BE.OKINAWA

Tomato were engaged by the agency Dentsu and Japanese regional government to rebrand Okinawa.
The archipelago of islands stretches some 7OO miles and is host to world heritage sites, coral reefs and turquoise seas. The islands also have an ancient musical culture, numerous dialects and local customs making the area quite distinct from that of mainland Japan.

The brief was to first identify who and what makes up the Okinawan cultural identity, its people and environment. Secondly, create the guidelines of a campaign; visual identity, copy lines, digital and photographic approaches, that would carry the findings to a worldwide audience.

Tomato developed an extensive brand manual based around the concept of Okinawa as a “state of mind” expressed through the strapline “Be.Okinawa” combined with documentary and reportage photography that uses the theme of “people, place and object” as the guiding principle.

The resulting global advertising campaign is aimed at frequent independent travellers, business travellers, families and the local community.