VALUE COMMERCE

ValueCommerce Co., Ltd. (Head office: Minato-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director, President and CEO: Jin Kagawa) announces that it will co-sponsor Commerce NEXT 2026 by Nihon Net Keizai Shimbun, which will be held online on Wednesday, June 24 and Thursday, June 25, 2026 as a Platinum Sponsor. Additionally, Takeshi Amano, Executive Officer and Chief Strategy Officer of ValueCommerce, will teach a seminar with the title, “How to Design Third-Party Opinions in the Era of AI Search: Narrative Marketing as a New Strategy to Shift from Ads to be Seen to Ads to be Talked About.”

In this seminar, Amano will explain how companies should design “reasons to be talked about” as the popularization of AI search tools has resulted in not only official information from companies but also information from third parties, such as comparative posts, reviews, social media posts and word-of-mouth having an increasing impact on consumers’ decision-making processes.
Based on knowledge developed in the domains of affiliated marketing and social commerce, ValueCommerce will propose the new Narrative Marketing approach in which third-party opinions are used as a new perspective for taking measures to address AI search.

Background behind the seminar
Advertisements were previously described as “love letters.” Now, however, consumers are increasingly seeing ads as intrusions (noise) due to their dishonest designs, exemplified by overlay ads and dark patterns, and due to operations which prioritize data and targeting without any regard for user understanding.
At the same time, the search environment is undergoing major change. In the era of SEO, it was important to rank highly on official websites and websites with high domain authority and deliver accurate information about a company. However, in the AI search era, exemplified by zero-click searches, AI tools reference third-party information to provide summaries to users. This information includes comparative posts, reviews, social media posts and word-of-mouth.
In this seminar, in light of these structural changes in advertising and search tools, Amano will present the concept of Narrative Marketing for the practical redesign of operations with the goals of generating third-party opinions, accumulating trust and driving purchases. Based on this, he will present the idea of shifting the emphasis from the distribution of messages managed by companies to the distribution of messages communicating trust and alignment and shifting from optimization in terms of whether ads will be viewed, mainly through SEO and TRB, to whether the ads will be talked about in a trustworthy manner.

Outline of the seminar
Title: How to Design Third-Party Opinions in the Era of AI Search: Narrative Marketing as a New Strategy to Shift from Ads to be Seen to Ads to be Talked About
Date and time: 2:00 pm to 2:40 pm, Wednesday, June 24, 2026
Speaker: Takeshi Amano, Executive Officer and Chief Strategy Officer, ValueCommerce Co., Ltd.
Highlights:
– How the way corporate information is viewed is changing in the AI search era
– Shift from SEO for being found to designs for being talked about in a trustworthy manner
– The Idea of Narrative Marketing as a measure to address AI search
– Perspectives that BtoC businesses should have in the use of third-party opinions

The seminar will help you if:
– You are in charge of marketing at a company interested in measures to address AI search
– You feel that SEO and advertising operations are insufficient for achieving greater results
– You want to enhance points of contact with people who are comparing and evaluating products or services in your BtoC marketing activities
– You are considering measures utilizing word-of-mouth from social media, influencers, etc.
– You want to disseminate information about your company’s strengths and the reasons why it is chosen in a trustworthy manner

Outline of the event
Name: Commerce NEXT 2026 by Nihon Net Keizai Shimbun
Date and time:
Day 1: 10:00 am to 4:00 pm, Wednesday, June 24, 2026
(seminar by ValueCommerce: 2:00 pm to 2:40 pm, Wednesday, June 24)
Day 2: 10:00 am to 4:00 pm, Thursday, June 25, 2026
Host: Nihon Ryutsu Sangyo Shimbun, Ltd.
Method: Online seminar (to be held using EventHub)
Participation fee: Free
Application deadline: 4:00 pm, Thursday, June 25, 2026
Official website of the event: https://commercenext.jp/

Speaker’s profile
Takeshi Amano
Executive Officer and Chief Strategy Officer, ValueCommerce Co., Ltd.

After working for Landscape Co., Ltd. (now known as uSonar Co., Ltd.), he joined the advertising department of Yahoo Japan Corporation (now known as LY Corporation) as a data analyst. As the General Manager of Research Analysis Department, he planned sales and product strategies using data and drove the visualization of advertising effectiveness. He was concurrently the Representative Director and Vice President of Handy Marketing Co., Ltd., a joint venture of Hakuhodo DY Media Partners Inc., Yahoo Japan Corporation, and D.A.Consortium Inc. At present, he leads business strategy formulation and sales planning at ValueCommerce

About ValueCommerce Co., Ltd.
ValueCommerce supports customer attraction and sales promotion activities based on technology and data and digital transformation (DX) in the commerce and travel industries. The company provides a variety of marketing solutions to support the growth of the businesses of advertisers and partner companies. Furthermore, through booking engines for lodging and travel businesses, ValueCommerce contributes to the advancement of the DX of the travel industry by enhancing reservation management and direct sales activities.
With advanced technology and a wealth of data, ValueCommerce is working to realize a sustainable future in which businesses, consumers, and society co-create value.
https://www.valuecommerce.co.jp/

Contact for inquiries about this event
Sales Support, ValueCommerce Co., Ltd.
E-mail: Sales_Promotion@valuecommerce.co.jp

Contact for media inquiries about this event
Public Relations, ValueCommerce Co., Ltd.
Inquiry form: https://www.valuecommerce.co.jp/contact/press/