Newcastle communication and independent production house, Rollingball has turned eleven and the founders have decided to use the milestone to celebrate their wins and take a look at the journey that led them to today.
Witnessing a lot of changes in the industry and the region in just over a decade, they’ve seen economic ups and downs, competitors flood the market, and an abundance of new communication platforms emerge.
The city and the media and communication landscape are ever changing, particularly in more recent years and their sentiment is they’re only just getting started.
Rollingball Co-Founder, April Howard said it’s their consistency and commitment to storytelling and connection that allows their business to thrive eleven years on.
“One constant is our commitment to our collaborators, our capacity to build a story and to dig in when times are tough, and that is why Rollingball remain and will always remain a creative engine room in the face of an ever-evolving industry and market,” April said.
Delving beyond the lens to expand its offerings Rollingball responded to their client request for a full suite of services; research, strategy, design, traditional and digital advertising and high-end short-form video content.
“We work with Australasian clients in the private sector, not-for-profit and government organisations, and we love producing social impact campaigns, TV advertising, branded content and long format programming,” she said.
“Like all small businesses we have had to adapt in the current climate and find a way through COVID-19 and into the new world, and that’s why we’ve decided to celebrate turning eleven!”
What started in those early days in the loft at the back of their Cooks Hill home has now grown to a full-service creative studio and production house.
That expansion has included a base in Sydney and Melbourne and an international client base across Asia and the Pacific, but it has always remained important for the Rollingball HQ to remain in Newcastle.
Co-Founder, Paul Donnelly said they are happy to call Newcastle their home and believe it plays a fundamental role in the delivery of services at Rollingball.
“We proudly call Newcastle home and will always base our operations here for all that the creative city offers – access to incredible locations, talent and accessibility to larger hubs means that our international and interstate clients are still able to be serviced just as easily from here as our local ones,” Paul said.
“Remaining true to our film and screen roots we continue to develop tv series, feature films and documentaries for domestic and international markets.
“Every project either commissioned or independent is different and that’s what makes our work life challenging and interesting,” he said.
Their most recent social impact project is the Hear. Listen. Yarn. Campaign, designed to launch and promote a ground-breaking set of screening tools developed by National Acoustic Laboratories in partner-ship with Aboriginal health and early education services.
The culturally sensitive tools put a spotlight on ear health for young First Nation children and will open the door to earlier identification of hearing trouble by tapping into parent knowledge.
Rollingball worked on a multi-faceted awareness and engagement campaign to roll out these important tools nationally including website development, communications and engagement strategy, marketing branding, collateral design and production.
“Our work in the Indigenous space is reflective of the global landscape at the moment,” April said.
“Now more than ever it is important to tell the stories of the First Nations and work towards highlighting the inequity in health care faced by Indigenous people in Australia, that’s why projects that shine the light on the health of indigenous people are important to us.
“We are in the process of completing a documentary with an aligned focus and an original documentary series has been commissioned by a free to air network for this year.”
Rollingball has received national awards for their work Brokenwood Wines commercial, On Your Bike commercial, Catching Dragonflies, L’il Mike and Uniting AgeWell commercials.
“It’s an exciting time to be in business and we thrive on the challenge of helping our clients navigate the new normal,” Paul concluded.
To celebrate turning 11 Rollingball’s website has been given a makeover, with a showree of past projects available for viewing.
IMAGE | Rollingball Productions team on set.