Increase Newspaper Fans! (5) Producing a Beach? ~"MAGIC BEACH"~

~Newspaper Companies Are Now Launching Such Unique Projects~

Today, the communication domain of newspaper media is expanding beyond the confines of print pages, driven by free-thinking ideas. Initiatives targeting entirely new audiences and innovative reader engagement activities using unprecedented methods are flourishing. In this column, "Shinbun!", we highlight one unique example each from the five major national newspapers among these new movements, interviewing the responsible staff members.

Increase Newspaper Fans! (5)

Producing a Beach?
~ Sankei Shimbun's "MAGIC BEACH" ~

Tokyo, Toyosu. A pristine white sand beach suddenly appeared near Yurikamome's Shin-Toyosu Station this past June.

Operating and producing this "MAGIC BEACH" site, which spans approximately 10,000 square meters and includes event spaces, shops, and barbecue areas, is none other than the Sankei Shimbun. "It's essentially the 'launch' of a new media outlet, not on paper," explain Shinji Ueno and Takaya Hirano from the company's Project Promotion Division, the masterminds behind this venture. Under the grand mission of creating an entirely new revenue stream separate from print and internet, extensive discussions led to launching this new business in Toyosu, also with the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in mind.

Know-how gained from renovating the company's former printing plant in Shibaura into the commercial facility "TABLOID" was leveraged for this project's development. For instance, neither the MAGIC BEACH site nor its stylishly designed homepage bears the name "Sankei Shimbun" anywhere. "Just as with TABLOID, we've again asked the creative collective RECREATIONS to handle production and co-management. By deliberately not putting the newspaper company front and center, we've actually been featured very frequently across various media. This is also know-how we learned from past experience," the two executives stated.

Since opening, the event space has hosted a remarkably diverse range of events, including idol concerts, FIFA World Cup public viewings, car test drives, and reader events for homemaker magazines, with more scheduled. These constitute the content for this "new media that isn't paper." "The keyword is providing a real-world space. We want to create mechanisms here that encourage people who don't normally engage with newspapers to pick one up. It also serves as a tool for building relationships with entirely new advertisers and promoting organic collaboration within the company," the two envision various benefits.

MAGIC BEACH is initially scheduled to run until October 2016. "We'll expand our knowledge and network through this project and apply it to our next initiatives." The visionaries' gaze is fixed firmly on the future.

http://magicbeach.jp/index.html