Newspaper Advertising Awards Announced Grand Prize: 'ONE PIECE' Comics 300 Million Copies Sold Commemorative Campaign "Japan Cross-Country! OPJ47 Cruise"

The Japan Newspaper Publishers & Editors Association announced the 34th Newspaper Advertising Awards on the 3rd, honoring advertising campaigns that pioneered new possibilities for newspaper advertising and achieved significant results. The awards have two categories: Advertiser and Newspaper Publisher Initiative.

The Grand Prize in Newspaper Advertising, selected from the Advertiser category, went to Shueisha's "Nippon Cross-Country! OPJ47 Cruise" campaign commemorating the sale of over 300 million copies of the "ONE PIECE" comic series.

A total of 425 entries were submitted: 365 in the Advertiser category and 60 in the Newspaper Publisher category. From these, one Grand Prize winner and 11 Newspaper Advertising Award winners (5 in Advertiser, 6 in Publisher) were selected. Additionally, 11 Excellence Awards were given in the Advertiser category and 5 Encouragement Awards in the Publisher category.

The Grand Prize-winning work was a campaign celebrating the cumulative sales of 300 million copies of a popular manga series. It combined the manga's characters with famous sites and specialty products from Japan's 47 prefectures, featuring a different character each day starting from Hokkaido and progressing through each prefecture's newspaper. Through social networks, nationwide attention focused on when and which character would appear in which newspaper. The synergy between compelling content and the unique characteristics of newspapers generated outreach power extending far beyond the readers of the publishing papers.The campaign culminated with the protagonist crossing the ocean to appear in the U.S. "New York Times" and Taiwan's "China Times," drawing significant attention. It was highly praised as a work that opened new possibilities for newspaper advertising. Details can be viewed on the association's website.
http://www.pressnet.or.jp/adarc/pri/2014.html

The winning newspaper advertisements in both categories are as follows. (Titles omitted)

<Advertiser Category>

・"Japanese cuisine is made with Japanese colors." "In Japan, there is a World Heritage site that mothers create every day." (Ajinomoto)

・New Year's Declaration Ad: "Shatter Fixed Ideas." (Kinki University)

・48 Techniques for Declining Alcohol on Liver Rest Days (Suntory Holdings)

・DRIVING KIDS with TOYOTA (Toyota Marketing Japan)

・"Get Back, Tohoku." (JR East)

＜Newspaper Planning Departments＞

・3.11 Great Earthquake Recovery Support Project: Miyagi Wind Project (Kahoku Shimpo Sales Division)

・Utsunomiya Gyoza Consumption Volume Japan No. 1 Recapture Project (Shimotsuke Shimbun Sales Division)

・Shinano Mainichi Shimbun 140th Anniversary Commemoration 'Family Stories' (Shinano Mainichi Shimbun Advertising Bureau)

・REAL Mai HIROSHIMA ~ Preservation and Transmission of Traditional Performing Arts by Local Newspapers~ (Chugoku Shimbun Advertising Bureau, Business Information Center)

・My Way Photo Studio (Nishinippon Shimbun Advertising Bureau)

・AICHI SAFETY ACTION
(Chunichi Shimbun Advertising Bureau, Chubu Keizai Shimbun Advertising Department, Asahi Shimbun Nagoya Headquarters Advertising Department,
Mainichi Shimbun Chubu Headquarters Advertising Department, Yomiuri Shimbun Chubu Branch Advertising Department, Nikkei Shimbun Nagoya Branch Cross-Media Sales Department)