Chocolate Brownie

January 26, 2010

It’s rare that anyone at AJi in Farringdon has time to make dinner, let alone ‘moonlight’ in another job. However, that’s precisely what happened last weekend when Carla Spuri was spotted ushering round tourists in central London.  Hmmm.  Central heating bills too high?  A new Miele appliance needed for the kitchen? 

No. Apparently AJi’s senior campaign manager, an avid foodie with her own well-known food & recipe blog, occasionally helps out on London’s Chocolate Tours where she gets to visit numerous chocolate shops whilst having ‘chocoholic chats’. When confronted on Monday morning not only did Carla admit to being a ‘chocoguide’, she added that the following day she helped a food blogger friend evaluate 19 different types of chocolate brownie.

With Carla having another dinner party this weekend, round the corner from where the serial killer Denis Nilsen lived, the staff attending from AJi will expect nothing less than a chocolate extravaganza followed by a free taxi to Weightwatchers. 

Mobility Solutions

January 21, 2010

After many months in development, Attinger Jack interactive will shortly be launching a brand new website for people with mobility problems.

We’re going to keep the name under wraps until the actual launch date is near – a week or two at most from now – but here’s a sneak preview of our beta test site.

So what’s it all about?  Well, it’s a comparison website that lets consumers find out more about the various mobility aids available on the market.  These include stairlifts, riser recliner chairs, adjustable beds, mobility scooters, bathing aids and even hearing aids.

A UK-first for mobility products we hope it will become the first point of call for millions of people (and their adult children) looking for mobility aids for themselves (and for their parents).  There will be no daily editorial as such on the site although we will be writing our weekly views on our mobility blog which is now up and running.

All we’d advise is that for the foreseeable future you don’t invite Alex Attinger out for a drink.  Why?  Having immersed himself in mobility aids for the past five months, all you’ll get out of him is how WD40 works ‘oh so well’ for stairlifts.  Scintillating it’s not.

Happy New Year!

January 8, 2010

Or is it?  The staff at Attinger Jack in Bath might beg to differ as the office heating for the whole agency has packed up.  To keep morale high in temperatures of a less than toasty -2 degrees centigrade, staff are running a competition to see who can wear the most layers of clothes yet still remain mobile.

With stairs between all 5 floors wide enough for only one single heavily layered person, queues have even been seen forming between account management and the basement creative teams.

Meanwhile the staff at AJi in London are enjoying office temperatures of a warm 22 degrees centigrade, with t-shirts the standard apparel.  Whilst not wishing to be seen to be gloating in the tropical ambience, AJi London staff have been laying bets on the odds of an office’s heating system packing up during the coldest spell since 1982.  As one staffer was heard saying, “with luck like that, I wouldn’t want to get on a plane with any members of the Bath agency.”

Merry Christmas!

December 22, 2009

It’s that time of year again and the teams at Attinger Jack Advertising in Bath and Attinger Jack interactive in London would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a fantastic 2010.

A year ago, at a meeting of media owners in London, the feeling was that 2009 would be a year of ‘carnage’.  Thankfully that hasn’t happened and both AJ agencies have hit their respective targets.  What does 2010 have in store?  It’s difficult to say but one thing is clear, performance-based advertising will take centre stage.

As for the various staff at Attinger Jack in Bath, the holidays will come as welcome respite from the AJ Christmas party held at the Firehouse in Bath.  The evening was pleasant, yet tame by AJ standards, with David Attinger wearing the obligatory captain’s hat.

As the evening progressed things took a rather wilder turn for the better, or worse with flaming sambuca’s being the drink of choice.  However, as our video clip shows, someone needs to tell Ollie that it’s best not to spill your sambuca whilst it’s still alight.  Ollie was last seen in Bath Infirmary but the nurses tell us he’s doing fine.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Shaken not Stirred

December 17, 2009

It’s Christmas Party season and last Saturday saw one of the social calendar events of the year – the Accident Advice Helpline (AAH) Christmas Party.  This year’s event was held at Camden’s Holiday Inn, precariously situated alongside Regents Canal.

With lifeboats to hand and teams of lawyers based in Camden’s AAH offices, cynics might wonder whether AAH purposely host their parties in ‘dangerous locations’ in order to drum up business.

Whilst all of us at Attinger Jack don’t buy into such cynicism, the event’s James Bond theme had guns and starting pistols pointed at everyone.  As Alex said, ‘it only takes one to be loaded and there’ll be more business for AAH than they’ve seen in a year’.

As it happens the event passed of peacefully with Adam and Alex joining in with the James Bond fancy dress theme although Alex’s Beretta starting pistol did raise more than a few eyebrows as he fired it at AAH owners, Darren and Laurence, from a distance of two feet.  We’re expecting a lawyer’s letter any day now….

A Royal Performance

December 10, 2009

Occasionally the team at Attinger Jack interactive come up with a novel idea, often birthed between a bottle of Chairman’s Reserve rum (Alex) and Lagavullin whisky (Tom). 

This particular idea was worth the hangover it gave its proponents – performance based SEO.

Here’s how it works.  For a fixed monthly fee of just £1,000 and a ten percent share of incremental revenues delivered off the back of the improved SEO, clients can now achieve enhanced SEO for dramatically reduced risk.

You see, at the moment, many companies are spending £tens of thousands on SEO just to see it disappear into a black hole.  It all sounds suspiciously similar to what happened ten years ago when ‘website development’ cost £50,000 yet now costs just one tenth of that figure.

Alex points out, “performance based SEO will sort the boys from the men, because only those professionals that can truly deliver SEO can make performance based SEO work.”

Oscar de la Renta

December 9, 2009

This week Attinger Jack interactive was paid a visit by the boys in blue (note how we subtly refrain from using certain terms to avoid being SEO’d and associated with specific keywords).

Said undercover persons, looking dishevelled in a Starsky & Hutch fashion, we’re searching for a certain employee who had escaped the clutches of the law.

Did that employee belong to AJi?  We didn’t think so, but everybody’s eyes turned to our new Financial Director, Oscar Salas.  Focused, smart and pleasant to work with, Oscar can best be described as having a South American accent with a ‘godfather’ drawl straight out of Bogota.

Was his visa out of date?  Or were more sinister forces at work as Oscar moves £millions around the world in his ‘other’ job’?  Yes, you know the sort – the words ‘laundry’ and ‘money’ spring to mind.

Our suspicions were put to rest by Starsky & Hutch producing a photo of the offending villain.  Was it Oscar?  Not unless he’s had a face change. 

Phew. A big hearty welcome from all of us at Attinger Jack in Bath & Farringdon to Oscar Salas.  Oscar would also like us to point out that he doesn’t wear perfume.

A phoenix from the ashes

December 8, 2009

A few weeks ago, Attinger Jack was contacted by Media Week to inform us that the lunch we had planned with them might not be worth attending.  Why?  The magazine was shutting its doors and closing down immediately.  Cue much gnashing of teeth across the media industry as Media Week was really the only title that truly represented the sector.

Even worse was that we were told all the ‘marketing & media’ Haymarket journalists had to re-apply for their jobs with the headcount being reduced by one third. 

It was therefore with relief that this week we heard Sara Kimberley had retained her position as news reporter and Harriet Dennys had been promoted to Editor of Media Week Online.  Over the past two years both Sara and Harriet have written stories about Attinger Jack and AJ interactive and we’re really pleased for them both.

Good luck from all of us in Bath and London.

IAB Lead Gen Seminar

December 3, 2009

The great and good of the online lead generation world met this week for the IAB’s first ever lead gen seminar.  Taking place at the IAB’s swanky hip offices in a converted Covent Garden warehouse, the event attracted over 70 lead gen specialists.  Attendant brands included Danone, BMW, Air France, AOL and a host of media agencies such as Bigmouth Media, Mediacom, Response One to name a few. 

As founding members of the Internet Advertising Bureau Lead Generation Taskforce, AJi was also out in force with Tom Evans, Alex Attinger, Andy Turner and Jez Walters all present at the seminar. 

Tom was perhaps less present than most after indulging in one too many Asahi beers which he disclosed contributed to a “monster hangover”.  He then added “perhaps I’m getting old”……at 27?  Eh?  We dread to think what sort of hangover he’ll experience aged 50.

Feedback for the seminar was excellent and it is hoped another one will take place towards the latter half of 2010.  Other events planned for 2010 include a practical workshop, a debate and also some video interviews. Watch this space.

IAB showcases Cheapflights campaign

November 24, 2009

The Internet Advertising Bureau,  the UK’s leading online trade body based in Covent Garden, has just used one of Attinger Jack interactive’s campaigns as a case study for its lead generation section.

The campaign in question was for Cheapflights, the UK’s leading travel price comparison website.  Attinger Jack interactive was tasked by Cheapflights to drive registrations to its weekly e-newsletter with strict open rate targets of 32%, well above the industry average of 26%.

How did the campaign do?  In month one, 8,000 registrations were generated with an open rate of 18%.  By tweaking the campaign and modifying various aspects, subsequent results have witnessed monthly volumes of 16,000 with open rates peaking at 36%. 

The campaign is text book lead generation and a cast-iron example of AJi’s expertise in developing campaigns and also improving on them in real time in order to deliver the end results.  Cue pleased client and more than a few back-slaps for the hard working team at AJi in Farringdon.

If you’d like to read the case study, please click here.