The Chameleon Net blog

Face to face with the real chameleon (small 'c')

lucie@actualmarketing.co.uk (Lucie Bickerdike) — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 13:25:22 GMT

Last week I and Actual group Directors Stephen and Suzie had the pleasure of attending Chameleon Net’s 10^th Birthday bash at London Zoo. It was great to meet up with the team, and to make the acquaintance of a couple of recent recruits. Without wanting to be too gushy, it’s evenings like this that make us thankful for such lovely clients. In true Chameleon style it was an unorthodox evening, with a drinks reception – of course – in the Reptile House, with a party in the Pavilion later in the evening. It was nice to share the party with the wallabies and emus just outside, who were all wide awake and surprisingly sociable!

This month has shown that Chameleon’s work is becoming more widely recognised for its innovation and creativity, and that the company has climbed a long way in a decade. Chameleon Net’s fantastic campaign site for the latest Diabetes UK campaign made it into the news pages of New Media Age, the company won a silver W3 Award for the innovative Bucks New University website, and we were also proud that Vicky reached the finals of the competitive Women of the Future Awards.

So, what’s in store for the next ten years? As the internet grows and the industry matures (according to a recent survey, 30% of UK digital agencies were founded more than ten years ago), Chameleon are in a strong competitive position with a grown-up, experienced and confident offering. Happy birthday Chameleon Net – and here’s to many more!

The President of New Media

stephen@actualmarketing.co.uk (Steve Thorn) — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 11:33:27 GMT

The President of New Media

Maybe it’s my age but for the first time ever I’ve found myself following the developments of the US Presidential Elections.

With just five days to go, the coverage on the BBC has been up to its usual standards, but I’ve been intrigued enough by the characters of the main players to have a look at their websites and see how they’re using the web to spread their message.

Arriving at the McCain site, www.johnmccain.com, I was greeted with a streamed video of the hopeful candidate that opens with the words (rather worryingly seeing as he’s also a Republican), “The last eight years haven’t worked very well have they?”

Unfortunately there isn’t a Sarah Palin gallery online (I did search for one, perhaps another indication of my advancing years) and I got quickly bored with the site and wandered off into the Web to see what else I could find. The most engaging item was the Republicans’ YouTube video satirising the ‘holiness’ of the Obama campaign (see more at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/) being currently embroiled in a row over copyright.

Heading on over to the Democratic camp, I found www.barackobama.com much more new media savvy with lots of exciting, dynamic web content including BarrackTV, the RoadBlog, Obama Mobile, the choice of sixteen social network links and a button inviting me to ‘Donate Today and receive a free Obama car magnet’!

Obama has also used new media to target likely pockets of supporters including the Latino vote - www.vivaobama08.com features perhaps the only Mariachi song to include a mention of healthcare legislation.

All good multimedia stuff. Not only that, but whatever the outcome Barack will go down in history as the first President to use video game advertising to spread the message (‘Guitar Hero’ and ‘Burnout Paradise’). This is aimed at a target audience of 18-34 year olds in 10 key States before the election.

And finally, a 10-second search on YouTube came up with the song “I’ve got a crush on Obama” which has so far received 10 million views. A truly terrible video, only lifted by the magnificent lyric halfway through: “You’re into border security, let’s break the border ‘tween you and me”. Enjoy. http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=wKsoXHYICqU

Digitise or Die (or “Much Ado About Digital”)

jeremyd@chameleonnet.com (Jeremy Davis) — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 15:12:00 GMT

In my ongoing mission to become the David Dimbleby of the Web Industry (and beyond?) I recently spent an afternoon chairing a “Question Time” style event for movers and shakers in the UK publishing industry: “Digitise or Die” was the inaugural annual event run by The Bookseller, the leading trade publication for the book industry, with the sole intention of focusing on the issues facing the book business in the digital age. And issues there are.

Pretty much ever since Gutenberg invented the printing press in 1440, the only way you and I could get our hands on a book would be if a Publisher printed it (the only way to create multiple copies on anything like a large scale) and a bookseller sold it to us. Simple. Oh yes, and of course and author needs to write it.

So, publishers find authors, groom them, coach them and generally hone their talent so as to (hopefully) create not only a great piece of writing but also a rampant commercial success. Of course the publishers would have to kiss a few frogs but hey, sometimes when you get your prince he turns out to be a darned good catch (JK Rowling, Terry Pratchett, Dan Brown anyone?)

So, that model’s clear: Publisher finds the creative talent, publishes the work, markets it, sells it to retailers and then you and I buy it. Hang on a minute…that sounds familiar…creative talent…publisher…seller…consumer…Ah yes I’ve got it! It’s the music business!

And that is essentially the problem facing the book business – how to not do what the music business did. In the digital age the roles are unclear: anyone can be an author (just add talent), publish a book, mass produce it, reach an audience (if it’s any good) and distribute it worldwide, absolutely free.

Perhaps books are just content, and the web is very good at distributing that for free. So who’s going to pay for it? Yes, the book business is probably going through its biggest change in over 500 years, when Gutenburg, quill in hand, said to himself “there MUST be an easier way of doing this!”. Anyway, back to my Dimbleby impersonation....

With research done and cue cards in hand, off I went. There were several speakers in the morning and then my session was in the afternoon. Tension was in the air…what does the future hold? speakers included Jason Hanley from Google (who are digitising content at a rate of knots) and he aptly demonstrated the speed at which the internet, in only 15 years, has been able to reach an audience of 1.5billion – way faster than the decades it took TV or radio to reach anything like those numbers. Yes, the internet is REALLY good at delivering content.

All in all the event was developing a fairly dramatic atmosphere and like any drama there had to be a bad guy. And there was. Enter, stage left, Andrew Keen, self proclaimed “Anti-Christ of Silicon Valley” and both irreverently funny and deadly serious all at the same time. And his message? That book publishing is finished as a business, either for the publishers or the authors. Content has gone digital and digital content (as the music business is finding out to its cost) is largely free on the web.

As a popular author himself he should know – most of his money, he says, comes from live appearances (c.f. Madonna, Rolling Stones?), not book sales. Although a word of qualification here: as far as I know Andrew has one popular book to his name and that’s hardly a career. Most creative artists would expect to have to produce a substantial body of popular work before they can think about retiring…but I digress. And so to the afternoon session....

In front of an audience of book industry bods I chair an interesting discussion that ranges from the role of the author to the role of the high street bookseller. My fellow panellists included Andrew Keen, Kieron Smith (MD of BookRabbit.com) and Yang May Ooi, who introduced interesting ideas about how the nature of storytelling has changed with the digital age – maybe the book is a format from another time.

Our session was then followed by an excellent presentation by our very own Drew Davies who gave the audience a whistlestop tour of effective SEO techniques.

One thing was very plain throughout the day: Change is afoot. There is fear. There is excitement, anxiety, confusion and (as in all times of change) opportunity. My sense is that there will indeed be winners and losers in the publishing sector over the next few years and the landscape may look very different.

When the dust settles we will see who grasped the opportunities for delivering high quality digital products in a way that consumers want. Content is here to stay and if it’s good enough I think people will pay for it too. The challenge that faces the book business (and the music business) I think is how to position itself so that it adds value, not just the mechanism for distributing content. Value is always attractive....

Next question…ah yes…the man at the back with the yellow tie…yes you, sir!

Will the semantic web save the planet?

stephen@actualmarketing.co.uk (Steve Thorn) — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 09:38:57 GMT

^{Last week I attended the annual Digital Marketing Conference in
Cambridge to hear what those with a vested interest in the rise and rise of the Internet
had to say about the digital future for all of us.

Presentations were on subjects like the power of mash-ups, the
belated arrival of the mobile revolution, the next generation of web connectivity
and the dawn of ‘intelligent agents’ on the web. (As a side note, watch out for that
phrase, ‘intelligent agents’ - I predict we’ll hear more and more about the chips
and processors behind the web descending upon humankind and making our lives ever
simpler).

This wasn’t the first time in the week that the emerging revolution
in internet and mobile communications was brought home to me. Just the day before,
on Radio 4 Today programme, Tim Berners-Lee had been talking about the future of the
web – and how the progress being made on the development of the semantic web will
reduce the workload on our poor human brains.

Two days later Apple launched its clever new iPhone 3G with camera,
satnav and push e-mail. The device was greeted by Tom Dunmore, writing on Stuff.tv:
"I can prove that the iPhone 3G is 31% better than the original. That's 31% better
than the Best Thing Ever." Blimey.

And then to finish the week we wrapped up the work on a couple
of recent news stories for Chameleon Net (you knew I’d get a plug in there
somewhere), both of which demonstrate ways the internet is being deployed for social
and environmental good.

First, there was the news that they’d been working on a ‘mash-up’
of data drawn into the Medicins Sans Frontiers website where the extraordinary work
of the agency in remote field locations was brought elegantly to life through the
plotting of those locations on Google Earth maps. This reflects MSF’s philosophy of
‘temoigner’ (act as witness) brought firmly into the 21st century. (By way of complete
digression, that’s also the title of a book by Nicholas Sarkozy!)

Secondly there was, on the face of it, the not-very-sexy news
that Chameleon Net have been working with the Yorkshire and Humber Regional Environment
Forum (YHREF) and Yorkshire Futures to create a dynamic shared online diary
for environmental groups and those working on regional information sharing.

With their newly joined-up ability these groups can work together
to ensure that environmental issues and concerns can now have greater impact on the
local, regional and national agenda. I’d give that a ‘hurrah’.

From all I’ve learnt recently about the rise of the semantic web
intelligently connecting like-minded global communities, added to the long-awaited
mobile revolution to help disseminate their joined-up thinking, I can’t think how
else we’re going to effectively communicate the changes we need to make to our society
to increase the planet’s survival.

Let’s just hope Tim Berners-Lee gets a move on – the clock’s ticking.

Steve is MD at marketing and PR consultancy the Actual group
(www.actualgroup.co.uk)}

A media insight into Chameleon's online world

lucie@actualmarketing.co.uk (Lucie Bickerdike) — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 15:01:32 GMT

Lucie is Chameleon Net’s PR account executive at marketing and PR consultancy the Actual group (www.actualgroup.co.uk)

When Chameleon Net asked me if I’d like a regular ‘blog spot’ on their site, I was chuffed but a little nervous. Surrounded by the creative and technical insight provided by the blindingly bright Chameleon Net team, how would my PR perspective of the company and their work fare?

But the fact is that Chameleon Net do some really exciting work that deserves to be shouted about. This month, .Net magazine was so impressed with Chameleon’s new Médécins Sans Frontières website (www.msf.org.uk) that they asked us to produce a tutorial that walks readers through the process of creating the dynamic homepage banner. The piece, written by Daryl and Louise (with co-ordination and proofreading efforts from myself!), has not yet been published but watch this space for the finished article!

Chameleon Net are also pleased to share the expertise used to create such innovative work. I had the pleasure of attending their latest seminar, titled ‘Quick Web Wins’, on 24th June. Offering ‘practical, tactical ways your organisation can harness the web for short-term results’, the seminar was a great way for non-technical folk (myself included!) to get a better grip on the latest web techniques – and, most importantly, how to translate this knowledge into visible results.

At the seminar Jeremy observed that, while the media continues along its doom-mongering ‘recession’ track, the online industry is thriving. Still effectively in its infancy, the industry is constantly innovating and creating new opportunities for companies to increase their revenue using online methods. It’s an exciting time for companies to explore the possibilities on offer.

Drew’s talk on blogs and social networks was bang on trend. You can’t move in the new media press for articles on how social media can be exploited for by business. Bloggers have gained a name for themselves as pretty useful journalistic commentators on a broad range of subjects, and it is because of this that search engines tend to place blogs near the top of results. Many companies are now regularly contacting bloggers as part of their online PR activity and targeting users of networks as potential customers - but what we all really want to know is, as one member of the audience said, ‘how do you begin to measure ROI on this type of investment?’ It’s a sticking point faced by PR – and, to some extent, marketing – practitioners across the land, and there is no absolutely scientific answer. Perhaps the most successful companies are those willing to take a chance on new methods?

Speaking of hot topics in the new media press, Dan touched on one at the seminar that seems to have got them all a-froth: user-generated video content. According to .Net (177, July 08, p.15), Flickr users are none to happy about the possibility of video, or ‘long photos’, as well as photos being uploaded and shared on the site. Not everybody’s a fan of social networking sites, it seems, with one Flickr user commenting: ‘What will be the next step? Pokes? Third party applications that you have to invite 20 friends to use? Music playing on each member’s page to slow the site down even more?’ Ouch. I have to say I agree with the mag when it suggests that comparing the ability to upload simple video to an all-out MySpace style assault on users is taking it a bit far. It got me thinking, though: are social networking facilities actually a hindrance to users when they’re misappropriated? Perhaps this is an issue worth exploring for companies looking to monetise these sites – user experience is the all-important factor.

Last year, Chameleon’s ePR campaign for Tefal’s Jamie Oliver Survival Kit cookware sensitively navigated the rocky terrain of blogs and user videos, achieving high visibility for the product on dozens of UK blogs and a fantastic level of consumer participation on the mini site, which invited user video content. The success of the project showed that while these techniques are still in development, if you approach them with a real understanding of consumer requirements your brand will almost certainly be enhanced.

Chameleon Net Site Evolves.

daryli@chameleonnet.com (Daryl Irvine) — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 16:01:21 GMT

This month we have re-launched our very own Chameleon Net website with a brand new look. When I came on board as Creative Director at the beginning of 2006 one of my first tasks was to undertake a re-working of the 'then' current branding. Far from throwing away everything that had come before and creating something completely new I wanted to capitalise on everything we had already achieved as a company, and the recognition we already had within the new media sector. I saw it more as an 'evolution of the brand' and in approaching the recent re-design of our website I really wanted to stay focused on the principle of evolving our online proposition rather than going back to the drawing board.

Our development team have spent a lot of time creating a flexible, scalable .NET and XML based solution that is robust and easily maintainable. Likewise we have invested many man hours, creating relevant copy to achieve a very search engine friendly, accessible site. So the design brief was quite simple; Bring the website in line with the current branding and communicate our design abilities without effecting any of the underlying code or foundation work already undertaken.

Interestingly enough this scenario is not uncommon among many of our clients. There are of course occasions when their current solution is too old to cost effectively salvage technology, but many of our projects have involved existing systems or required collaboration with an in-house IT team to effectively re-skin their offering. With contemporary standards based development techniques like CSS ( custom style sheets ) we can 'skin' just about any system.

So back to the new Chameleon Net offering. We have added a dynamic Content Managed Flash Banner to our homepage and in the long term we will be re-tasking this space with multiple promotional panels featuring video, animation and motion graphic work from the design team. We have further utilised flash, and specifically siFr, to convert structural headings ( H2, H3 etc.. ) into our brand font on the fly, whilst retaining an accessible, standards compliant layout for users without the plugin.

I hope you like the new look Chameleon site as much as we do, and if you have any comments or ideas I would love to hear from you.

Chameleon Net in the news - online

danm@chameleonnet.com (Dan Martin) — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 17:29:17 GMT

I thought it might be useful to create an area where we can compile and keep track of any websites that mention/report on Chameleon Net's activity. Mainly news sites and online press.

So in the spirit of web 2.0 I've set up a de.licio.us account to bookmark such bits and pieces.

Feel free to check it out: http://del.icio.us/danm_chameleon.