Digital People - Patty Keegan

Name: Patty Keegan    

Works: Digital Chameleon

Job Title: Director

1.  How, where and when did the digital media industry find you?

In the early 1990's I was working for a media agency that was the largest buyer of technology media in the US at the time.  The wife of one of our software clients was Marketing Director of something called America Online, and we took on the AOL account more as a favour to our client than anything else.  I managed the account through its first million subscribers, and was bitten by the "interactive" bug at that point.  I had an opportunity to join Ziff-Davis and help launch ZDNet (one of the earliest commercial sites - along with Hotwired and Time Warner's Pathfinder). Everyone thought I was nuts (something I've become used to!) but it was one of the best working experiences I ever had - the people were brilliant, and it was an amazing learning experience.  A lot of "firsts" in that job, as well as the roles it eventually led to.

2.  What is your current role and what do you actually do?

As Director of Digital Chameleon I develop content and corporate learning programs for media and marketing professionals who need to transition their skills to digital.  We've been in business for five years and, as we continue to grow, my role has evolved from "I do everything," to orchestrating a team of instructors, an instructional designer, and elearning experts. I develop content, train, and am in the process of handing over sales and marketing duties to a third party.

3. Can you offer some insights into Digital Chameleon, your market position and forward plans?

Digital Chameleon courses are all about helping practitioners get to work with digital immediately. Practical, hands-on information anyone could use straight away-that's the kind of material I've found clients want.  Rather than focus on theory or strategic implications, we emphasize the practical skills you need in order to achieve a specific result.

The area we've been working hard to develop over the past couple of years is developing a robust blended learning approach, one that includes face-to-face, eLearning and collaborative learning elements.  My aim these days is not to just train, but to help media & marketing professionals learn.  I've found that this is a more effective approach than traditional training and delivers a better solution (and ROI) for both individuals and organisations.  What it means for the people that participate in our programs is that they can learn at their own pace and from one another, through the online learning modules and learning community they have access to.  We've been able to scale this solution in a way that it can work for one individual, or one thousand.

As for the future, we're looking at opportunities both here and overseas. We're looking to roll out Digital Chameleon programs in Singapore and North America at the moment, and think we've got a solution that works for both those markets.  

We’ve also recently partnered with ad:tech Australia to launch ad:tech University (www.ad-tech.com/uni) in November this year in an effort to gear more people up with basic digital media knowledge.

4.  Take a punt on the next 'big thing' in the media industry?

I think it will be very interesting to see what happens with pay walls and paid content on the web - what will/won't work, and how it all plays out, what role the iPad plays.  My initial reaction to paid content was "the horse is already out of the barn," but Rupert Murdoch is no fool, and if anyone is motivated to figure out a model, it's him.

5.  What trends do you think the digital industry will see in the next 12 months?

I went to a very well attended online retail conference this year and continue to be amazed at how far behind we are in terms of ecommerce.  I'd like to think ecommerce will continue to pick up momentum in the next 12 months.  I also think the fog could start to clear around social media and how to approach, implement, and measure it from a marketing standpoint.  My favourite quote on social media is from Avinash Kaushik, the Google Analytics guru, "Social media is like teen sex.  Everyone wants to do it. Nobody knows how. When it's finally done there is surprise that it's not better."

I think the logical next step following on from agencies' love affair with performance-based buying models will be more local use of DSPs (demand side platforms), re-targeting, and a blurring of the lines between media owners, ad networks, and media agencies.

6.  How do you see digital and other media evolving in the next 5 years?

I've watched so many people swarm to mobile over the past few years, like cowboys to a gold rush. And I admit I've been one of those who rolled my eyes every time I've heard, "this will be the year mobile takes off as an ad platform."  But I think we're now at the tipping point where the computer will no longer be our primary internet-enabled device.  Internet portability, geo location apps, iPhone and iPad apps, IPTV - it will be fascinating to see how it all evolves and how content is developed to take advantage of the different devices and experiences.

7.  What does the digital/interactive industry need to do better, right now, to better position itself moving forward?

It needs to sort out all of the things it's been taking a hit for over the last few years - settling on an audience measurement standard, dealing with auto-refresh and site audits - these are all "hygiene" factors that it needs to get right in the process of maturing as a medium.  Since most of the people I work with are non-digital, "traditional" media people, I also tend to think the industry needs to do a better job of trying to integrate and understand other media.  I think there continues to be an attitude of "we are the chosen ones" within the digital industry, which will hold it back. 

8.  What is the biggest challenge facing the media industry today?

What a softball question, Denise!  Digital media and marketing knowledge, experience, and training, of course. I started Digital Chameleon because I believed, and still do, that the biggest impediment to unlocking the potential of digital media was lack of knowledge.  Training seems to be a controversial topic in the industry.  There was a thread recently on Mumbrella that highlighted how big the education gap is, even now, when we're well into the second decade of the web.  As more dollars are spent on digital, more people are going to continue to need to learn about it.

9.  Where do you get your industry information from?

I make a lot of use of RSS feeds from some valuable blogs - Mashable, TechCrunch, BoomTown, ClickZ, MediaBuyerPlanner, and my favourite - Susan Bratton's podcast, DishyMix.

10.  What industry groups or networks are you a part of?

These days it's mostly groups on LinkedIn - around digital media, social media, eLearning and education.

Thank you for your ongoing support of Digital People. If you would like to recommend someone to be profiled or have any other comments, please get in touch - denise@mediascope.com.au or Phone:  0424 100325