Decoding the 2015 New Year's Advertisements! Newspaper Advertising Marketing

From New Year's Day through the 3rd, numerous newspaper advertisements were published. In fact, focusing solely on New Year's ads, newspaper advertising has shown an upward trend in recent years across all metrics: number of ad units, number of color ads, and number of advertisers.
New Year's ads, while festive, also convey a sense of corporate resolve for the year ahead, filling the pages with advertisements that feel quintessentially newspaper-like. In this column, we'll introduce notable ads from the 2015 New Year's ads and discuss this year's trends, hoping to give you a sense of the current currents in newspaper advertising marketing.

This Year's Theme Color: "Sky-Inspired Blue"!?

Looking at New Year's ads each year, you notice a distinct color theme emerges. This year, it's definitely sky-inspired blue! There were many blue-toned ads featuring expansive views of the sky.
It's been nearly four years since the Great East Japan Earthquake. We must never let the memory of the disaster fade. Yet, we cannot remain stuck in grief. "It's time to look up and start moving toward a new era." The blue ads, reminiscent of the sky we gaze upon, seem to convey this resolve from companies and people alike.
Incidentally, last year's colors were predominantly yellow and red. This was likely because many ads directly targeted sales ahead of the April consumption tax hike.
And the New Year's advertisements in 2012, the year after the disaster, were notably characterized by a sense of "transparency" – advertisements that seemed to convey the very atmosphere and breath of the moment.

This year's standout ad is Lady Gaga's selfie image campaign!

Shiseido's New Year ad campaign this year features 50 different selfies of Gaga, with one image appearing in each of 50 newspapers nationwide—covering national, regional, and prefectural papers. This expresses the company's stance of "recognizing the diversity of beauty and supporting each individual's beauty."

2015 also marks the year when the entire baby boomer generation (born between 1947 and 1949) turns 65 or older. The copy, "Be yourself. That's your beauty," seems to affirm the lifestyle of the baby boomer generation, who sought their own way of living, unbound by home or era. The baby boom generation has consistently led the times, driven not just by numbers but by their power. 2015 may be the year this generation begins moving again—for their own authenticity and for society.

The Expectations for a New Era Embodied in the Number 2015

This year's New Year's advertisements featured several creative expressions incorporating the number 2015. While 2015 is a round number, it also seems to carry the meaning of "presenting 2015 with 2020 in mind."
The dawn of 2015 carries a sense of excitement, as if this number connects to the new future of Japan beginning in 2020.

Content for Newspaper Advertising

The use of content in newspaper advertising has changed significantly in recent years. Traditionally, the primary focus was always on the product or company itself. Characters or content aligned with the brand image were selected and used to explain the product clearly, foster familiarity, or for promotional purposes. Recently, however, advertisements prominently featuring characters or content have become the mainstream. A direct link between brand image and content isn't always essential. Products are subtly exposed within the content's context, much like product placement in movies. Consequently, multi-advertising techniques—where various products or companies share content across several pages—are gaining attention.
Content operates independently, transcending media boundaries—it may be featured on TV or become a hot topic online. If products and companies can reliably increase their reach by aligning with content, newspaper content advertising is likely to remain strong this year as well.

This year, the product category with the strongest growth in New Year's advertising was "high-end watches."

Among product categories showing notable ad volume increases in this year's New Year's advertisements was "watches." Several new clients placed ads for the first time during this period. In fact, watches were a consistently strong category in newspaper advertising throughout 2014. The trend of yen depreciation and rising stock prices, which began in 2013, boosted consumer spending through the wealth effect, leading to increased advertising for high-end products and luxury foreign watches in particular.
However, on the other hand, rising prices likely mean many people still don't feel the economic recovery fully. Where will this sense of imbalance lead in 2015?

Advertisements unique to local papers, cherished by their communities

Regional newspapers featured many ads from local businesses and creative content unique to their areas. The warm, direct communication—such as featuring local celebrities or expressing gratitude to residents—felt distinctly characteristic of regional papers.
As one example, we present an advertisement for Rokkatei published in the Hokkaido Shimbun. The creative design, featuring wrapping paper adorned with Hokkaido's local flowers, conveys the manufacturer's commitment to its roots, despite its nationwide popularity.

The above highlights some notable advertisements from the 2015 New Year's season.
To enhance our staff's knowledge of newspaper advertising, Media Services / Newspaper Division launched a "Newspaper Ad Display" initiative this January. We select timely themes and noteworthy ads, providing brief explanations from a marketing perspective. This year, the entire Media Services / Newspaper Division will continue striving to deliver newspaper ads that delight both advertisers and readers!