Current State of Newspaper Advertising as Seen Through “Newspaper Advertising Day” — Grand Prize: “Fate/Grand Order” 10th Anniversary Campaign “OVER THE SAME SKY”

On October 19, the Japan Newspaper Publishers & Editors Association held the 69th “Newspaper Advertising Day” commemorative ceremony at the Imperial Hotel in Uchisaiwaicho, Tokyo. Approximately 400 people, including representatives from newspapers, advertisers, and advertising agencies, attended the event, where the awards ceremony for the 46th Newspaper Advertising Awards was held.

This year, there were 213 entries (169 in the “Advertiser Category” and 44 in the “Newspaper Publisher Planning and Marketing Category”). A total of 26 entries were selected: one Grand Prize, five Newspaper Advertising Awards, and ten Excellence Awards in the Advertiser Category; and five Newspaper Advertising Awards and five Encouragement Awards in the Newspaper Publisher Planning and Marketing Category.

The Grand Prize for Newspaper Advertising went to the “Fate/Grand Order” 10th Anniversary Campaign

The “Newspaper Advertising Grand Prize” was awarded to “OVER THE SAME SKY,” a campaign celebrating the 10th anniversary of the release of Aniplex’s smartphone game “Fate/Grand Order” (FGO).

For this advertising campaign, popular characters (Servants) were paired with famous landmarks in Japan’s 47 prefectures. Starting with the June 22, 2025, issue of the Yomiuri Shimbun (a two-page spread totaling 30 columns), a total of 30-column ads—each featuring visuals unique to their respective regions—were published twice in each of the 47 newspapers nationwide from June 29 through November 24.

All 95 characters featured were newly illustrated specifically for this campaign. Furthermore, in major cities, the campaign was coordinated with transit advertisements, using the newspaper ads as a starting point to spread the buzz from offline to online. As a result, it generated over 1.1 million posts on X (formerly Twitter) and exceeded 2.5 billion impressions.

The campaign was recognized for “building anticipation for the newspaper ads through limited information disclosure—such as restricting pre-launch social media announcements to only the date, newspaper title, and publication area. Following publication, requests to purchase the relevant issues were received by the newspapers, leading to increased sales and contributing to the promotion of each region’s appeal. Furthermore, the campaign—centered on newspaper advertising—generated a significant response, including over 2.5 billion impressions on X.”

At the awards ceremony, Toshiyuki Kanazawa, Deputy General Manager of Aniplex and Head of the 3rd Production Group and Public Relations Department, took the stage. Speaking on behalf of the FGO Project, he expressed his joy at receiving the award as follows:

“‘Fate/Grand Order’ has marked its 10th anniversary since its launch in July 2015, and I am extremely pleased to receive this award for an advertising campaign that celebrated the milestone year of 2025, when Part 2 of the main story will conclude. Since this is essentially a single-player RPG, there aren’t many opportunities for users to interact with one another within the game. Nevertheless, there are people playing this game right near you, under the same sky.

We launched this campaign with the desire to convey that message and turn it into a source of enjoyment for our users. Furthermore, newspapers are a medium that feels warm when you receive them and stays with you. I believe our users were very pleased with the creative content that connected the characters to various regions across Japan.”

Furthermore, in 2026, to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the Simplified Chinese version and other editions, the company plans to further expand this initiative globally under the title “OVER THE SAME SKY, all over the world.”
(Text by Kohei Miyata)

Other award-winning entries are as follows.
Newspaper Advertising Awards 2026 | Newspaper Advertising Data Archive