Collexia Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Nakano-ku, Tokyo; CEO: Mikio Murayama; hereinafter "Collexia") announces that Ren Serizawa, Marketing Scientist and Executive Officer at Collexia and Research Director at the Japan Evidence-Based Marketing Institute, will take the stage at the hosted keynote session of "Nikkei Cross Trend FORUM 2026," to be held on July 28, 2026 (Tue). In this keynote session, Byron Sharp, author of the global bestseller How Brands Grow: What Marketers Don't Know (Asahi Shimbun Publishing) and Director of the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute for Marketing Science at the University of Adelaide, will make a rare visit to Japan. He will engage in a special dialogue with Ren Serizawa, Japan's leading expert in evidence-based marketing, to discuss true brand growth strategies for succeeding in the AI era and the latest advancements in scientific marketing research. This high-level joint session brings together two top global thought leaders to define the next-generation standards of marketing. ■ Background and Highlights of the Session Rapid advancements in AI technology are dramatically transforming the marketing landscape. However, no matter how sophisticated technology becomes, there remain fundamental "scientific laws" underlying how consumers perceive, choose, and form habits around brands—laws that never change. This session offers a rare opportunity to experience firsthand the insights of Byron Sharp, a world-leading authority who continues to redefine marketing through data and evidence. Ren Serizawa, a key driver of evidence-based marketing in Japan, will join Sharp to uncover, using the latest global research data, the "true brand growth strategies" companies should adopt in today's uncertain AI era. Witness the cutting edge of marketing science—where data and evidence surpass intuition and anecdote—live at the event. ■ Session Overview Date and Time: July 28, 2026 (Tue) 10:00–11:00 Event Name: Nikkei Cross Trend FORUM 2026 Session: Hosted Keynote (In-