A session with the Kunieda Seminar at Sophia University and young planners from SUNNY SIDE UP. What is a “fun PR strategy” that starts from that lingering sense of unease? | Lecture Report

Hello! I’m Shimizu from the Corporate Planning Marketing Office.

Thanks to our track record in PR and communications and the relationships we have built, SUNNY SIDE UP is sometimes approached by schools to discuss delivering guest lectures.

In this article, we share highlights from lectures at Sophia University where young planners from SUNNY SIDE UP served as guest instructors on Thursday, October 16 and Thursday, October 30, 2025.

Matsumoto, a Director at SUNNY SIDE UP who also holds a title with the Public Relations Society of Japan (PRSJ), became acquainted with Associate Professor Kunieda through work with PR professionals outside the company, and we were invited to deliver a guest lecture for the seminar.

In fact, we received a similar request around the same time last year in 2024, and we are grateful that the content was well received and we were invited again.

This time, as the main instructor, Ninomiya—one of SUNNY SIDE UP’s rapidly rising young planners—took the stage, and the four of us delivered the lecture: Matsumoto, Obata from HR, Shimizu, and Ninomiya.

The students taking the course were second-year students who had learned the basics of PR and marketing in the first semester, and for the second semester they hoped for more practical, applied content, including introductions to highly public-minded PR case studies that contribute to solving social issues.

As PR and communications professionals, we were also asked by Associate Professor Kunieda to cover practical PR strategy development and share real, on-the-ground insights.

In addition, the program consisted of two 100-minute sessions held as a two-part series with a two-week interval. As professionals, we had no choice but to weave in the essence of SUNNY SIDE UP’s “Let’s Have Fun!” spirit throughout the lecture.So, from the preparation stage, led by planner Ninomiya, we developed timely case-study explanations unique to 2025 and planned a highly experiential workshop, and thenthe first session arrived.

▼Click here for an article about young SUNNY SIDE UP planner Ninomiya
A first in SUNNY SIDE UP history! How a first-year new graduate became our youngest-ever planner | Account Planning Division

“Planning PR in a Fun Way” DAY 1＞＞
Learn about fun PR planning

First, an introduction to SUNNY SIDE UP!Since the students had already studied the basics of PR and marketing, we saw quite a few who were already familiar with SUNNY SIDE UP.

During the company introduction, the biggest reaction came when Matsumoto spoke about one of our group’s employee benefits, “32 Benefits”—specifically, the “Heartbreak Leave” program.

When we mentioned that some members had taken Heartbreak Leave when Shohei Ohtani and actor Masaharu Fukuyama got married, the students started buzzing, and it felt like the tense atmosphere gradually eased.

By the way, this “Heartbreak Leave” program is an employee benefit born from a PR mindset—imagining that when someone is heartbroken, they likely cannot focus on work and considering our members’ well-being.And of course, it has also received media coverage.

The speaker then shifted to Gen Z planner Ninomiya, who announced the goal of the lecture.

The goal was simple: to have students feel that “planning PR is fun.”SUNNY SIDE UP’s long-standing slogan, “Let’s Have Fun!”, also served as the core learning axis we aimed to deliver to the students in this lecture.

The lecture then moved on to recent SUNNY SIDE UP case studies, including the campaign “51 WITNESSES OF GREATNESS” for Ichiro’s induction into the MLB Hall of Fame, as well as projects we were involved in related to “EXPO 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan,” which defined this year.

In addition to SUNNY SIDE UP examples, we also introduced broader case studies such as “#MakeReiwaJobHuntHairMoreFree (Pantene)” and “Suwatte Ii-ssu PROJECT (Mynavi Baito),” focusing on how they identified issues.These were relatable examples that students could easily picture as something personal, and we could sense that the meaning of “fun PR thinking” was gradually getting through.

A key word Ninomiya repeated was “moyamoya (a sense of unease).”He explained that identifying issues through PR thinking means putting into words the small “moyamoya” feelings of unease we experience in everyday life.

Because “fun PR thinking” requires not only input but also output, the lecture finally moved into group work designed to encourage students’ active learning.

Group work: “Create a new commemorative day”

From the second half of DAY 1, students took on a professional-style PR planning challenge in a group-work format.

The theme was “Create a new commemorative day”!When they heard this, the students looked as though a mix of imagination and anxiety was swirling in their minds.

In terms of how it worked, students split into groups of 4–5 people,

• Role (founder of the commemorative day)
• Title of the commemorative day
• Issue to solve (moyamoya)
• Concept of the commemorative day
• Actions to spread it
• Impact on society

and the flow was to think through these six items, fill them in on a worksheet, and then present.

Worksheet image

The time limit for submitting the worksheet was until just before Lecture DAY 2, about two weeks later, when Associate Professor Kunieda would collect them.

Meanwhile, the evaluation criteria for this group work were:

• Problem setting / 40 points
• Strategic idea (commemorative day title + concept) / 20 points
• Specific execution plan (specificity of actions to spread it) / 20 points
• Presentation skills / 20 points

We shared these four perspectives in advance as well, emphasizing again how crucial problem setting is to “fun PR.”

Once the group work began, the students started aligning their understanding and discussing their plans.

Listening in on the discussions, we heard:

“Let’s think about the commemorative day from its social significance!”
“Let’s research existing commemorative days first!”
“Is there a moyamoya about not being able to get a seat on the train?”

and other comments flying around that tested each group’s freedom and style.

Ninomiya and the other SUNNY SIDE UP members would also step in when they spotted a group deep in thought, asking, “What are you stuck on?” and supporting the students’ discussions at an appropriate distance.In no time, the bell rang to end DAY 1, and next came the presentations from each group two weeks later.

“Planning PR in a Fun Way” DAY 2: Feel that planning PR is fun

Two weeks later, the Kunieda Seminar participants and SUNNY SIDE UP’s instructors gathered again in the same place.

Planner Ninomiya briefly reviewed the lecture goals and the group-work flow once more, and presentations from all five groups began.

“A Gentle Role-Reversal Day with Wagashi,” an idea to “soften” hierarchical relationships through fresh Japanese sweets

“NO 1 DAY (No-One Day),” fun even alone—and even more fun with everyone

Every group delivered a heartfelt presentation that revealed the struggle of creation over those two weeks.

Of course, the instructors and Associate Professor Kunieda, who were evaluating, were working hard as well. While asking questions about what we wanted to know beyond the worksheets and the students’ presentations, we evaluated each group’s PR plan as accurately as possible.

This time, just as planner Ninomiya would approach a competitive pitch, each group was evaluated like professionals and a first-place winner was chosen—but the results are a secret known only to the Kunieda Seminar. What we can say is that the final 15 minutes were filled with student questions and ran right up to the end, and it felt like we had moved closer to the goal of “planning PR is fun.”

After the lecture:We asked planner Ninomiya about “the moment students seemed to enjoy planning the most”

I think the students looked like they were having the most fun at the moment they were able to put their “moyamoya” into words.

When a vague sense of unease turns into the “seed” of an idea, everyone’s expressions seemed to brighten. It made me feel again that this is where the fun of PR lies.

After the lecture: We asked Associate Professor Kunieda to comment on “the memorable changes in students brought about by this seminar”

The students seemed to truly experience both the enjoyment and the difficulty of turning “moyamoya” into a plan and expressing it. Through feedback, it became a valuable opportunity for them to realize the importance not only of research and logical structure, but also of imagining how people will respond to their ideas and finding ways to communicate them effectively.

After the lecture: The author and instructor Shimizu’s take on “fun PR planning”

I found it “fun” to see the students’ attitude as they tried to communicate their “Create a new commemorative day” plan to others beyond themselves.

PR always involves other people, and I believe it is a job where you, in a sense, enjoy the difficulty of communicating appropriately to society as a collective of others. I hope they will continue to enjoy focusing on dialogue and expression to move others!

See you again in the next report 🍳✨