#31 Rakuten

Country: Japan

Industry: Financial technology

About: Rakuten is a Japanese technology conglomerate based in Tokyo, centered around the online retail marketplace Rakuten Ichiba, with businesses that include financial services utilizing Fintech, digital content and communications services. It was founded as MDM, Inc, by Hiroshi Mikitani in 1997 and launching its online shopping marketplace Rakuten Shopping Mall. The name was changed to Rakuten in June 1999. The Japanese word "rakuten" means "optimism".

Vision: "Walk Together" expresses our dedication to building a better, more optimistic future by empowering individuals, businesses and societies to realize their dreams. We embrace new and disruptive ideas, are committed to acting on them and have the operational agility to implement and deliver at speed. We walk together with our partners, making progress today towards a more optimistic tomorrow.

Words: forward-thinking, optimism, empowerment

Strategy: The new brand logomark combines the “R” initial of Rakuten with the Sun, symbol of optimism, dreams, and empowerment. The color turned into a vivid orange with soft gradients to again highlight the sun and the bright future it represents.