INTERVIEW - John Noe
CEO and Co-Founder, ROKKAN
Q. Give us
a background of your company.
ROKKAN is a full service digital solutions agency
whose work stretches a wide range of industries.
Since 2000 we’ve worked with clients like
Time Warner, Deutsche Bank, Atlantic Records,
2K Games and the NBA. We’ve hired an amazing
group of talented and passionate individuals
who continually impress us. We work hard, love
our clients and have become very good at unwinding
when time permits.
Q. What is
your approach to developing interactive media
solutions?
We consider ourselves a large agency in a small
boutique agency body. We take a highly strategic
approach to creating websites, listening carefully
to our clients’ goals, needs, challenges
and responding with thoughtful approaches to
execution. We get to know our clients well and
we work to over deliver as often as possible.
Q. What was
the creative inspiration for your winning project?
The creative visions for all our projects originate
from the client and brand. It’s critical
for us to be able to portray the spirit and
essence of a brand in a unique digital experience.
And as an agency whose work ranges from financial
services to video gaming, it becomes all the
more critical to truly understand and use the
client’s brand as the source for inspiration.
For 2K Games’ Civ City Rome our inspirations
really came from the game, using tactile stone
blocks for navigation and having each section
appear to be building up.
Q. What technologies were involved with making
the project?
The predominant tool in our winning projects
is Flash blended with 3D or Video. The CivCity
Rome site uses 3D Studio Max and AfterFX to
create some of the animated elements within
the site. Time Warner’s Profile site uses
AfterFX to weave together a story from Time
Warner’s video assets.
Q. What were
the biggest challenges to making the project
and how did you overcome them?
With CivCity Rome, the biggest challenge was
working with larger files while still trying
to create a site that didn’t restrict
slower band-width users. The site is certainly
a broadband site but it is important for us
not to create a restrictive experience.
Q. Did the
project achieve its goals?
The CivCity Rome site was a great success offering
users a destination to see and feel the game
before heading to the store to purchase. Other
winning sites like the ADP.com website serves
a much more quantifiable purpose as a lead generation
portal, and the initial findings after launch
have been incredibly favorable.
Q. Where
do you / your team turn for creative inspiration?
Sites like the Horizon Interactive Awards site
are critical by performing the task of chronicling
and sharing leading edge work in our space.
But inspiration stems from a number of origins
ranging from an amazing intro sequence to a
film or a great print ad. Great ideas are everywhere
and it really takes a fair amount of patience
and luck to find them.
Q. What trends
do you see in interactive media production today?
Integrating video into Flash is certainly the
biggest trend right now, but sites that incorporate
the user in a unique way impresses me the most.
Websites can do more than a television spot
by allowing the user to interact with it in
real time. Sites that pull in data and connect
users with strangers are much closer to tapping
into that next wave of digital communications.
Q. What are
some of your favorite websites?
www.gettheglass.com is truly a work of art
www.uniqlo.com is a great site in its simplicity
and elegance
And I like all of the work for the UFC right
now. The sites just give the brand a very polished
look.
Q. What projects
are you working on now?
We recently launched the Virgin America website
at www.VirginAmerica.com with our friends at
our agency partner Anomaly. But we have a number
of other exciting projects in the works including
a few for Atlantic Records, Time Inc’s
first corporate website and more. It’s
been a fantastic year for us and we’re
excited about all the great work our team has
been putting together. Stay tuned!
Q. What is
your overall feeling about the Horizon Interactive
Awards?
The Horizon Interactive Awards is not only important
to the many agencies that vie to win their recognition,
but to the digital space as a whole. Our industry
is growing, changing and evolving at such a
rapid rate that agencies and clients alike need
a place like Horizon to view the latest and
greatest in order to keep an accurate pulse
on our industry.
Q. What does
it mean to win the Horizon Award?
Winning a Horizon Award is a true honor as it
serves as a great way of telling peers and clients
about our growing shop. We couldn’t be
more proud of our projects and our people and
we graciously thank all those who recognize
us. Thank you!
