Why is this work relevant for Brand Experience & Activation ?

Conventionally, newspapers are media to convey news, however by providing a new role to "heal readers", we succeeded to strengthen engagement with readers in its most natural way. Behind this concept was Kahoku Shimposha's philosophy to “support working people” which has not changed ever since its establishment. A unique brand action experience to intuitively "heal readers" was created by bringing the act of reading a newspaper to the most unexpected place to heal daily fatigue - the bath.

Background

Kahoku Shimposha has continued to support "working people" by providing useful information since its establishment. In Japan, newspapers have long been an indispensable medium for people, especially for businessmen, but in recent years with various alternative media, mainly digital and the number of subscribers has been decreasing . With this background in mind, there was a need for measures to strengthen reader engagement once more and to increase the desire to subscribe to Kahoku Shimpo.

Describe the creative idea (20% of vote)

Having to commute to work on a crowded train every day, work under an old-fashioned company hierarchy and put in excessive overtime, Japanese businessmen are prone to extreme stress and fatigue due to the environment they are in. Kohoku Shimposha, a newspaper company that has maintained its support for these businessmen working under such harsh environments over the ages has decided to not only provide them with useful information but also heal their stresses and strains as well.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

In order to address the issue of decreasing number of subscribers, two approaches can be considered: increasing the number of new subscribers or preventing the withdrawal of existing subscribers. This time, we targeted existing subscribers of Kahoku Shimpo, especially businessmen as our communication target, and to prevent their withdrawal by enhancing engagement with them. As our strategy, we have provided an added value to "heal daily fatigue" though newspapers which is beyond the usual function to "convey news" to the regular subscribers of Kahoku Shimpo.

Describe the execution (30% of vote)

As a way to acknowledge their efforts, a newspaper that newspaper that turns into a bubble bath was developed. This newspaper, which is printed on the bath bubble formula, is readable inside the bath. The idea is to relax and enjoy reading a funny article in the bath, and after finishing it, placing it in the bath, which turns the bath into a bubble bath. This newspaper bubble bath was offered as a giveaway through their newspaper to those who expressed an interest and upon application were distributed as gifts to subscribers on Japan’s Labor Thanksgiving Day, 23rd November.

List the results (30% of vote)

News on this Bath Bubble Newspaper was carried by a total of over 85 media, including TV programs, and the topic spreads. In addition, in the campaign follow-up survey conducted for residents in Miyagi Prefecture, more than 607,500 Kahoku Shimposha subscribers showed that favorability towards Kahoku Shimpo has risen. In addition, more than 209,200 non-subscribers said that they wanted to subscribe to Kahoku Shimpo.