Hakuhodo DY Media Partners Wins the Silver in the Direct Category at the 15th Asia Pacific Advertising Festival (ADFEST)

At the recent 15th Asia Pacific Advertising Festival (ADFEST) event, Hakuhodo DY Media Partners Incorporated (HDYMP) took the silver in the Direct Lotus category and the bronze in the Promo Lotus category for its IWATTE advertisement. The piece was produced in conjunction with Hakuhodo Incorporated (Hakuhodo), which is headquartered in the Minato ward of Tokyo and headed by Hirokazu Toda. HDYMP also operates out of Minato-ku under its president and CEO Hisao Omori.

ADFEST is the leading advertising festival and competition in the Asia Pacific region. HDYMP and Hakuhodo’s winning entry advertises a media service that uses digital technology to print special edition newsletters covering stories from individuals’ lives. Applicants submit their names, special event, comments from family members, and other details about their story and upload photos. The service then automatically puts together a newspaper page for them. The result is a unique page design that is simple enough for anyone to create. The IWATTE service can be used to announce weddings, births, birthday celebrations, and other personal events, while the backside of the newsletter chronicles the day’s regular stories from the Iwate Daily News on the day of that person’s special event.

In an era where the newspaper industry is struggling to maintain its current subscription base while attracting new readers, the IWATTE personal newspaper printing service gives local newspapers a hint as to how a fresh business model rooted in the daily lives of its readers might succeed.