North Kingdom的鼎鼎大名想來都不必介紹了，地球上最強的數字媒體公司之一，作品強到爆，獎杯拿到手軟（目前累計87次獲得國際性大獎，嘎納、紐約、倫敦、CLIO、One Show、 theFWA應有盡有，這里就不報菜名了。）這家數字世界的北境王國(North Kingdom總部所在的Skellefte?位于北緯64.75度——北極圈的緯度是北緯66°34度)自身小巧而靈活，通過與遍布全球的伙伴們的通力合作(“As One Brain”)出的每一件出色作品，以及自始至終都從不妥協的做派(“We’ve been expanding quietly without compromising the ideals that got us started in 2003”)，始終站在業界的風口浪尖。

采訪、編輯、翻譯：數英網Newsroom
 (原創內容，轉載請注明來自數英網)

David Eriksson: The technical evolution also is going so fast so we believe that it won’t be long before the word “Digital” has lost its importance

不久之前，我們介紹了North Kingdom的近作 “3 Dreams of Black”。這一次，北境之王——North Kingdom CEO兼CD David Erickson將接受互動中國的采訪，引導我們窺探他治下的王國。

數英網：是什么吸引了你，讓你選擇在2005年加入才成立兩年的North Kingdom?

David：天才的員工以及他們身上巨大的創意激情。其實在加入NK之前我就與另外兩位創始人有過相當卓有成效的合作。對我來說“團隊合作”這四個字無比重要，而North Kingdom就是不二之選。

數英網：North Kingdom始終堅持“自由創新，追求卓越品質，永葆好奇之心”（creative freedom, quality of work, curiosity），甚至把這三個詞掛到了公司網站首頁上？

David：我們始終堅持創意與品質至上 。從很早開始我們就確保每一個決定都是從創意而非財務的角度作出。下面這張是我為NK團隊畫的諸多模型圖之一——作品的品質永遠是第一位的。我們還有以下兩句銘言：“必須謹記每一個細節都會有背叛的可能”、“要把熱愛傾注到作品的每一個像素里。”

數英網：在North Kingdom的總部與各個分支辦公室中一共有多少員工？鑒于你們本身的實力與在業界的影響力，為何選擇在這些年始終堅持成為小而純的數字廣告代理商呢？

David：我們目前有37名員工，其中16位在位于Skellefte?的總部，19位在斯德哥爾摩，還有1位在谷騰堡，一位在Klavrestr?m。在遇到足夠大的挑戰之前，我們不會考慮增加人手。

David：我們并不把自己看成一家“純粹”的數字廣告代理商。我們大部分作品遠非僅僅是數字廣告那么簡單——并且隨著科技越來越快的進步，所謂“數字廣告”也將逐漸變得沒有那么重要。（Many of our projects today contains elements that wouldn’t be considered “pure” digital. The technical evolution also is going so fast so we believe that it won’t be long before the word “Digital” has lost its importance），我們始終致力于我們最為核心的領域：“講故事（storytelling）”與“互動（interactive communication）”。

數英網：North Kingdom在招聘時最看中應聘者的哪些特質？

David：天賦、腳踏實地、團隊合作、渴望偉大的創意與作品——這是我們對North Kingdom任何一位員工的要求。

數英網：你們的工作模式是怎樣的？是否有一套獨特的協同工作方式呢？

David：我們擁有一套T(eam)型的工作流程。所有人同時在各自的崗位上為一個項目工作。如今最有效率的團隊模式是基于個人能力的團隊：將擅長不同領域的人才集中到一起，每一個人都是自己領域的決策者。

David：一個結構良好的團隊將幫助其成員在職業生涯的早期就成為關鍵的貢獻者與決策者。

數英網：North Kingdom以合作伙伴遍布全球著稱，你們是如何在與遠在千里之外的合作伙伴協同工作時做好項目管理的？這可能是中國同行最頭痛的一個問題了。請你以“3 Dreams of Black”這個項目為例子為我們講解一下。

David：我們一開始的愿景就是：不但要雇傭優秀的員工，也要與全世界最優秀的人才與團體合作，因此我們一直致力于學習如何控制復雜的項目。這里有一些簡單的原則：把任務簡單化，保持靈活與團隊精神，設立階段目標，最重要的是設法讓團隊中的每一個人集中精力在任務上。具體到“3 Dreams of Black”這個項目，我想說這是我們遇到過的最最復雜的項目沒有之一，具體請看這里：North Kingdom:ROME & “3 Dreams of Black” 及其背后的故事(長文多圖殺貓瞎眼)。

數英網：你們內部是否有特別的分享機制、知識儲備庫或者定期的training供的技術人員自我學習？

David：沒有特定的機制，但是我們鼓勵員工關注工作以外的一切。我們所有人每年4次聚在一起，這樣開發者就能討論未來數個月內的發展與前景。

數英網：在中國，有很多時候技術人員無法參與到創意環節之中，而僅僅局限于執行環節，這點在North Kingdom 是怎樣的呢？技術人員如何像設計師那樣參與到早期創意之中？

David：在第五個問題中我有回答。

數英網：你們有什么特別的方法或者環節來激發強大的創造力么？

David：這個問題我相信大家都很看中，但是我們的確沒有什么“特別的”方法。“1%的靈感加上99%的努力”這條定律同樣適用于我們這一行——想出盡可能多的點子，然后從中選擇那些與項目匹配的。從團隊的角度思考問題，如此而已。

數英網：現在說North Kingdom引領業界潮流大概不會有太大的異議，那么，作為行業領先者，你們有你們自己的偶像么？

David：我們其實對我們所處的這行了解甚少。整個團隊學以致用的對象一直是行業之外的東西。在總部的墻上有一幅畫描繪了咖啡漫出咖啡杯的場景，配文為“探索你王國之外的世界””Look for inspiration beyond the reach of your Kingdom”。當然，員工們肯定有自己各自的偶像。

數英網：除了強大的創意，你們最為外人道的就是始終應用領先的技術來達成項目效果。那么當你們擁有了idea與手段之后，你們如何從客戶的腰包里擠出錢呢？畢竟好的創意花費通常可觀。

David：和別的廣告公司大同小異吧。無非是確保完善創意的每一個細節，然后做好提案。我們不會“擠”客戶的預算，我們只會告訴他們有多少錢能辦到多少事。另外們始終相信的是，在當下，好的創意未必就需要花大價錢來實現。

數英網：你們的員工是如何平衡工作與生活的？

David：我們盡量做到每天8小時的正常工作——當然干這行的免不了加班，尤其是在項目節點臨近的時候。但是我們始終致力于把工作只當成工作。這樣前一晚我們能夠在家陪伴家人和朋友，得到良好的休息之后，第二天就會拿出更高的精力與效率。

DM：你們與中國同行有過兩次合作，你如何評價他們？你覺得中國廣告行業目前最缺乏的方面在哪里？

David：我們很喜歡中國，但要說到缺陷的話，那就是與中國同行合作中要面對的官僚主義。

David：我們認為中國最終會成長為數字與互動界的龍頭，她擁有太多這一領域的人才。我很期待能盡早來中國實地考察。

數英網：最后一個問題：你們對中國市場有什么計劃么？

David：目前還沒有什么計劃，我們還需要尋找更多有意思的項目與人才。

以下為采訪郵件原文：

數英網：You joined North Kingdom at 2005, what actually attracted you most to the company at that time?

David：Basically talented people with big creative ambitions. I had worked with the two founders before and I knew that the three of us was a really good match. It was also a startup and I knew that I could contribute. Teamwork has always been what I have been looking for and North Kingdom is a place where working as a team is a very central idea.

數英網：Tell us more on your insistence on creative freedom, quality of work, curiosity, why you think they are most important to you through these years?

David：We have always believed in the power of creativity and quality. From the very beginning we have been very careful to make sure we make decisions from a creative perspective and not a financial. One of the first models I drew for the team when I joined was a simple cycle diagram that highlights the importance of a creative focus. Since then we have used quotes like “The details will betray you” and “There has to be love in every single pixel”

數英網：How many employees do you have in North Kingdom now, including offices at Skellefte?, Stockholm and Gothenburg? Depending on your strength and reputation, why does North Kingdom keep being a small and pure digital agency?

David：We are 37 employees right now. 16 in our HQ up north in Skellefte?, 19 in Stockholm and 1 guy in Gothenburg and 1 guy in Klavrestr?m. We have never seen any reason to grow any bigger unless it makes us get more interesting creative challenges from our clients.

David：What we see though is that we probably can’t consider us to be a pure digital agency any longer. Many of our projects today contains elements that wouldn’t be considered “pure” digital. The technical evolution also is going so fast so we believe that it won’t be long before the word “Digital” has lost its importance and we’ll be focusing on storytelling and interactive communication.

數英網：What are the key rules/most important characters of your hiring policy?

David：For any position we are looking for talented, down-to-earth teamplayers with ambitions to create great creative work.

數英網：What is your work flow? Do you have a unique method to keep creative?

David：We work in what we call a T(eam)-shaped model. All competences look at a project at the same time from their perspective.

David：The most effective teams today are competency-based teams, where each person comes to the group with a different skill and they work together to build something bigger than themselves.On these teams, everyone is an important decision-maker and is able to make a big difference.

David：Well-constructed teams provide an opportunity to be a decision maker and a key contributor early in ones career.

數英網：You’re working with a big number of co-operators who widely scatter in the world, with different culture, different language and even different time zone, Have you being in charge of the project management well? How? It could be the most disturbing problem of Chinese production houses. Can you leverage the “3 Dreams of black” project for example, to show us how you make cards flourish?

David：When our ambition from the very beginning has been to not only hire talented people but also collaborate with the worlds best creatives in our projects, we have been forced to learn how to project manage these complex projects. In general it is not brain science but one simple rule – Keep it simple. Also flexibility, team spirit, setting ambitious project goals and having all of the project members focusing on them is important. For a more detailed breakdown on “3 Dreams of Black” please take a look at our blog. It was our most complex project ever.http://www.northkingdom.com/blog/making-of-3-dreams-of-black-part-1-process/

數英網：Are there any internal sharing system, or sessions/ trainings that for Technicians in particular? Do you have any public libraries/documentations for technicians to study at spare time?

David：Not really we encourage our developers to be curious on what happens “out there”. 4 times every year the team get together and the developers have time to sit and discuss what their focus should be for the next upcoming months.

數英網：In China, technicians are, more often than not, not in the creative discussion panel, but just follow the creative ideas they decided and only in charge of the execution and realization of ideas. What is the case about in North Kingdom’s teamwork? What the role technicians play in the ideas and creative stage? How technicians work with other team members, like designers for example?

David：PLease have a look at question 5

數英網：How do you weave a best idea? Is any tricks? Such as your special brain storming part, the way you keep vigorous creativity or anything else.

David：I think that is always the big question but I must disappoint you and say that there is no trick besides hard work. The 1% of inspiration and 99% of transpiration is still very valid. Generating many ideas, the team perspective and never go with the easy solutions is also very important.

數英網：Now you guys are cutting-edge, but who is your icon in this industry? Can you introduce them briefly?

David：Actually we are really bad at knowing our industry. As a team we try to be inspired by areas outside our business. We have a painting in our Skellefte? office with one of our internal sayings “Look for inspiration beyond the reach of your Kingdom”…

David：I believe however that all of us individually have or own icons and sources of inspiration.

數英網：In addition to precocious ideas North Kingdom is also well known as always leveraging cutting-edge digital tech. So if you have a really crazy idea and a leading way to bring it alive, how would you persuade your clients and squeeze their budget? Good thing is always expensive.

David：Well, We are no different from others I guess. We make sure we have detailed and worked through presentation on an idea that we really believe in. We never try to “squeeze” budgets but we tell our clients what the idea will cost. If they don’t have the budgets to cover that idea we go back and make sure that we have an idea that fits their budget. Also our belief is that today great ideas doesn’t really need great budgets.

數英網：How your staffs take the balance between work and life?

David：We have a 8 hr working day and try to make sure we keep it that way. Of course people need to work more sometimes at milestones in projects but the ambition is to keep our work as a work and be efficient. This way we all can go home to our families and friends and be re-energized for the next working day.

數英網：Last question, you’ve been worked with Chinese guys twice, as we know, how do you like working with people from China? Compared with other digital talents, what do you think is the biggest lackness, or we can say the differences that Chinese people have in digital and creative area?

David：Any suggestion for us? We love China and are amazed by what is going on over there. We can’t really see any lackness except the bureaucracy that comes with doing business with China.

David：The Chinese economy is still developing at a great speed and I believe that China will soon be the no 1 country when it comes to leading the development of digital and communications business. You have access to an enormous pool of creative and talented people. I hope that I soon can come and visit China and see what’s going on with my own eyes!

數英網：Is there any plan about China yet? (Leave this it if it’s confidential.)

David：Not any plan for China yet except trying to find even more interesting & creative projects and talented people to collaborate with!