mov and Tribal Media House Form Strategic Partnership to Build Integrated Inbound × Brand Marketing Support Model

mov Co., Ltd. (headquartered in Shibuya, Tokyo; CEO: Makoto Watanabe; hereinafter “mov”), which operates Japan’s largest inbound business media “Visiting Japan Lab,” the store-centric customer acquisition platform “Kuchikomi.com,” and the inbound self-sampling platform “trial JAPAN,” has entered into a strategic partnership with Tribal Media House Co., Ltd. (headquartered in Minato, Tokyo; President & CEO: Noriyuki Ikeda; hereinafter “TMH”). TMH directly collaborates with over 300 major domestic corporations and provides end-to-end support for brand and entertainment marketing as a PMO-style marketing solutions provider.

The two companies aim to build a new, integrated marketing model that comprehensively supports clients from brand strategy development to SNS, in-store, and inbound visitor promotions, advancing a mid-to-long-term collaboration.

Background of the Strategic Partnership

The inbound market in 2025 reached approximately 9.5 trillion yen, setting new records in both visitor numbers and spending. The Japanese government aims for 60 million inbound visitors and 15 trillion yen in spending by 2030. Driven by Asia’s economic growth, national tourism strategies, and repeat visits from past tourists, inbound demand is entering a phase of sustained expansion over the next 20 to 30 years.

Equally significant is the changing nature of inbound demand. Alongside traditional motivations like “Japanese cuisine” and “nature and scenery,” there is a rapid rise in fascination with Japanese entertainment content such as anime, J-POP, and video games. Experiences such as engaging with favorite IPs, purchasing related merchandise, and sharing on social media are increasingly influencing brand “recall rates.”

Amid this market expansion, numerous industry players are entering or strengthening their inbound-related businesses. However, major consumer goods, retail, and service companies—referred to as national clients aiming to fully capture inbound demand—face common structural challenges:

- Lack of high-resolution insights into inbound visitors’ purchasing behavior and social media usage

- Fragmentation between domestic brand marketing and inbound-focused promotions

- Absence of partners capable of end-to-end support, from upstream brand strategy to execution of digital and in-store initiatives

These challenges stem directly from the industry structure, where brand marketing and inbound support have historically been offered separately. Moving forward, there is a growing need for integrated solutions to the question: “How can a brand be designed to be recalled via specific CEPs (Category Entry Points) among global consumers?”

mov and TMH share the conviction that addressing these structural challenges requires a mid-to-long-term partnership to jointly establish a new, integrated support model.

Purpose and Vision of the Partnership

Through this partnership, mov and TMH will pioneer an innovative, integrated model that supports both brand strategy and inbound marketing across domains.

Specifically, the collaboration will systematically combine TMH’s expertise in CEPs and recall strategy, brand and marketing strategy, entertainment and fandom marketing through “Modern Age,” and its direct transaction network with over 300 major domestic corporations, with mov’s unique insights derived from inbound visitors’ review and purchase data, inbound promotion know-how, and store and manufacturer support platforms.

This integration will enable comprehensive inbound × brand support—something unattainable under the traditional industry structure, where domestic and inbound marketing were siloed.

Area

mov’s Strengths

TMH’s Strengths

Strategy Development

Inbound market data & insights, strategic consulting

Brand and marketing strategy (‘Sales Map’ framework)

Recall Design

Identification of recall touchpoints based on inbound visitor behavior data

CEPs × recall consulting, fandom, entertainment/IP-linked campaigns, social media utilization

Execution Support

BPO support for inbound initiatives, inbound promotions, and support via proprietary platforms

Promotion planning, creative production, entertainment content planning, execution, performance measurement, SNS marketing, creative production

The two companies will continue to explore future business collaborations in line with the progress of their partnership.

Executive Comments

Makoto Watanabe, CEO, mov Co., Ltd.

Since its founding, mov has been at the forefront of inbound business, driven by the mission to “maximize Japan’s potential.” The insights we’ve built through Visiting Japan Lab and Kuchikomi.com are not just data—they are living insights into which brands are chosen by which inbound visitors, and where.

The closer we are to the front lines, the more we realize that national clients don’t need isolated tactics, but rather brands designed to be chosen by inbound visitors. What’s needed now is end-to-end support that connects upstream brand strategy with promotion execution and data-driven optimization.

Tribal Media House has been leading exactly this upstream work for 19 years. We are excited to partner with them not just for one-off collaborations, but as a long-term ally to co-design and co-build this integrated support model. By continuously exploring which brands to support and how to grow them in the inbound space, we aim to jointly define the industry standard.

Noriyuki Ikeda, President & CEO, Tribal Media House Co., Ltd.

With Asia’s economic growth, the expanding base of visitors to Japan, and the government’s nation-branding strategy, inbound demand will continue to grow sustainably over the next 20 to 30 years. For Japanese brands, the importance of becoming the “top-of-mind” choice among global consumers has never been greater.

However, for Japanese brands to become preferred choices globally, it is essential to integrate brand strategy with unique insights into inbound and global markets—going beyond social media management and advertising tactics.

By combining mov’s real-time visitor data and customer touchpoints accumulated over more than a decade, with Tribal Media House’s 19 years of refined brand marketing expertise, we are confident we can co-create a new frontier of support previously unattainable in the industry. Together, we will shape the future of marketing where Japanese brands are chosen by global consumers.

Recruitment

Both mov and TMH are now recruiting talent to jointly advance the inbound × brand marketing domain, leveraging this partnership.

For details, please visit each company’s recruitment page.

・mov Careers