Artem were given a brief to design and build a full size singing and dancing chameleon, complete with harmonica playing ladybird friend. 

Simon Tayler - Supervisor/Designer at Artem - emphasised the tough nature of the task:  “We had to cram all the servos, mechanisms, cables and lights into a very small space”, said Simon.  “It was more like watch making than normal animatronics”.

In the commercial the chameleon took the shape of a novelty phone, with a difference.  It dances and sings along to Culture Club's ‘Karma Chameleon’ and its belly lights up when the words “red, gold and green” are sung.  Both the chameleon and the ladybird are sitting on a log, which provides the phone’s key pad.

When the commercial first aired more than 50,000 viewers rang BT asking where they could buy one.

Manufacturers Burostat responded by producing a replica for sale in The Gadget Shop in the UK..

Artem’s Simon Tayler, who designed the original phone said:  “It is ironic, as the brief was to produce a phone that looked like a commercially sold product.  Now we have come full circle.”