Shirofune, the leading automated digital advertising management platform that services major advertising agencies worldwide including Dentsu, is proud to announce that Founder and CEO Mitsunaga Kikuchi has been recognized as a winner in the prestigious 2025 ANA Marketing Technology Innovator of the Year Awards. Kikuchi was awarded Gold in the Marketing Solutions Provider category for leading Shirofune’s transformative approach to automated ad management and optimization, reinforcing the company’s top position in the digital advertising landscape.
“We’re honored to receive this recognition from ANA as it validates our mission to redefine digital advertising,” said Kikuchi. “This isn’t just about automation; it’s about empowering advertisers to execute smarter, more efficient campaigns. By breaking down the complexity of campaign management, we’re enabling marketers to focus on strategy and innovation, rather than manual operations. It’s a fundamental shift in how digital advertising is approached.”
Under the leadership of Kikuchi, Shirofune continues to redefine the digital advertising landscape by merging industry leading technology with actionable insights to achieve measurable outcomes. Shirofune’s unique blend of automation and human intelligence-first design addresses critical pain points in digital advertising, delivering efficiency, scalability, and performance improvements for agencies and advertisers worldwide.
Shirofune’s platform has driven remarkable success for its clients. Notable results include:
- Yamazen Corporation: Achieved a 30% increase in ad-driven sales and an 18% improvement in ROAS within two months.
- Dentsu: Reduced bid and budget management tasks by 45% and cut client reporting workloads by 62%, enabling significant operational efficiency.
- Direct Agents: Reduced ad management time by up to 47% by integrating Shirofune’s automated bidding and budget pacing, enabling teams to focus on high-impact strategic initiatives and driving a 75% increase in MQLs for a B2B client with only a 14% increase in ad spend.
Peter Minnium, Shirofune’s Head of Growth, accepting the award at the 2025 ANA AI and Technology for Marketers Conference in Austin, Texas, on March 26, 2025
Shirofune has continuously evolved its platform to meet the dynamic needs of modern advertisers. Recent expansions include:
- Google DV360 Integration: Advertisers can now manage programmatic campaigns alongside search and social channels within Shirofune’s AI-powered platform. This integration enables automated bid adjustments, budget optimizations, and performance tracking for DV360 campaigns, ensuring seamless cross-channel ad management from a single interface.
- LinkedIn Ads Integration: Allowing advertisers to seamlessly manage LinkedIn campaigns alongside other major digital ad platforms for enhanced omnichannel marketing.
- BigCommerce Integration: Enabling advertisers to optimize campaigns based on customer lifetime value (LTV), improving ad spend efficiency and maximizing long-term profitability.
- Improvement Suggestion Feature for Microsoft Ads and Amazon Ads: AI-powered insights that refine keyword and bid strategies for Amazon Ads and Microsoft Ads, reducing costs and improving campaign efficiency.
- Enhanced Shopify-Google Analytics 4 Integration: Providing deep insights into customer lifetime value (LTV) and cost per order (CPO) for more effective campaign strategies.
Beyond its platform, Shirofune’s commitment to advancing marketing technology has been showcased in its participation at major industry events, including eTail, multiple IAB Summits, and CommerceNext. Shirofune has also become an official member of all three major advertising industry organizations—4As, the Association of National Advertisers (ANA), and the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB). These engagements reinforce the company’s role as a thought leader and an innovator in digital advertising automation.
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