Yomiuri Shimbun Large-Scale Advertising Project "The Secret of the Yokai Newspaper's Birth, Meow!"

The animated film "Yōkai Watch: The Secret of the Birth, Meow!" (Toho) opens on December 20th, with various promotions underway. "Yōkai Watch" began serialization in "Monthly CoroCoro Comic" (Shogakukan) in 2013 and was released as a Nintendo 3DS game the same year. Television broadcasts of the anime began in 2014 (on TV Tokyo and its affiliates), creating a huge boom among children. Related merchandise, such as toys, also saw explosive sales. It ranked in the top ten of the "2014 U-CAN New Words and Buzzwords Awards" and was selected as the 5th most talked-about and notable product of 2014 in the "Consumer-Selected 2014 Hot Topics and Products Ranking" by DENTSU SOKEN INC.

The movie tells the origin story of the Yokai Watch, where the protagonist, Kenta, travels to the past to retrieve the vanished Yokai Watch and battles enemies. According to Toho, advance ticket sales exceeded 1 million, setting a new record in the company's film history.

	 		 		 
Movie "Yōkai Watch" Project 2014	 	 Glico	 	Kao	 	au
 	 	 	 	 	 	 
	 		 		 
Daihatsu	 	Nippon Life	 	LIXIL Housing Research Institute	 	Suntory

 

On the 20th, the first day of its release, the Yomiuri Shimbun featured the advertising campaign "Yokai Newspaper: The Secret of Its Birth, Meow!" (Sponsored by Glico, Kao, Suntory, au, Daihatsu, Nippon Life, LIXIL Housing Research Institute). This large-scale project spanned a total of 8 pages, with each company using a full-color page.

Each company highlighted its products or services, introducing their respective "secrets of creation" in a style reminiscent of movie titles.
The bottom section announced a campaign to win related merchandise. The background was dotted with various Yo-kai Watch characters, making it colorful and eye-catching.
Each company also aired TV commercials collaborating with the movie in anticipation of its release.
For children, it might have been an early Christmas present.

Official Movie Site: http://www.eiga-yokai.jp/index.php