OKINAWA, AN ISLAND PREFECTURE IN JAPAN KNOWN FOR ITS UNIQUE CULTURE. THE TRADITIONAL LANGUAGE OF OKINAWA IS ACADEMICALLY REGARDED AS AN INDEPENDENT LANGUAGE DIFFERENT FROM JAPANESE. THE NUMBER OF OKINAWAN SPEAKERS, HOWEVER, IS DECLINING EVERY YEAR, AND UNESCO HAS LISTED OKINAWAN AS "ENDANGERED LANGUAGE" SINCE 2009. OKINAWA TIMES, ONE OF THE LARGEST NEWSPAPER COMPANIES IN OKINAWA, WANTED TO TACKLE THIS PROBLEM.

SOLUTION: WE CREATED A SPECIAL AD SPACE WHICH LOCAL SMALL BUSINESSES CAN USE FOR FREE. BUT UNDER ONE RULE: THEY CAN ONLY USE OKINAWAN IN THIS SPACE.

IN COLLABORATION WITH 10 LOCAL BUSINESSES, WE LAUNCHED 10 NEWSPAPER ADS WITH 100% OKINAWAN COPYWRITING AND UNIQUE ILLUSTRATIONS. WE ALSO HELD AN EXHIBITION IN WHICH WE DISPLAYED POSTERS AND A VARIETY OF GOODS ALL WRITTEN IN OKINAWAN.

NOT ONLY DID WE DRAW ATTENTION OF WIDE GENERATIONS TO THIS PROBLEM, BUT WE DEMONSTRATED THE NEW POSSIBILITY OF UTILIZING OKINAWAN IN LOCAL BRAND