Green Cathedral plc

On the 29th of October, Green Cathedral and the Open University attended the British Interactive Media Association (BIMA) 2006 awards ceremony at the Royal Hospital London. Having been short-listed in the 'Best Online Game' category, there was tough competition from top London agencies, advertising multinational brands. However, Green Cathedral took the award with Kitchen Konundrum, a game created for The Open University.

In the words of BIMA themselves "the 'Best Online Game' award will recognise the most outstanding example of online gaming. Judges will be looking for creativity, inspiration, high production values and most importantly great game play. Entries must be playable within a browser"

Ian Roddis and Vicky Stirling from The Open University joined our Managing Director; Paul O'Donoghue, and the Technical Lead on the Project; Steven Beattie on stage to collect the award.

The next day Paul commented, "To win an award judged by our peers in this way is a great achievement and speaks volumes about the standard of work that we are producing as a company - a big thank you to all involved"

A special mention must go to Rajen Mistry and Tammy Tipper who worked long and hard on the creative, but were too busy to attend the award ceremony.

Green Cathedral ranked 15th in the 2006 Marketing League Table

November 2006

Green Cathedral has been ranked 15th in the Marketing League Table of Top Digital Agencies standing us shoulder-to-shoulder with the some of the largest and most respected London agencies. We were the only agency with a presence in the East of England to be included on the list.

Green Cathedral is listed as a full service interactive agency with mention made of our clients including Businesslink, Open University and PC World. Our stengths continue to be listed as Search, Media and Design and Build as Dr Michael Woodley, co-founder and Chief Executive commented:

"In 2005, we united our design and build and our online/search marketing businesses under the leadership of our long-serving and highly experienced MD, Paul O'Donoghue. This move carried risk but has now resulted in a united, full-service digital agency with a common purpose and an exceptional culture of team performance and delivery to customers across all departments."

Green Cathedral ranked 26th in the 2006 New Media Age Top 100 Agencies List

September 2006

Green Cathedral has been ranked 26th overall in the 2006 New Media Age Top 100 digital agencies list, and 1st in the East of England by a revenues margin of 290% above the next strongest competitor in the region.

With 75% of revenues from online marketing and search (25% from design and build), Green Cathedral is classified in the NMA rankings as a marketing agency. The 2006 listing places GC 14th in the marketing agencies group, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the some of the largest and most respected London agencies.

Dr Michael Woodley, co-founder and Chief Executive commented: "It's a testament to our strategic focus on search engine marketing, both in natural and in paid search, that we have risen up the NMA rankings as a whole, in line with the growth of this previously niche sector, and we have defended our place in the national marketing agencies class."

"Online advertising spend continues to grow at 40% per annum with a 2006 market share of 10.5% of the total UK advertising market, up from 7.3% last year. Online is now double the size of outdoor, and of magazine display, it's more than three times the size of radio and is now only half the size of TV. And it is paid search in particular where the growth is really being driven."

Green Cathedral Rises to 29th Place in the 2006 Sunday Times Tech Track

September 2006

Green Cathedral has risen to 29th place in the 2006 Sunday Times Tech Track listing, up from 43rd place in 2005. The improved ranking and the placement in the list for a second consecutive year reinforces Green Cathedral's position as one of the UK's fastest growing private technology companies with an annualised growth rate of 95%. The result, which was in line with expectations, places GC as the second fastest growing digital media agency in the UK.

Dr Michael Woodley, co-founder and Chief Executive explains: "This year's improved ranking is far more rewarding for us as a company and for all our people who have worked so hard to refine our proposition for customers. Having stabilised our design and build operation, we focused in 2005 on growing our online and search marketing business with what can only be described as very satisfactory results. Online and search marketing (SEO/SEM) now contribute 75% of our revenues and our unique ROI-based proposition in search has been met very favourably in the market.

"Our continuing success is due in large part to the outstanding efforts of Paul O'Donoghue, our operational MD, under whose leadership the business continues to flourish. Mr O'Donoghue and his exceptional management team have united our technical and our marketing businesses under the roof of a single full-service agency with a superb and united culture and a united mission. We thank Paul and his team for their hard work and their unwavering focus on an ambitious long-term growth strategy."

More good news for the Green Cathedral Graduate Programme

September 2006

Now in its second year the Green Cathedral graduate programme has once again been successful in offering graduate student placements and positions within its agency environment.

Due to the high calibre and quantity of this year's graduate applications Green Cathedral has made six placements as opposed to the usual four, including positions in Search and Account Administration. Graduates are placed in both our London and Cambridge offices and are given a full set of internal and external training options.

All of our graduates work on actual client work alongside our existing teams and are expected to take part in all facets of the job. In return we offer a negotiable salary and benefits package (including a company mobile phone and private health insurance) and they get the chance to kick start their career in one of the most respected agencies in the digital marketplace.

Gregory Damas joined in July 2006 and has this to say about the programme and his experience so far:

"I came on board at Green Cathedral as a graduate in Search and now work as a Junior PPC Optimiser working alongside the existing experienced teams. I was put straight into training and direct client work under the guidance of the experts here at GC. I'm learning loads and love working in the environment they have here - I'd highly recommend the programme to any graduates trying to get their foot in the door of the digital marketing industry."

To find out more about the Green Cathedral Graduate Programme click here or contact Audrey Pam on audrey.pam@greencathedral.com

Green Cathedral plc creates new company: Cambridge IPTV Limited

August 2006

In a recent Accenture media content survey, 78% of TV executives expressed a belief that IPTV will revolutionise the television industry and will achieve full mainstream penetration within just 5 years. For the TV executives, this represents a palpable sense of urgency.

IPTV (Internet Protocol TV) is a means to deliver television content to viewers through the technologies used for computer networks instead of through traditional formats and cabling. For residential users, IPTV can be received via the web with broadband connectivity and can be viewed either on a home PC, a mediacentre PC connected to a television or through a set-top box appliance. For business, IPTV can be used to deliver television content over corporate LANs and business networks.

Cambridge IPTV Limited is a new company spun out of Green Cathedral plc. The founders of Green Cathedral, Dr Michael Woodley and Paul Putwain, believe so strongly in the future of IPTV that they have chosen to establish and invest in an entirely new company wholly focused on IPTV service provision and platform development.

Cambridge IPTV has two primary technology assets that, combined, enable the company to offer content owners a unique IPTV platform for the future. The first is an IPTV delivery server platform which provides a full, server-to-viewer solution for any content proprietor wishing to launch an IPTV channel. The second is a fundamentally new Doovle video search technology that allows viewers to "search inside" the actual video content to find programmes, clips and scenes they are interested in watching.

Open University Viral Game - Kitchen Konundrum

August 2006

Green Cathedral has created a viral game for the Open University designed to engage with a younger audience of prospective students aged 17-25, introducing them to the Open University brand.

The game features a leaderboard with email notifications and 'tell-a-friend' viral facility. An admin suite allows the creation of new game categories with the addition of conundrums, statistics reporting for tracking usage, referral information etc.

Play Kitchen Konundrum

Open University Business School website launch

August 2006

Green Cathedral launches the Open University Business School website www.open.ac.uk/oubs

Open University Research Portal launches

August 2006

Green Cathedral has worked closely with the Open University to develop an extensive research portal. See for yourself www.open.ac.uk/research

Green Cathedral wins the Center Parcs Search programme

August 2006

Green Cathedral's Combined Search strategy has been chosen by Center Parcs, the UK's leading short break holiday operator, to help maximise the return on their Natural and Paid Search activity. Center Parcs were looking for an agency that would enable them to understand the complete search marketing picture and maximise the ROI from both types of search engine listings. By combining search in this way Center Parcs can be much more strategic in the marketplace and fully integrate search into the overall digital marketing mix.

Jo Button from Center Parcs commented that, "Green Cathedral were the strongest agency that could demonstrate a true understanding of the combined PPC and SEO proposition. The combined search strategy for us will help define how we achieve further success online in the marketplace to satisfy customer and company”.

The Center Parcs search model is perfectly aligned with Green Cathedral's combined search approach and Green Cathedral is looking forward to driving significant returns for the client. Green Cathedral will assist Center Parcs in understanding their marketplace and how their customer's research and buy online, which will include Center Parcs becoming one of the first companies in the UK to utilise Omniture's SearchCenter™.

Paul O'Donoghue, Managing Director of Green Cathedral commented that, "This is a very important win for Green Cathedral, Center Parcs is one of Europes premium holiday companies and we are excited about the prospect of working with them. This is an exciting period for both companies, combined search is the future of search marketing and we believe that our approach and strategy for Center Parcs will drive high volumes of the right type of search results and traffic, while maximising cost efficiency across the program. Both Center Parcs and Green Cathedral have worked very hard to make this relationship come together, and we look forward to a long and successful partnership".

Two more members of Green Cathedral's Search Team have qualified for the Google AdWords Professional programme

July 2006

Two more of Green Cathedral's Search Managers have qualified for the Google AdWords Professional programme. Green Cathedral's Head of Search, Mark Fagan said, “This further illustrates our dedication to providing the best possible service for our clients and making sure that everyone who works in Search within Green Cathedral keeps up-to-date with the latest in best practice”.

The programme will enable the Search Team to maximise further results by creating their own adverts, and choosing keywords which will help Google match our ads to the targeted audience, and only paying when someone clicks on them.

Green Cathedral and its Search Team are delighted at the progression of two of its strong team members and will continue to add value to our Search business by ensuring our experts are all fully trained professionals.

Alastair Cole joins Green Cathedral as Head of Production

July 2006

Alastair Cole joins Green Cathedral from Clickstream Technologies plc. Working at Clickstream as Senior Technical Account Manager, Alastair was responsible for managing their global partner programme and supporting new business.

Prior to Clickstream, Alastair worked at Saatchi and Saatchi London as Technical Architect, his responsibilities were to lead development and project teams through the design and implementation of technical projects.

With over 10 years experience in the interactive sector, Alastair has delivered integrated digital solutions to a varied range of high profile clients. His extensive knowledge will help to develop online operations and to define the company's technical proposition.

Danny Weston, Green Cathedral's Operations Director, said, "I am delighted to welcome Alastair Cole to Green Cathedral as our new Head of Production. Alastair brings with him a wealth of web design and build experience and a proven track record and will ensure we continue to build successfully and smartly. I look forward immensely to working with him and further strengthening our exceptional proposition."

Online Brand Awareness Study comissioned by Green Cathedral's Media Team

June 2006

As part of ongoing online advertising activity, Green Cathedral's Media Team and one of the largest online learning groups dedicated to distance learning, are partnering with Dynamic Logic, prime online research experts, to custom-build an online brand awareness study.

The study will be live in June/July, and will measure brand favourability, awareness and creative message effectiveness as part of developing direct response and brand advertising activity across sites such as MSN, Yahoo!, AOL and networks including Blue Lithium and Adviva.

Green Cathedral promotes EDF Trading Ltd in Europe with a range of exhibition collateral

May 2006

EDF Trading Ltd (EDFT), one of Europe's pre-eminent energy traders, has tasked Green Cathedral to help them promote their business in a series of European exhibitions following on from the success of the EDFT web site designed and built by Green Cathedral during 2005.

The material produced for the exhibitions will include exhibition stands, brochures and plasma displays.

Steven Bennett-Day, Green Cathedral's Creative Director, attains chartered status as a Member of the Chartered Society of Designers

April 2006

Green Cathedral's Creative Director, Steven Bennett-Day, has attained chartered status as a Member of the Chartered Society of Designers. The Chartered Society of Designers (CSD) is the world's largest chartered body for professional designers and is unique in representing designers in all disciplines.

The CSD is governed by Royal Charter and as such its members are obliged to practice to the highest professional standards. The Society is not a trade body or association and membership is only awarded to qualified designers who must also prove their professional capability during an admission assessment. If a designer has MCSD™ or FCSD™ after their name you can be assured of a professional service.

The Society exists to promote concern for the sound principles of design in all areas in which such considerations apply, to further design practice and encourage the study of design techniques for the benefit of the community. In so doing, it seeks to secure and promote a professional body of designers to regulate and control their practice for the benefit of the industry and the public.

Green Cathedral's Video Search Technology selected as Competition Finalist at MIPTV 2006

April 2006

Green Cathedral's unique video search technology, codenamed "Doovle", has been selected by a panel of BBC judges as a finalist in this year's Content 360 digital pitching competition, part of MIPTV 2006.

The Content 360 competition has been launched this year in partnership between MIPTV, the BBC and the National Film Board of Canada. This year's competition invited entrants from all over the world to submit innovative applications and technologies in several categories, including digital and mobile video.

Green Cathedral's "Doovle" digital video search technology was chosen as one of four finalists out of 180 entries from 23 countries in the BBC's category of "Longtail Content: Navigating the BBC Archive".

On Doovle's selection as a finalist by the BBC judging panel, Michael Woodley commented: "The BBC owns a vast archive of legacy video content. The primary benefit of the Doovle application is to enable users to find scenes they remember, probably vaguely, from films and programmes and to watch those scenes again over broadband. As a means to navigate an archive of digital video assets, Doovle is an ideal and very entertaining solution."

The Design Association launches with a speech from Wally Olins and a website from Green Cathedral.

March 2006

The Chartered Society of Designers (CSD) has launched the Design Association, the first worldwide accreditation scheme for design consultancies and in-house design teams. This is a major design sector initiative to encourage and assist companies to engage consultancies that are 'professionally recognised'.

The Design Association was launched in partnership with specialist insurer Hiscox, at an event held at Hiscox's Art Café in the City of London. Wally Olins, Chairman, Saffron Brand Consultants, and one of the world's leading practitioners of corporate identity and branding, gave the keynote speech.

www.design-association.org

Green Cathedral has appointed Mark Fagan as Head of Search

January 2006

Mark Fagan joins Green Cathedral from Yahoo! Search where he was a Senior Traffic Manager, overseeing the UK and Northern Europe. He has worked with some of Yahoo! Search's biggest clients and advertising agencies. In his new role with Green Cathedral Mark will be working closely with clients to develop both our paid and natural search offerings.

Mark will work alongside the existing team to maximise the opportunities in search and to ensure that the further development of Green Cathedral's proposition is both effective and in line with the evolution of the fast paced search environment.

Danny Weston, Green Cathedral's Operations Director, said, “I'm pleased to welcome Mark Fagan to us here at Green Cathedral. He joins us as Head of Search and brings with him an extensive knowledge of both Paid and Natural Search campaigns and techniques”.

Mark Fagan brings a wealth of experience, having worked in search for 4 years across a number of high profile clients. His move to Green Cathedral will enable the company to carry on developing new strategies that will continue to put Green Cathedral at the front of search, benefiting both ourselves and every one of our clients.

Green Cathedral reunites GCDM and GC Interactive

January 2006

In 2003 Green Cathedral spun out its online marketing division as GCDM Limited. This was done to allow an "agency culture" to develop within GCDM and to create an independent management team. At the same time, GC's entire web services business (with its tech culture) was spun out into another subsidiary, GC Interactive Limited. In both businesses, Managing Directors were apppointed and tasked with building management teams and with proving that their respective businesses could succeed and grow.

GCDM has grown very rapidly into a strong and stable business. GC Interactive has also flourished but had to recognise that its technical skills were being commoditised in a changing market and the company has evolved into high-end, design-focused web agency. This transformation was achieved under Steven Bennet-Day, the Creative Director.

Two and a half years later, the two cultures of the two companies are aligned. The two have now merged back together under one leader, Paul O'Donoghue, and an exceptional and experienced management team. The united company, GCDM, trades as "Green Cathedral" and remains wholly owned subsidiary of Green Cathedral plc.