MASTRUM – a benchmark for Japan with jeki

Recently Group CEO of Moving Walls Group Srikanth Ramachandran sat down with the President and representative Director of jeki, Ryoji Akaishi, about the recent launch of MASTRUM and its potential as a global out-of-home (OOH) advertising marketplace. Below is the summary of the salient points they discussed. The full interview is available here. 

Srikanth praised the successful launch of MASTRUM, highlighting the registration of thousands of media outlets and its release to advertising agencies in the initial phase. He expects exciting developments as MASTRUM moves forward through this strategic partnership with jeki. 

Both of them discussed global OOH and digital-out-of-home (DOOH) trends, noting rapid DOOH growth and increasing budget allocation to DOOH in countries like Singapore, Australia, and the UK, where over 50% of OOH budgets now go to DOOH. Other countries like Malaysia and Indonesia allocate 30-40% to DOOH. Overall, DOOH is expanding quickly within the growing OOH market worldwide.

Regarding Moving Walls’ global expansion, Srikanth said they now have a strong presence across Southeast Asia after establishing themselves in Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Indonesia. They recently added Thailand and Vietnam as well, giving them coverage of the key Southeast Asian markets. Moving Walls is also now entering the promising Indian market.

In addition, Moving Walls is expanding in Africa, the Middle East, South America, and North America/Europe through multiple partnerships. In Africa and the Middle East they have alliances with major local media owners in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, UAE, and Morocco. Similarly, in South America, they are collaborating with influential media owners in Brazil and Mexico. For North America and Europe, they have integrated their demand-side platform (DSP) with Place Exchange, the largest supply-side platform (SSP) in those regions. This enables global campaign execution.

The goal is to bring innovation to the MASTRUM platform by applying generative AI technology to planning, sales, and operations. On the social responsibility front, Moving Walls launched an initiative called Moving Hearts, connecting local charities to unused last-minute DOOH ad inventory to increase awareness. They also have a zero-carbon initiative analyzing best practices for OOH media owners.

Regarding MASTRUM’s potential value, Srikanth said it could benchmark the growing global convergence of mobility and media, with smart cities and mobility recovering post-pandemic. He noted transport agencies worldwide like Singapore’s LTA entering the media business. He said MASTRUM is well-positioned to lead this trend with jeki’s advanced technology and strong presence in Japan.

They agreed that MASTRUM could become a global OOH leader, combining automation and mobility like the emerging global digital players. He encouraged jeki’s participation in major OOH conferences like WOO to increase MASTRUM’s international presence and visibility.

Looking at goals as a global player, Srikanth emphasized business transformation and innovation as central themes. He encouraged promoting MASTRUM’s global presence through events like WOO to expand reach into new markets. Srikanth also advocated for omnichannel campaigns combining OOH, digital, online, and offline media for maximum impact, referring to it as OOX which is a fusion of digital, internet and offline. It is envisioned that Jeki will soon be strengthened to provide digital and physical touchpoints to execute omnichannel campaigns. 

They agreed that MASTRUM is an important project where Moving Walls will continue learning and doing their best. The aim for MASTRUM is to become a benchmark platform in Japan and succeed globally as well. 

Akaishi concurred on MASTRUM’s importance and the motivation it provides to succeed. He noted jeki’s new mission and values will be tested through the project, proving themselves by growing MASTRUM to its full potential. Akaishi agreed that global participation and visibility will be key, as will omnichannel integration and data utilization, to make MASTRUM uniquely valuable. He looks forward to the continued partnership on this journey.