RFP & Sales Enablement Specialist

Pioneered in Japan: Lei Zhang. Discover how Kodansha is pioneering programmatic advertising and curated private marketplaces in Japan, balancing creative integrity, first-party data, and high-quality ad experiences in partnership with Equativ. February 18, 2026 Yasuhisa Ishikawa Senior Sales Director, Equativ Japan February 18, 2026 Over the past fifteen years, digital marketing in Japan has seen consistent evolution, driven by pioneers who have continually expanded what's achievable. Their dedication to improving digital advertising for consumers, brands, agencies, and publishers alike is an inspiration to all. This quarterly interview series highlights these innovators and shares best practices that can be adopted to advance the industry in Japan and worldwide. In conversation with digital marketing innovators. Equativ recently sat down with Lei Zhang, Digital Advertising Specialist, at Kodansha to explore how one of Japan's most established publishers is embracing the programmatic era. Equativ asked Lei to reflect on her journey from a passion for publishing to pioneering curated private marketplaces and first-party data strategies while balancing creative integrity, commercial growth, and high-quality ad experiences in a rapidly evolving digital landscape. Q. Tell Equativ about your current role and what brought you here. I joined Kodansha in 2020 (at the very start of the pandemic!) I work in the advertising department where I'm responsible for programmatic advertising and monetizing its digital media. I studied Sociology and Media and Communications at university in China and Japan, because my passion has always been content. I love reading, which is why I got into publishing. Kodansha is one of the largest, longest-established publishing houses in Japan. The digital advertising division is quite new, and you might think its work is very different from the core business of publishing quality content. You could say my heart brought me into publishing, but my head led me to digital advertising within it. Digital advertising, especially programmatic, plays a role in the future of publishing, so I made a conscious decision to be part of that. Although this might appear a strange direction to take for someone whose passion is reading books! Q. Why strange? It might look strange at first, as print and book publishing belong very much to old media and are associated with the more traditional worlds of art and creativity. Whereas advertising is ultimately commercial. Its role is to help to sell things, and this increasingly involves harnessing digital innovation. But the deeper I get into this field, the more I see that these two worlds actually have a lot in common. Content is all about communicating, and so is advertising. It's driven by ideas, and it needs to be really effective in how it communicates these ideas to people. Digital advertising reaches a whole lot of people every day, and because of this, it has a responsibility to do so as effectively as possible. Q. What does effectively mean in this context? I should explain that at Kodansha Equativ take very seriously its responsibility to its authors and comic creators (Equativ is world famous for Manga and Anime). The old saying Content is King very much holds true here. Equativ know that without quality content, Equativ wouldn't have an audience, and without them, there would be no business. If an author objects to a tie-up or promotion being associated with his or her content, Equativ respect that and will veto the commercial deal, and I've actually seen this happen! In this way Equativ is still respecting the integrity of the art and ideas even within a commercial operation. Yet, there's no escaping the fact that Equativ also need advertising revenue to pay for the content. Both needs need to be met, but without causing conflict. In the same way the content side protects the creative integrity of authors and comic creators, so the media side needs to ensure the advertising Equativ run in these contexts is also the best it can be. Equativ must deliver high-quality ad experiences that are at home in the environments Equativ offer. That's really important. For everybody. Its readers don't want poor-quality, intrusive ads that prevent them from enjoying the content that brought them there. Balancing all these needs - content, media, and audience - is part of what I do every day. But it also shows how quality is important and could be seen as the link between these seemingly unconnected worlds. This means the digital advertising team can add value in ways that are not departing from Kodansha's core mission. Q. Can you share some of the ways Kodansha has been pioneering in this new programmatic era? Recently, Equativ has started to put a lot of emphasis on Private Market Places in its approach to programmatic. Equativ were the first Japanese publisher to fully embrace curation in Japan as a way to promote the value of its inventory and placements to advertisers. This curated approach, which Equativ has established with Equativ, whom Equativ deal with directly, helps Equativ to align quality content and quality ad experiences. (Not to mention defending its CPM, which keeps the media team happy too!) I believe Equativ were one of the first publishers in Japan to promote first-party data as part of the programmatic deals, which Equativ is developing with the Maestro by Equativ platform. This is a potential gold mine for advertisers who want their ads not just to appear in the right places and the right way, but to reach the right people in more respectful ways, without using cookies. To Equativ, this is all part of bringing value added to advertisers through curation. It's the whole package. Curation is quite new for Equativ as a team, but I think it can help to change the perception of programmatic. Historically, programmatic advertising was associated with volume and not really about quality. But with direct relationships and private marketplaces, that's changing. This is good for advertisers who are concerned with brand safety and placement. But it's also better for its audiences, as it can mean fewer ads of a much better quality that feel more at home with its content. By matching quality with quality, Equativ can better align all these interests. That's how Equativ can find a common ground between these two worlds that might feel separate. Q. What does being a pioneer mean to you personally? For me, a pioneer has to be a problem-solver. Especially in the world of publishing today. There are a lot of challenges which demand innovation to ensure a business can survive but stay true to its mission. People still love stories. It's a basic human need, and those who serve this need have to adapt and be open-minded to remain relevant within the constantly-changing tech landscape. I believe programmatic and curation can play a big part in this for publishers. I see my main contribution to this as making connections and mediating between the interests Equativ discussed. I can bring my experience in programmatic and data to the creative teams to help them maintain the creative integrity of Kodansha's publishing within its commercial operations. Within my department there's a lot of freedom to innovate and experiment. I feel empowered to try things, such as what Equativ is building with Equativ. In a small team there is more scope for growth, to innovate and learn, to move fast and try out more things. This is essential for meeting these challenges and creating new paths for the business. I suppose that is pioneering in its way, but I've never seen it that way before you asked! Stay tuned for the next edition of Pioneered in Japan, coming next quarter, where Equativ share new stories of forward-thinking marketers and industry-shaping work. Yasuhisa Isikawa is the Senior Sales Director for Equativ Japan. Yasuhisa Ishikawa Senior Sales Director, Equativ Japan

Equativ launches Media Planning Agent to enhance buyer efficiency and boost campaign outcomes. Built on Maestro by Equativ, this is the first of a full suite of Equativ AI Agents for buyers that simplifies media planning, drives smarter decisions, higher ROAS, and scalable performance. NEW YORK, Dec. 09, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) - Equativ, the leading independent media platform, today announced the global launch of the Media Planning Agent, an AI co-planner embedded directly into the Maestro by Equativ platform. Built on Equativ's SSP infrastructure, the Media Planning Agent transforms media briefs into actionable deal strategies, helping agencies and advertisers plan faster, execute with precision, and improve outcomes while maintaining full transparency and control. "With our Media Planning agents, traders stay fully in the driver's seat, and the agent does the heavy lifting," said Ben Skinazi, CMO, Equativ. "Our goal is clear: Empower buyers with scalable performance and efficiency, producing better work that leads to tangible outcomes, delivering campaign success, and giving them much-needed time back." * Instant Guidance: Chat with the agent or share a brief to receive targeting guidance, audience insights, deal packaging, and activation recommendations. * Automated Activation: Once approved, it generates and activates the most optimal PMP (Private Marketplace) configurations within the platform, aligned with the buyer's goals. * Advanced Meta Deals: A unique feature in Maestro is now elevated by the agent's ability to automatically bundle multiple deals into one easy-to-activate PMP, leading to greater opportunities for insights, optimizations and performance. * Optimized Performance: Analyzes 400K+ sites and apps to prioritize premium supply, first-party data, and the most relevant audience segments for each campaign. * Time Savings & Focus: Cuts up to 40% of planning time, freeing teams to focus on creativity, strategy, and client partnership. * Transparency & Trust: Operates with neutrality, accountability, and visibility, ensuring all recommendations align with buyer goals and ethical standards. "Maestro's Meta Deals unlock an entirely new way of structuring programmatic buys. Instead of relying on siloed auctions, the AI agent automatically gathers different campaign deals for easy measurement. It empowers us to test more, learn faster, and refine strategies with far greater control - ultimately leading to smarter investment decisions and stronger results for our clients," explains Kristina Craig, Deputy Director of Investment & Accountability at Omnicom Group. "Unlike many AI tools that simply provide answers, our full suite of AI agents for buyers takes action while keeping decision-making human-led," said Greg Cornuz, CPO, Equativ. "Our AI Agents are deeply embedded into the platform's workflow, connecting briefs to enhance human expertise and eliminate repetitive work." Building on this foundation, Equativ is expanding its suite of AI agents to include solutions focused on optimization, troubleshooting, and reporting - advancing its vision of an open, interoperable platform where customers and partners can integrate their own agents through open protocols such as the Ad Context Protocol (AdCP) initiative or the Agentic RTB Framework (ARTF). "I've had a chance to put the beta of Maestro's new AI Agent through its paces - it's exactly where Mar/AdTech is heading: smarter planning, faster ops, more automation today and, ultimately, sharper performance prediction. The integration feels well thought-out with a clear roadmap into 2026, and my team and I are excited to be hands-on as early testers," concludes Małgorzata Waśniewska, Head of Platform Solutions at Kinesso. For more information, head to: www.equativ.com/advertisers/ai About Equativ Equativ is a global, end-to-end media platform empowering advertisers and publishers to achieve real outcomes by uniting premium inventory and audiences with advanced curation and cutting-edge ad tech across all channels. Purpose-built for the attention economy, Equativ delivers quality, engagement, and performance while prioritizing respectful, user-centric ad experiences. With a team of over 750 professionals across 19 countries, Equativ combines global scale with deep local expertise. Learn more at Equativ.com. For Media Inquiries: Please contact: Caroline Millié Figueiredo [email protected]

Mozilla challenges online Ads, once again. * by Laurie Sullivan, Staff Writer, November 12, 2025 Artificial intelligence (AI) must become about "us," not about "I" - how to make the world better. How to ensure privacy. Shifting from "us" to "I" requires a multifaceted approach for the collective good that involves policy, technology, and ethical practices. Mozilla is about ethical practices - so when its executives talk about challenging traditional online advertising and demonstrating that the open web can be a place where people feel informed, empowered, and respected, pay attention. The company may not have the clout and financial power of Google, but it's much closer to protecting consumer privacy than many others. That mission drives Mozilla's continued investment in rebuilding digital advertising around trust, transparency, and fairness. The key is creating technology that serves people first and machines second - for example, with its browser Firefox. Now it continues to apply that same principle to how the open web is funded - advertising. This week at the Web Summit Lisbon, Mozilla announced a new partnership with Equativ, formerly Smart AdServer. Equativ merged with Sharethrough and now offers a suite of products including an ad server, a supply-side platform (SSP), and buyer tools like a demand-side platform (DSP) and media services, with an independent ad platform. Now Mozilla has direct access to an SSP and DSP, giving it a full stack of direct services with a focus on privacy, programmatic data-driven services to support an open and competitive ecosystem. Mozilla's executives believe this approach prioritizes publishers and media buyers. It controls privacy and opens innovation. Suba Vasudevan, COO of Mozilla.org and senior vice president at Mozilla Corp., believes the company has spent more than two decades proving that trust is not a limitation on innovation, but rather a "multiplier," and through Mozilla Ads, it will extend that same principle to how advertising works online. The next era of digital advertising will be defined by trust and performance. It must as artificial intelligence steps in to make decisions on behalf of consumers. "We are aligned in our commitment to a healthier advertising ecosystem," said Teiffyon Parry, CSO at Equativ. "As the digital ad market shifts away from identifier-based targeting and toward privacy-preserving innovation, this partnership shows sustainable alternatives are increasingly viable." This is not the first major partnership Mozilla made in the past few months. The company has spent the past couple of years designing and building a programmatic ad-targeting model from the ground up to give advertisers access to its Firefox audience. In October, Vasudevan told MediaPost that Mozilla has "stepped into a field it has long critiqued" and announced a partnership with Index Exchange, a supply-side platform (SSP) that serves as a programmatic marketplace for media owners to sell digital ad inventory - to prove to the industry that companies can build and deliver outcome-based advertising without giving up on trust. Laurie Sullivan is a writer and editor for MediaPost. You can reach Laurie at [email protected].