Amana acquires design consultancy KESIKI to move upstream in branding

What's the deal? Tokyo-based creative studio AmanaDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → has acquired KESIKI, a Shibuya-based branding and consulting firm, effective August 28, 2026. KESIKI now joins the Amana group. Terms were not disclosed.

What does each side do? Amana, founded in 1979 as an advertising photography producer, has grown into one of Japan's largest creative studios, handling around 10,000 projects a year across video, CG, and communication design. KESIKI, founded in 2019, positions itself as a "Cultural Brand Builder," running design thinking-led branding and consulting work for large companies and government bodies.

The strategic rationale: Amana wants to evolve into what it calls a "Co-Creation Partner" that supports corporate transformation from planning through to implementation. The company argues that competitive advantage is shifting from product features toward the upstream decisions of "what to make, and why."

What changes? By combining Amana's production and execution capacity with KESIKI's design thinking and branding strengths, the group aims to offer end-to-end support for clients' branding overhauls. Both firms cite a shared focus on respecting creators' craft and building sustainable value.

The signal: The deal reflects a broader push among creative production houses to move up the value chain into strategy and consulting, where margins and influence are higher. For Japanese companies and regions that hold strong technology or culture but weak brands, the combined entity is betting that upstream branding is where the money and the moat now sit.

Image credit: Bytemarks