President Gachon . Mr.Shinya Nakajima

■President Gachon . Mr.Shinya Nakajima

the world famous . He won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival for his commercial for Cup Noodles "Hungry?". He has also made a number of other legendary commercials, and through a strange turn of events, he became president of Tohokushinsha! Perhaps the person who was most surprised by this was himself. He is a great model of an innovator for iU students.

◆ Creator × Producer × Manager

His own management is also directing and producing. When you think of the company as a studio, how do you bring out the potential of the members? He can't be a super manager, but he can get the members excited. He is the foundation of management. His job is to help various talents bloom.

Since it's advertising, when you're given a mission and goal, the work is created based on how the team works towards that goal. I went to art school, so I have some sense of screens and images, but the ads made by so-called filmmakers are different from those made by directors like me. It's a way of making the most of everyone's strengths. The fact that we've been able to accumulate that kind of energy is the reason we've received so many awards so far is not far from the work of a president. If everyone can use their strengths, the company can achieve even greater things.

◆Commercial production work

Musashino Art University, Visual Communication Design Department. You learn the basics of visual communication, but it's a strange school. They don't give you the answers. You have to think for yourself. They give you a lot of assignments, but you have to think for yourself about the answer and the path you should take. I had never done any video.

Advertising was booming at the time. My team would randomly assign advertising assignments. I found advertising interesting. But I didn't want to work in advertising. I thought there was something different about it. I thought about design in a broad sense, and I thought design exists to make the world more interesting, and advertising is inevitably a way of leading the charge for a single company. I was a student with a slightly rebellious way of thinking.

I was the executive committee chairman of the art festival, wondering if I could make the school a little more interesting. I felt lonely because no one cooperated with me. I always wondered if this was okay, and if it would be more interesting if I did it this way. The "blue feeling" I had as a student about what would make me happiest and what would make everyone happy is still somewhere in my mind even now that I'm the CEO. I feel like my roots haven't changed.

◆ President

I thought that eventually I would become a freelancer, earn money, and drive a Mercedes.

I thought there was no way I could beat them because my seniors were so amazing. The big difference from now is that I had someone to aim for. I went after them. But I couldn't beat them. As my work piled up, the bubble started. I couldn't be the top, so I thought I'd become a freelancer and make some money! At that time, I was called by the founder, Uemura Banjiro. There was a digital video system there. The system was imported from England in 1986. At that time, a lot of American videos were coming in. Best Hits USA. Music videos such as Michael Jackson's Thriller. I didn't know how to shoot them . Just when I thought I might be able to surpass my seniors if I could do this, I was shown the digital technology and thought, This is it! At that moment, I thought, I'll do it with new digital technology! As a result, I was able to create a groundbreaking video.

Before I knew it, I had become the CEO.

Chance

When I first encountered digital technology, I thought, "This is impossible for my seniors! I'll definitely do it!" Today's young people have a lot of things like, "Nakajima-san, this is impossible." That's what defeats me. New engineering is coming, so there are more opportunities now than in the past. New technology is there to drive out the old guys.

The internet has revolutionized not only the innovation on the screen, but also the communication route for how to convey it. Data can now be used freely, and it is no longer two-dimensional but three-dimensional. You can become immersed in it. Interesting expressions are possible.

◆School

Elementary school was fun. My job was to go to school and say weird things. In middle school, I was good at studying. In high school and middle school, I got carried away with my studies, so I fell behind. I went to college every day with a gloomy mood. University is a big deal. I got more inspiration from my friends than from my teachers. Even when I gave the same proposition to students, their reactions were all different. I was shocked by their reactions and it made me feel confused. It became a base for me to think about things.

In prep schools for art schools, they rank people from best to worst at drawing. It's cruel, but if you keep doing that, you'll understand where you stand. It makes you feel depressed. If there are people who are good at illustration, you give up on the path of illustration. You think about survival. You have to express yourself somehow.

It's no fun to play with classmates in a place that has nothing to do with school assignments. You are given a proposition, and you interact with each other while exchanging reactions. School is meaningful as a place to sprinkle propositions on students. There is value in throwing a common theme at a group of people and watching their reactions. It's better to be able to see each other's reactions clearly.

Nowadays, it's good to be different from others. There's a word for it: "We've got the same thing!". To have the same thing means to lack originality. Discover your own perspective. Think differently from others.

◆Message for you guys

The most important thing is to express yourself. Try to express yourself. Try to express what you are thinking. When I go abroad, I think that what is different from Japan is that people abroad say "hello" and "thank you" a lot. I also make it a point to always say "thank you." "Hello" and "thank you" are very important when going global. Nothing will happen if you stay silent.

Being senile gives you freedom. I want you to express yourself freely.

When I have something I want to present, I can give a really good presentation.

★Postscript

He has always been a creative giant that I look up to, but he is also a management giant as the head of a large company called Tohokushinsha. I had asked him as an iU visiting professor to let me rain down creativity, but I would also like him to let me blow the winds of management.