Creative Execution

We developed Japan’s first platform for Japanese dictionaries – an innovation in external media. Particularly revolutionary was the fact that these ‘interpretations’ were ending up on the portal site’s official dictionary site used without anyone knowing. Japan first communication design allowing for permanent posting of ordinary people’s word interpretations to an official dictionary site. This challenge, where ordinary people’s interpretation of words are permanently posted to official dictionary sites on external media, was also the joint product development of a dictionary platform with our users. It was the first of its kind in Japan.

● Gained 3.9 billion in publicity; TV especially saw significant publicity with a total of more than 2.5 hours exposure. ● Exposure in more than 300 publications and news programs. ● Adopted into a segment on Japan’s premier comedy show, leading to tremendous growth in exposure. ● 15,000 entries received, with 214 entries actually published permanently. ● Entries voluntarily submitted by Japan’s top idols gained rapid attention by young people. ● Increased market expansion and sales in the B2B division thanks to overwhelming exposure making our project the talk of the town. It helped our clients’ business immensely.

Background; Youth words, internet slang... Thanks to the influence of communication tools such as SNS, new words are being created daily. In the last few years, the disarray of Japanese language and grammar has become a social problem. Challenge； Daijisen is Japan’s most authoritative Japanese dictionary, but it is also number one in terms of number of words featured, thanks to an enthusiastic drive to add new words.It also boasts the top share among digital/internet dictionaries for data provision. Editorial policy “Words change over time, so chase and keep up with them!” led to our challenge. We were determined to develop a never-before-seen ‘future Japanese dictionary.’ Idea; Create a dictionary together with our users - the “future Japanese dictionary” development project. We asked ordinary people to submit their understanding of old and new words differing in interpretation, in a project putting the best submissions in dictionaries.