Ask any artist you see and they will tell you that the very concept of being an artist has changed from what it was even 10 years ago. You’re likely to see more musicians busking than crowing about signing a major label record contract. Actors are as involved in web productions as they are in feature films. Visual artists are finding various means of supporting themselves as well. One secure vehicle for visual artists to practice their craft in the modern age has always been through advertising. Although it is still ever present, this medium has changed as well. Younger generations have grown up seeing their imagination come to life (thanks to digital media advances) and artists are continually challenged by this fact. It’s a scenario which pushes the elite of the field to come up with approaches to challenge the public in a multitude of ways; it’s one which Gabriel Fonseca Shiguemoto is happy to accept. This Brazilian artist is known for his work in highly creative promotional campaigns. As an Art Director, Shiguemoto strategizes and creates while overseeing a group of adept artists; it’s a team effort towards an artistic endeavor with an economic outcome. That’s a long way from Leonardo da Vinci and the Medici family, just as this native Brazilian was a long way from home when he went to Japan to work at the award-winning Birdman. Birdman is an interactive agency based in Tokyo Japan, established in 2004. Birdman has won more than 100 awards in and outside of Japan, including: the Cannes Lions, Adfest, Webby Awards, Spikes Asia, Tokyo Interactive Ad Awards, The FWA, and many more. It would be more appropriate to say that Birdman is baking a cake than breaking the mold…the company just doesn’t’ play the same game as others. They are highly creative and Gabriel has proven time and time again that this is the reason he was asked to bring his ideas and skills to the company.
Shiguemoto has always loved great artists like Sargent, Van Gogh, Gustav Klimt, Claude Monet, Caravaggio. At the same time, he cites luminaries in the tech world such as Elon Musk (“pioneer, tech benefactor”), Bill Gates (“charity hero, entrepreneurship icon”), Steve Jobs (“visionary, great taste, could make great deals”), Neil deGrasse Tyson (American astrophysicist, director of the Hayden Planetarium, and popularizer of science) as having a massive impact on his interests and approach. A self-described nerd who always loved movies, comics, and videogames, Gabriel states it was his love of technology coupled with these other interests that would lead him to a career that combined them. After graduating college, he packed a single bag of clothes and moved to Japan in hopes of starting his career. Taking advantage of the fact that his family is of Japanese descent (even though Gabriel did not speak Japanese at the time) and a brother whom already lived there, he felt a connection with the industry and the country itself. He was enticed to relocate from Sao Paulo, Brazil to Tokyo because of their unique approach. He declares, “I think when it comes to digital art, especially on the web, the world is pretty much in sync. Because the web sites are accessible from anywhere, we are all checking out what others are doing. What differs in Japan in comparison to the US is that the web campaigns are often more focused on branding than sales. What Birdman does that is very Japan specific is that they build tech which allows for more interactive campaigns. For example, Nike’s Infinity Loop allows people to run against a virtual version of themselves across an LED running track. There are also interactive projections, drones, and all sorts of ‘robotics meets apps meets internet’ that I think are very unique to Japan.”
Gabriel was approached (within thirty minutes of submitting his portfolio!) by Birdman to join them because he is a design generalist, meaning he could perform all sorts of tasks and work on different media with a very high level of proficiency. For example, he could do all the graphic design work like logos and pamphlets, but could also design websites, make illustrations, animate both text and characters, and also 3D modeling. Birdman made excellent use of Gabriel’s skill in presentations such as the Nissan “Juke by You”(recognized with the FWA SITE OF THE DAY 2014 and CODE AWARDS FINALIST 2015), “KIRIN DREAM RACE”( WEBBY AWARDS 2015, FWA SITE OF THE DAY 2014), and the multi award-winning Ebara “FUNFAIR IN YOUR MOUTH” (NEW YORK FESTIVALS 2014, THE WEBBY AWARDS 2014, DENTSU ADVERTISING AWARDS 2014, ONE SHOW INTERACTIVE 2014, MOST CONTAGIOUS 2013 REPORT, DIGITAL ASIA FESTIVAL 2013, CODE AWARD 2013, The FAB Awards 2013, JAPAN MEDIA ARTS FESTIVAL 2013). Birdman used creative ideas and a web-based interactive approach to brand marketing to entertain, educate, and raise interest in consumers. Shiguemoto describes his role at Birdman stating, “At Birdman, after a team is assigned to a job, we usually all sit together to brainstorm. The software engineer will have his input, the project manager has his and so on. In some cases, my role was to communicate what was possible to do within our timeframe, but it is not unusual for me to contribute in other projects as well. As a designer, I deal more with the creative side of the projects. However, as a designer I’m mostly responsible to materialize concepts already decided by somebody else. Often times it comes directly from the client. I can’t say it is a normal thing for designers to participate in marketing decisions, but in my case I’ve been doing this…even with previous employers and I like to be part of it.” Birdman Designer Yoshihiko Abe attributes Gabriel’s oversight, communication, and artistic abilities with empowering the achievements of many of the company’s campaigns. He confirms, “Gabriel and I collaborated on several challenging projects. I was always fascinated with his ability to produce assets for the websites so quickly and efficiently. I remember when we were working on Ebara’s ‘FUNFAIR IN YOUR MOUTH’, the client would come up with crazy concepts for the vegetables & toys…honestly, I had no idea how we would do it. Truthfully, not even the client knew what to expect. Gabriel saved us more than once by coming up with fairly polished ideas just in time to fill in the design and send it to approval. I find it incredible how naturally he can take on different tasks, creating a new font, or doing an illustration, and working on a layout for a website, all in sequence!”
As a most profound sign of confidence in his abilities, Birdman wishes to open an office located in New York City with Gabriel as their Art Director. Fans of the TV series “Mad Men” can understand the advertising world’s adulation towards NYC and Birdman is a company that brings current “on the edge” approaches to brand awareness. Shiguemoto is excited and feels particularly enabled to fill this position. He acknowledges, “My boss approached me regarding the position in a very straightforward manner. He needed someone hardworking and communicative, who liked challenges and whom he could trust. After working closely with him for two intensive years, I believe he saw all those qualities in me. The very fact that I was a western foreigner who had managed to master their language, worked every bit as hard as the Japanese did, travelled to several countries, lived 8 years abroad and still was not satisfied, took a sabbatical year to further polish his skill set in the States, to the CEO, this was something appealing. Being able to do all these things successfully requires a certain level of self-discipline and a lot of self-confidence…which would be useful for the position. A big plus was also the fact that I had experienced America and was fluent in both English and Japanese, allowing me to serve as a bridge between these two distinct cultures. As for the business itself, Birdman is very unique by not having a sales representative or even a marketing representative. We work mostly directly with great marketing agencies such as Dentsu and we are offered so much work that we can basically choose what we want to do. Mr. Tsukiji has many contacts in NYC who are willing to coach us and introduce us to the local market, but we believe the business model should work very similar to the one in Japan. The CEO of Birdman is also an artist and he believes that while the business side of things can be taught, taste is something which you have to nourish yourself. He trusts that someone in sync with the kind of work that Birdman does, not only understands the scope, but also the approach and concept we use. That person will have the ability to carefully choose the best jobs for the company’s portfolio. I truly look forward to being that person.”