When advertising giant Saatchi and Saatchi created a website for brewer Monteiths pulling together hot topics from blogs around New Zealand, boutique Wellington firm Click Suite went one better.
The site was supposed to stimulate conversation, perferably over a Monteiths brew, but was "boring", said Click Suite director Emily Loughnan.
"We thought why have it on a website, why not bring it into the bar? So we put up live monitors in the bar that scrolled through and gave you conversation starters in the bar – which was The Tasting Room in Wellington."
The 10-person firm specialises in creating interactive media tools and exhibits for its clients and is currently working on a three-metre long touchscreen table for the new National Library building, due to open next year.
"It will allow you to look up the National Library collection and build an exhibition around yourself. For example, I could find my parents' engagement notice in the newspaper archives, images of my grandparents or of Christchurch, where I grew up, before the earthquake. "
Visitors to the library could be able to add their own and other external content such as photos, and once their "story" was complete, be able to save it and share it online with others.
Click Suite developed the animation and graphics templates behind new digital-signage screens replacing paper posters in 600 Lotto outlets around the country, and is creating an exhibit that will use projection technology to animate and explain the Maori carvings in Mataatua Wharenui – a 136-year old meeting house in Whakatane.
The company has also developed websites and interactive media tools for Chevron Texaco – the United States oil giant that owns Caltex, and a make-your-own hybrid orchid exhibit for Auckland Museum.
The company was branching out and developing its own products, including what would be the first iPhone recipe app developed for a New Zealand audience, Loughnan said.
Click Suite teamed up with local food producers, including Silver Fern Farms, to provide the recipes, which would change each season. "Most people have between five and seven recipes in their repertoire, we're trying to give them fresh ideas."
It also helped set up and invested in Wellington start-up OpenBorder – which has created an online marketplace that organisations can use to farm out jobs to translators.
The recession prompted Click Suite to shed staff and change its business model, Loughnan said. "We did have 25 staff, but we shrunk down to a smaller core and we now do a lot of work with specialist freelancers."
It plans to develop localised versions of the paid recipe app for other countries, and would seek more exhibition work overseas. "The use of digital media is becoming more of a norm but there is a limited amount of that kind of work in New Zealand."
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