_It’s Not Rocket Science

July 27, 2009

Clients walking through the door of the Rockit Science Agency will sorely be disappointed to discover it looks nothing like NASA, although there are various scientific apparatuses, lab coats and goggles displayed in parts of the Perkins Road office.

The brainchild of founder and president Brad BonGiovanni, Rockit Science started out in a home office in 2002. The phrase “rocket science” came from BonGiovanni’s love of space travel, and the misspelling became intentional when he discovered that the Web site domain with the correct spelling was already taken.

Seven years later, the concept sketch is framed on BonGiovanni’s desk in a buzzing boutique agency with a six-member staff that offers services in advertising, Web sites and design with an eye to expanding outside of the Capital Region.

Brent Sims, who came on board with Rockit Science last year as a partner and vice president of marketing, had doubts about working for such a small, young company, but changed his mind once he saw the expertise brought to the table.

“For me, it was looking at a company that was extremely young and already having experience working with clients like the Navy, Tipton and Blue Cross, then understanding that their average age was 25,” Sims says. “I’m sitting here going, ‘If they are 25 now and working with these clients, what will we be able to do when we go out in the future and compete with these other agencies?’”

The answer is win.

Rockit Science received a Silver Award in the 2009 National ADDY Advertising Awards competition for a Web site designed for LUBA Workers’ Comp. The concept centered on L-Men, a play on G-Men, FBI agents that cracked down on mobster activity in the 1930s. The Web site, which was designed to look like a case folder, featured a full-motion trailer and an assorted range of interactive goodies for the sales force as an incentive program for top sales.

“We had a photo shoot complete with authentic clothes, cars and Tommy guns,” says Josh Dickerhoof, a partner and creative director for Rockit Science. “We tried to interact with the employees, not going too over the top, but interacting, letting them have a lot of fun and ultimately drawing them back to the Web site.”

BonGiovanni says Rockit Science’s small size is an advantage over larger agencies because it facilitates close relationships with clients and exploration into how their businesses work.

“We’ve got to dive right in and know everything we can about them,” he says. “Not just in advertising, but in how they operate so we can come in and show them better, faster ways to use the tools that we give them.”

Sims likens the design process to a grade-school science project. Copious amounts of research yield two or three big ideas, which are then presented to the client. Once the client has input, the agency narrows the concept to two main points—the main idea being communicated, and the target audience.

“There’s a blend between high concept and high design, and real-world application,” BonGiovanni says. “It’s our job to help our clients make money. You can have the coolest, highest concept thing, but if it’s not real world and it’s not going to help the client by getting the message across, then it’s kind of pointless.”

The client can be a road bump in the process, BonGiovanni says, but that was not an issue with the LUBA campaign. LUBA CEO David Bondy gave the green light to free creative license and, along with COO Clyde Ray Sr. and senior vice president of marketing John Rogers, even participated in the film shoot as The Chief.

“It was good fun, and our employees across Louisiana got a kick out of it,” Bondy says. “It [the campaign] helped us as a company because it fostered the image that we’re not stiff insurance agents. We can laugh at ourselves and have fun while doing business.”

LUBA’s Web site could be a little more romantic in concept and execution, BonGiovanni says, because it was not consumer-driven. An e-commerce Web site requires information to be available to the consumer almost instantly, whereas a business-to-business site can afford to be a little more in-depth.

The national ADDY came as a welcome surprise for Rockit Science and especially Sims, who typically takes a conservative stance in the office pool on which projects will receive recognition. Because the ADDY competition takes place on the local, regional and national level with more than 50,000 entries annually, he feels that position is justified.

“You’re going up against the people that are doing Coca-Cola, Mac and Pepsi and you’re sitting here going, ‘How did we win an ADDY?’” Sims says. “Then you think about it in that we’re going through our processes, we’re doing things right and we might not be charging as much as some of these bigger agencies, but at least we’re on target with what we are doing.”

The award will give Rockit Science more exposure, BonGiovanni says, especially since the agency’s business comes through referrals, which makes it easier to establish a creative rapport with clients. At the end of the day, awards or not, it all comes back to the client, BonGiovanni says.

“That advertising helped LUBA build more relationships and more business with their sales team,” he says. “Their sales team was super-hyped, and they’re already talking about what they are going to do next year. That’s real success.”

By Emma James, for the Business Report