing

Our view on the role marketing plays in society, signed by our CEO.

Takeshi Wakamatsu

CEO / Founder, 5 co.

A line on a product page. An ad placement. A shelf in a store. All of it is marketing — and because it is so familiar, time and budget easily drift toward buzz and numbers that only look big.

5 co. supports brands’ e-commerce marketing, especially on Amazon. The first question we ask is simple: what will be better in the everyday life of the person who buys this product? More advertising can move the numbers for a while. But if buyers are not even a little better off, those sales will not last. We do not spend more on advertising than the work needs. Our role is to leave both the brand and the people who buy its products better off.

So we measure, then decide. We make visible the gap between where we want to be and where we actually are, and close it one step at a time. How we do it is set out in “How we set goals.”

More often than not, the way forward lies in the small frustrations of the people who buy. The next move begins with listening to them.

To me, marketing is the work of making buyers’ everyday lives a little better, step by step. Measuring, checking, and keeping at it in ways we can openly explain — that is our responsibility in this work.

Takeshi Wakamatsu — CEO / Founder, 5 co.

Mission

Strategy, refined.

Our character

Reaching a goal creates the next one.

Markets always look cloudy. There are sales figures, but it is hard to see why something sold, or where to place the next bet.

We are the company that clears that fog. Amazon, physical stores, retailers’ touchpoints — we bring scattered clues together into one picture, so brands can make their next move with confidence.

There is one outcome we aim for: maximizing our clients’ GMS (gross merchandise sales). We call it single-minded focus on GMS. We do not analyze for the sake of analysis. Every piece of our work connects to one result — our clients’ GMS.

Beyond that, we see a future in which e-commerce is at the center of the world economy. We have chosen “e-commerce × advertising = retail media” as our field, and we aim to be a company where everyone who works here is fulfilled both materially and intellectually — the material wealth of high pay, and the intellectual wealth of being where the economy’s wisdom gathers.

Vision

By 2036, 5 co. will be the hub for the data and initiatives that move GMS in consumer goods.

Origin

Where “5” comes from

“5” comes from the five books — Earth, Water, Fire, Wind, Void — of Miyamoto Musashi’s The Book of Five Rings.

We see through the market with our own data, and refine strategy.

地

Foundation & Basics

Never miss the basics. Build the ground with reporting and numbers.

水

Flexibility & Adaptability

Learn the form, then change shape to fit the situation.

火

Intensity & Execution

Put budget and people where it counts. Execute at the decisive moment.

風

Style & Differentiation

Know the outside world, and turn it into moves anyone can repeat.

空

Essence & Innovation

Leave the system in place and let go — so the next person can get the same result.

How we set goals

Break the gap down. Reach the goal, then aim higher.

This is how 5 co. sets and pursues goals. We treat the distance between where we want to be and where we are as something to break down and work through, step by step. We estimate category sales accurately, and look at the competitors and consumers that shape them, to see how far we can aim. When the goal in place could be reached without any effective initiatives, we propose a higher, scientifically grounded one.

01
Break down the gap

We break the gap between the target and the current state into its parts.
02
Make controllable metrics the Key Results

Of those parts, the metrics we can move ourselves and that are most closely tied to the goal become our Key Results.
03
Hypothesize, plan, execute, evaluate

We form hypotheses about what is holding back the Key Results, then plan initiatives and carry them out. We check the results against the market’s response, not our assumptions.
04
Then set a higher goal

When we reach a goal, we set a higher one — scientifically, from data on the environment we work in.

At 5 co., we recognize the people who are always working to close the gap to the goal.

Profile

Name

Takeshi Wakamatsu

Title

CEO / Founder

Biography

After graduating from an art university, Takeshi Wakamatsu led a creative production team as Chief at an advertising creative agency, where he worked on many advertising campaigns. He founded 5 co. in 2006 and incorporated the company in 2007 with its own capital. In its early years, 5 co. provided web marketing centered on Google, running campaigns across multiple channels. In 2014, it took on customer acquisition for a major Japanese e-commerce site that drew more than 3 million visitors a month at the time, and from there expanded into e-commerce. At the same time, it began developing retail media, creating high-performing ads that use category visit data and putting them into practice with multiple advertisers. Since encountering Amazon Ads in 2016, he has worked to spread its advanced capabilities across Japan. In 2017, 5 co. opened an Amazon DSP entity as a media representative, which allowed it to operate Amazon DSP directly, and began running campaigns. He was early to demonstrate the return on investment of using Amazon Ads in the upper funnel (the awareness and consideration stages) and obtained a patent related to this research. Today, he supports brand marketing on Amazon and on other e-commerce marketplaces such as Rakuten.

Under the banner of "MAX-GMS," which means maximizing clients' GMS (gross merchandise sales), he sets goals based on estimates of category sales. At 5 co., OKRs are set at three levels (company, team, and individual), and a monthly internal OKR meeting checks the gap between each goal and where things stand. As the executive responsible, he manages the goals for new business development and hiring. He has also built and leads an organization of AI staff who handle day-to-day work, sharing the company's goals with them and driving improvement through ongoing dialogue and feedback.

Contact

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