Rakuten Advertising has launched Mirai, an advanced conversational AI agent designed to revolutionize affiliate campaign management. By allowing advertisers to manage strategic offers through natural language, Mirai aims to eliminate the manual configuration and technical overhead traditionally associated with affiliate programs. This launch marks a significant step in Rakuten Advertising's strategy to deploy proprietary AI that moves beyond mere efficiency to provide genuine strategic intelligence for global brands.
Rakuten Advertising introduces Mirai, a conversational AI for affiliate management.
Enables strategic offer configuration through natural language requests.
Automates asynchronous code generation for complex backend logic.
Provides AI-driven recommendations for optimal commission structures.
Handles operational details for holiday promotions and unique sales events.
Future updates will include partner recruitment and performance optimization.
Mirai is designed to act as a direct bridge between an advertiser's business objectives and execution. Unlike legacy tools that require manual configuration, Mirai processes natural conversation to handle the underlying complexity of affiliate logistics. This allows advertising teams to transition from "plumbing" tasks to high-level strategy, using the AI as an autonomous extension of their workforce.
"Rakuten Advertising's goal has always been clear: make advertisers more effective, not just more efficient," said Adam Rostan, Chief Product Officer, Rakuten Advertising. "Mirai is years of investment in AI made real, and it gives advertisers something the industry has not had before: a product that applies strategic intelligence to the everyday work of managing affiliate programs."
The platform reimagines commissioning and program acting through three primary pillars:
Strategic Guidance & Reporting: The AI analyzes specific business goals to suggest the most effective commission models.
Simplified Complexity: It handles real-time, autonomous code generation for advanced logic, removing the need for manual technical intervention.
Tailored Efficiency: Mirai automates specific campaign details, such as holiday-specific dates and custom promotional moments, ensuring high precision in timing.
Currently, Mirai supports affiliate offer creation and management. Rakuten Advertising intends to expand the agent's capabilities throughout 2026 to cover the entire program lifecycle, including identifying new partners and scaling recruitment efforts. The long-term vision is a seamless tool that manages the operational load of global affiliate networks at scale.
About Rakuten Advertising
Rakuten Advertising delivers performance-driven, brand-driven, and people-driven ad solutions that help the world's top brands connect with unique, highly engaged audiences – from first impression to final sale. Backed by industry-leading technology, global media properties, and the largest, high-quality partner network, Rakuten Advertising taps into data and experience to develop the strategies and ad experiences that will drive engagement, sales, loyalty, and beyond. A leader in the industry since its beginnings, Rakuten Advertising is a division of Rakuten Group, Inc. (4755: TOKYO), one of the world's leading internet service companies. The company is headquartered in San Mateo, California, with offices throughout EMEA, APAC, LATAM, and North America. Learn more at RakutenAdvertising.com.
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