44th Fiscal Year Theme: “Bringing DX to Local Communities!”

「Specifically, we designated “Bring DX to the regions!” as this fiscal year’s management theme and advanced collaboration and hybridization between local free magazines and the internet through initiatives including operating the “Furimo” app, expanding functions such as the “Machi JOB” recruitment advertising service, and launching “Furimall,” which enables customers to conveniently order select products from across Japan.」

「Against this backdrop, our group, guided by the management theme “Bring DX to the regions!”, worked to enhance the value of its own media through initiatives including the launch of the “Furimo” coupon app, usable on smartphones and other devices; expanded functions such as the “Machi JOB” recruitment advertising service; the launch of “Furimall,” which enables customers to conveniently order select products from across Japan; and collaboration and hybridization between the internet and our flagship Happy Media(R) “Chiiki Micchaku Seikatsu Joho-shi(R)” (the “local free magazines”). We also pursued advertising sales that support the marketing of advertisers and sponsors, which are essential to revitalizing local economies in the era of living with COVID-19. As a specific sales initiative, we held “New Year’s Select-and-Choose Half-Price Festival,” the second edition of the “Half-Price Festival” half-price coupon campaign designed to bring energy to local communities, in the January issue published in December, following the first edition held in the August issue of the local free magazines in the first half.」

「Against this backdrop, our group adopted “Bring DX to the regions!” as its management theme for the current fiscal year and worked to provide services useful to advertisers operating in a challenging business environment and local governments with growing public-relations needs. These services included advertising proposals that enhance advertising value, such as hybrid advertising combining print and online media; the “Furimo” coupon app, which works with the print media and can be used on smartphones and other devices; and proposals for DX products that help reduce costs. As a specific initiative, we held the “Half-Price Festival” simultaneously in the August issues of 82 company-operated magazines nationwide and on the Furimo app to support local businesses. As a result, the Furimo app reached 100,000 downloads in September.」

「Our group designated “Bring DX to the regions!” as its management theme for the current fiscal year and worked to revitalize local economies by proposing value-added media products and sales promotions suited to Japan’s increasingly digital domestic economy, as well as by providing DX products.」

「Under its 44th-term slogan, “Energize Japan with a spirit of gratitude!”, and the related theme, “Bring DX to the regions!”, our group is seeking to expand earnings in its media advertising business by raising advertising order unit prices for its free magazines through the promotion of the “Furimo” app, which further advances the integration of print media and the internet (IoP), and by further expanding Happy Media(R), including “Oshigoto Note.” In addition, we will provide advertising and DX products that help address issues facing local communities, including those arising from the COVID-19 pandemic.」