Nowadays, the newspaper is being replaced by the web as a news media source, and is decreasing in readers. On the occasion of the 130th year, The Asahi Newspaper’s aim was to inform people of their reliability and usefulness based on its editing history.

The solution was “The Asahi 130 Year Newspaper”. This special edition was full of articles from the past 130 years, written as current news items. It touched the hearts of the readers and provided the experience of the reliability and usefulness of The Asahi Newspaper based on its history.

90% of 2.35 million subscribing families had conversations about the news between young persons and their parents or grandparents. Some teachers and students even took it to school and used it in the classroom. Newspaper delivery service sales persons also used it as an effective tool to sell subscriptions. In this way, the special edition which only the newspaper company can achieve, was a topic of conversation among not only regular readers but also the general public. “The Asahi 130 Year Newspaper” not only increased reliance and interest among regular readers, it also helped to reduce subscription cancellation and increase overall circulation.

This ad campaign did not utilize existing advertising media. Instead, we published a special edition on January 25, 2009 to commemorate the newspaper's first edition, which was published exactly 130 years before; “The Asahi 130 Year Newspaper”.

At first glance, it was an ordinary newspaper. But the readers soon found that all the articles ware written about the old news of the last 130 years, but as current news items; they were the articles that had been written at that time.

The selected news was significant and most likely to engage with others (especially young people) for us Japanese people. So people feel the reliability and usefulness of The Asahi Newspaper based on its editing history.

This strategy illustrated the only newspaper company which is also sourced from history.

According to a survey, 90% of the 2.35 million subscribing families not only enjoyed the special edition, but it spurred conversation between young persons and their parents or grandparents. Some teachers and students even took it to school and used it in the classroom. The Asahi Newspaper Company spent no advertising cost, and the trend of subscription cancellation was stopped. Further more, it increased overall circulation. The campaign completely succeeded.