March 18th, 2014

Montana State University’s Jake Jabs College of Business and Entrepreneurship and the College of Arts and Architecture are pleased to announce that the award-winning interactive digital agency R/GA will speak on campus on Thursday, March 20, at 6:30 p.m. in Reid Hall room 103.

The talk is free and open to the public.

With offices worldwide, R/GA was founded in 1977 as a motion graphics firm and worked on more than 400 feature films including Superman and Alien. By 1995, the company shifted its focus and reinvented itself as an interactive digital agency.

Today, R/GA works alongside Fortune 500 companies, helping them navigate how consumers interact with brands in the digital world across a variety of devices, screens and experiences. Professionals and students in the areas of computer science, engineering, film, marketing, and design are encouraged to attend.

The team coming to Bozeman hails from R/GA’s Prototype Studio in New York City and includes members who’ve worked on cutting-edge projects like working with Google Glass and building tweeting E-cigarette. The team in attendance helped build an app for the NYC bike share program, which allowed bike riders to use Google Glass headsets for real-time feedback to find available bike ports, navigate the city, and remind riders to return borrowed bikes on time.

“We’re excited to have the R/GA team in Bozeman and the chance for students and the community to learn more on how brands today are intersecting with design, technology and marketing”, said Jacob Cook, a professor who teaches Digital Marketing at MSU. “This is a great opportunity for students and entrepreneurs to see firsthand how products like Nike’s FuelBand require an interdisciplinary team of designers, researchers, engineers, and marketers to come together to build something remarkable.”

The talk takes place on Thursday evening at 6:30pm in Reid Hall room 103 and is titled, “Internal Startups: How Nike and R/GA Built the FuelBand.” The team will discuss the challenges and opportunities of working in emerging areas such as wearables and building the consumer experience from device to mobile to desktop with Fortune 500 companies. Nike, a company traditionally known for athletic gear, has increasingly remade itself to include technology experiences as part of its offerings with great success.

In addition, R/GA recruiters will be on campus interviewing potential student candidates across business, engineering, and design for its summer internship programs. Interested students are encouraged to attend the talk on Thursday evening and learn more about the company’s work.