NEWS

OPT Holding, Inc. (Head Office: Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo; President and Group CEO: Atsushi Nouchi; hereinafter “the Company”), which is leading the digital shift for companies across Japan, will make a new start under the trade name DIGITAL HOLDINGS, Inc. effective July 1, 2020. Under its new trade name, the Company will further strengthen its level of support for all Japanese companies taking on the challenge of digital shift.

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■ The Aspiration that DIGITAL HOLDINGS, Inc. Represents

The Company has operated under the trade name OPT, Inc. (currently OPT Holding, Inc.) since 1994, mainly in the Internet advertising agency business. Today, 26 years since the Company’s founding, the ripple of transformation through digital technology has become a surging wave. Against this backdrop, going beyond the Internet advertising agency business and responding to “all forms of digital shift” has become a challenge for the prosperity of both society and companies alike. The OPT Group will transform itself from an Internet advertising agency to a digital shift company, and is expanding its digital shift business through a new strategy and a new management structure. Based on its track record of providing digital-oriented support for marketing activities, the Company will support various phases and facets of corporate digital shift. This includes training for and deployment of human resources to lead digital shift within companies, development of services and tools and the provision of SaaS* to facilitate the implementation of digital shift at all companies, and the development of new businesses utilizing digital technology.

The spread of COVID-19 has put limitations on face-to-face business activities. Under such circumstances, the Company’s main digital shift business is becoming more imperative and urgent. This is a time of change, and measures taken now will significantly impact the future of all Japanese companies.

Under the new trade name, the DIGITAL HOLDINGS Group will build Japan’s future together with all Japanese companies by supporting them in striving for and achieving digital shift across all aspects of management resources - people, things, money, and information.

* SaaS is the acronym for Software as a Service. Rather than requiring users to install software, it enables users to utilize software operated by the provider as a service through a network such as the Internet. In addition to shortening the time required to introduce new services, many users can expect lower usage costs with SaaS, compared to in-house system construction, due to reductions in capital investment.

■ Message from Atsushi Nouchi, President and Group CEO

Our Group will make a new start from July 1, 2020, transferring our business’s pivot point from the advertising agency business to the digital shift business under the new company name, DIGITAL HOLDINGS, Inc.

Japan faces the problem of a shrinking workforce due to a declining birthrate and aging population, and productivity improvements are indispensable for companies’ future growth. Digital shift is the best solution to this, the greatest issue confronting Japanese society.

Our aim for DIGITAL HOLDINGS is to strive not only for our own growth, but also to contribute to society, to create and guide a future of unbridled hope and aspiration. In other words, we want DIGITAL HOLDINGS to be a “social problem solving company.” We firmly believe that digital shift is the most effective means of revitalizing Japanese companies and society as a whole.

My daily involvement with digital businesses developed by venture companies, through investment incubation, has made me aware of several things. These businesses are predicated on product and service creation using digital technology as a starting point, and are totally reshaping the accepted business structures in their industries, rebuilding them on a digital foundation. Unconstrained by preconceived ideas and customs, they leverage the insights of digital natives to assemble a range of business models using a small number of employees. At the same time however, more than 90% of existing companies are struggling to achieve a digital transformation. We see it as our mission to support these companies to achieve digital shift.

With the change in trade name to DIGITAL HOLDINGS, we will strive as the vanguard lighting the way to the future, building an environment where any company, regardless of industry, sector, size, or location, can easily engage in digital shift.

At DIGITAL HOLDINGS, we will continue to work to achieve a future of unbridled hope and aspiration where companies and countries around the world are striving ahead with high aspirations.

■ About the New Corporate Logo

We have named DIGITAL HOLDINGS’ corporate color “digital red.” The color represents the pulse of our passion and commitment to support and realize all of these aspirations through digital technology, and to provide the infrastructure for all stakeholders and initiatives in Japan. The logo also features our corporate symbol, “digital polygons.” “Digital polygons” comprise multiple diverse shapes that fit and join together to create a unified design. Limitless possibilities are born and interwoven. This beautiful worldview moves our hearts time and again. Digital technology should help companies express their unique features. Digital technology should help individuals style their own lives. We aspire to create new added value and appeal by connecting people and companies that have a high level of specialization in their fields of expertise. “Digital polygons” embody these aspirations.