More PR for our job sites

This time in the form of an article I wrote recently for OnRec Magazine, the publication for the online recruitment industry.

The article talks about the importance of niche recruitment websites for employers and the advantages of them over 'general' job boards (riveting stuff I'm sure you'll agree).

It's not quite a Booker prize winner, but at two pages long is great PR for some of our sites, including AviationJobsearch.com.

You can read the full article here (and there will be a quiz after!).

Sayers Online team is growing

The Sayers Common Online Sales Team has expanded last week with some new staff.

And they are...

Paul Pearce
Kevin Johnson
Mikey Amis
Anne Keating
Pier Walker

There ain't no party like an S-Common party

Another Christmas party done and dusted. On Saturday night staff from Sayers Common and Falcon Park spent a quiet evening of intellectual conversation and sensible behaviour (yeah right!) at the Ramada Jarvis hotel in Brighton.

Judging by the fact some people are still recovering some 48 hours later it seems a good time was had by all!

If you have access to the B: Drive then have a look at Alan Stuart's party arrival photos at:

B:\Public\2007 Xmas party photos

I'm sure there are lots of 'unofficial' photos to be viewed so send me any ones that are legally allowed on the Internet and I'll post them here.

A big thank you to Sarah and Katie who did spend a lot of time and effort organising the party (despite not always getting credit for it). And contrary to popular belief the reason our table won one of the quiz rounds was not due to them telling us the answers, but due to an amazing invention called "Google on a mobile phone"...who said cheats never prosper!

PR for TravelJobsearch.com

A small, but perfectly formed bit of PR for TravelJobsearch.com in the latest issue of industry magazine Recruiter. It's an article anlaysing the Leisure and tourism sector this year:

Vacancies are rising across the UK. In England there are 3,250 permanent vacancies, up from 2,000 this time last year; in Scotland there are 310, up from 50 and in Wales there are 20, up from 15, according to Reed.co.uk's market index. David Somerville, marketing manager for travel jobs board TravelJobsearch.com, says: "The number of job vacancies has increased year-on-year, and there have been a number of agencies opening up that specialise in the area."

You can read the article in full here.

Simply missed out

Apologies to Jason Lee from Simply Online who Dave Capper missed off the list. Jason is Simply's technical expert, who handles the development, design and other geeky stuff.

Another storming month for IRT

Following on from last month where the team smashed the biggest target ever, IRT once again beat this month's target of £109,797 with a final figure of £112,665.

Good work fellas!

How to survive the office Christmas party

With the Sayers Christmas party looming fast (and I'm sure our other offices have theirs soon too), here's a quick guide from officebroker.com on how to survive the office Christmas Party...

When you gotta go, you gotta go - Even if your boss is named Ebenezer, you should show up at your Company office party.

Eat, drink but don’t be too merry! – Probably the most important “do" at any office party. Just because people wish you a "Merry" Christmas doesn't mean that you have to take them literally. Be aware that alcohol lowers your inhibitions, clouds judgment and may cause you to do something you regret.

Leave the mini skirt in the wardrobe - Leave low-cut, short and sexy items of clothing in your wardrobe. Not only will you catch a cold, but you may also lose the respect of your bosses and co-workers.

Watch the clock - Arrive on time and don’t be the last one found propping up the bar or asleep in a corner.

Talk the talk – Parties are not the time to shrink into the wallpaper. Mingle and introduce yourself to everyone. Have some ice-breakers ready such as: "What are you doing for Christmas?" but avoid conversation deflators such as: "Do you have kids?" (If the answer is no, there's no place to go from there.)

Don’t flirt with the boss – This is an office party, not a singles bar and it will not advance your career. Also make sure you aren’t caught in any compromising positions with a hidden camera - trying to explain a slow dance with the MD may be difficult.

Beware of the office gossip - Under no circumstances should you traffic in office gossip. You never know who is standing behind you.

Grin and bear it – The party is being given for your benefit, so be gracious, forget your paltry Christmas bonus and leave your Grinch personality at home for the evening.

Leave the bank card at home – Buying a drunken round for 30 may seem like a good idea at the time but the chances are that while your colleagues will soon forget this act of goodwill your kids won’t when Santa doesn’t come as a result!

Don’t talk shop – And whatever you do, remember that now is not the time to ask your boss for that long awaited promotion or pay rise. You honestly won’t get it!

More people and more money for Simply

Simply Online are celebrating another succesful sales month with the recruitment of three new staff.

New starters today are Lisa Johnson, Paul Swift and Dave Shuttleworth.

Simply's target for November was £46,000 and they scraped through with a total of £72,000. All of the sites hot target and this is the fourth consecutive month that this has happened.

A quick rundown of the existing staff and what they do for your reference...

Ian Partington - MD
Dave Capper - Sales Manager and Ad Agencies (all sites)
Tony Charters - Senior Account Manager, SimplyMarketingjobs
Evonne Hill - Account Manager, SimplySalesjobs
James Halstead - Account Manager, SimplySalesjobs
Ben Wareing - Account Manager, SimplyHRjobs
Carlene - Admin Assistant
Yours truly - Marketing Manager

Binny, a diving tank and some ice cream

Not some strange dream, but this bizarre cocktail was witnessed on Saturday at the Earl's Court Boat Show.

Intrepid Boats and Outboards sales girl Binny went one better than her recent 'wakeboarding to sign a deal' activity, by taking a dive in a pool of water...whilst holding an ice cream.

You can read the full story here. And a special prize for captions to the photo above please!

Photos courtesy of Boatshed.com

A lesson in stating the obvious

This ad was taken by Nikki Favorido on Adline over the weekend:

rover 75 2.0 CDT, Sold as repair.engine not working. 2001. Was running until engine stopped.£700 ono.

Des Lynam becomes 'Setanta Claus'

With Christmas just a few weeks away, here's my first festive post.

It's the new TV ad from Setanta Sports, featuring legendary walrus-moustached presenter Des Lynam.

It breaks on Saturday during the commercial break for Family Fortunes, and features Des playing the part of 'Setanta Claus'.

You can watch Des's ad on the Guardian site here.

And there's more...

I forgot to mention the PR for TapThat.co.uk last week on Brandrepublic.com - the 'bible' for those who work in the marketing, advertising, media and pr industries.

Check out their article here.

Nice PR for TapThat.co.uk

TapThat.co.uk has gained some useful PR this week in the form of an article in trade magazine Recruiter.

This has a circulation of nearly 30,000 people who work within the recruitment industry. The equivalent ad value of the space is around £850.

The story has also been aggregated onto Google News so will reach a possible audience of millions.

You can read the article on Recruiter's website here.

Possibly the best advert in the world?

Courtesy of Simon Rowland (Quelle suprise)...

Press release of the week

Nation Thinking About Sport During Sex

17 per cent of UK males and 10 per cent of females admit to thinking about sport whilst in the heat of passion, according to a study by Setanta Sports News, the 24-hour rolling sports new channel.

Setanta Sports News found that the nation’s sporting fixation doesn’t interfere with just sex; it also affects other events: 23 per cent of men said they had stood someone up on a date to catch up on their team, a further 20 per cent admitted to missing a friend’s wedding due to a vital sporting engagement and an incredible 4 per cent even said they had missed the birth of their child to watch their team play.

Editor in Chief, Setanta Sports News, Geoff Hill, commented: “As we planned the launch of our sports news channel, we knew we were dealing with a subject that was close to people’s hearts but we have really uncovered just how passionate people are about sport! It’s clear people spend a great deal of time, and much of that time is in the most personal situations, obsessing about their favourite sports and teams. We have designed our new channel with this in mind, to be a home for fans to honestly and passionately share their love of sport.”

Setanta Sports News presenter Kelly Dalglish said: “We knew men were sports-obsessed but I think most women would be astonished to know men even think about sport during sex.”
Despite recent disappointments including Lewis Hamilton’s failure to win the F1 Championship, a rugby World Cup final defeat and the disaster of England failing to qualify for Euro 2008, British sports fans clearly have sport on the brain.

Results reveal that 26 per cent of Brits thinks about sport every hour of the day, including a staggering 1.2 million of the population who think about sport every 5 seconds!

When asked the situations they found themselves thinking about sport, the great British public came up with some surprising responses including at funerals, weddings and even on the toilet!

Yes, it’s official, the most popular time for mulling over the latest England formation, Andy Murray’s forehand or the offside rule, according to 56 per cent of Brits, is on the toilet. Further results revealed that sport is far more important to Brits than what could be considered bigger issues, including world peace, politics and even the latest celebrity news story. 62 per cent of the UK revealed that they would rather spend their time thinking about their team or sport than world peace with celebrity gossip (54 per cent) and politics (51 per cent) also seen as inferior in importance to sport.

Video killed the radio star

New to friday-ad.co.uk recently are Video Ads. These have been introduced as another way for customers to help sell their items or promote their businesses.

Rob Hancock has been out in Uckfield with his handy cam and as a result there are some great video ads now populating the site.

There's a range of videos online now - everything from the Seagulls shop to the Cock & Bull to Christmas trees...




Check them out and find your favourite.

Video ads can be posted by customers using our Place An Ad service online.

Not FAD related, but very good...

This is just an excuse for me to include a surfing video here, but I'm sure you'll agree it's worth it...



Teahupoo, on the island of Tahiti a couple of weeks ago.

New sales manager for IRT

With Paul Cruise's imminent departure to Pembroke, Ian Partington has now taken over the responsibility for the sales of the four IRT websites.

Gavin (Pitts) and Stuart (Fowler) are running the team on a day-to-day basis and should be the first point of contact for any queries.

Good work Pembroke!

Congratulations to our Pembroke office who in the end raised a total of £1550 for this year's Children in Need.

Here's a final update on the action...



The Prettiest Pets competition ended on Friday - people paid 50p to enter their pets and 20p to vote - Bruce the cat won with 69 votes!! Her owners Shaun Barcoe and Sian Matthews are very proud!! In second place was Jack the Jack Russell, owned by Jo Hicks and third place was Eric, owned by Sarah and Janet Collins. Special mention to Steph Wainright and her entry Beauty Boy who would have come third except he wasn't her horse, she borrowed his pic from Horsemart!!

The guess the teddy bears name was won by Will Jones - the name was Noah, his grandsons name!

The sweets were won by Angela Davies - she correctly guessed there were 300 sweets in the jar.

We also had some Pudsey bear scratchcards - the winners were Kate Adams and Sian Matthews who each won a bottle of wine!

Also, the photos are being uploaded onto the BBC website - www.bbc.co.uk/pudsey.

Ahoy there mateys...another aquisition for the Friday Group

In case you missed the email, here's some news from Rob:

For some of you this may be old news but this is the first opportunity I’ve had to let everyone know that last week we completed the acquisition of Marine Trader Media which owns boatshop24.com, boatshop24.co.uk and two monthly magazines Boat Trader and Boats & Yachts for Sale.

Boatshop24.com effectively covers the whole of Europe and we will be looking to extend it’s reach further – when combined with Boatsandoutboards.co.uk we are the number one marine classified site in the whole of Europe and only just short of being number one in the world!

The magazines enable us to offer a complete marketing solution for boat brokers and marine related advertising.

With the acquisition came offices in Chichester and Hamburg and another 22 people joined the Friday Holdings Group – most of them get to visit us next week.

Rob

Huge success for Pembroke's Children in Need fundraising

Updates from Shaun Barcoe about their hugely successful week of Children in Need fundraising.

The auction alone raised over £1000 and there is money to come in still from lots of other activities.

Here's a video of some of the auction, showing just how competitive the bidding was...

Here's a list of who won what in the auction and how much they paid (Karen - I would have paid much more than £26 for a date!):

Child's mermaid fancy dress costume, age 9-10yrs, green - Won by Ruth Thompson £5.00
Meal for 2 in the Pembroke Ferry Inn - Won by Frank Farrer £15.00
4 tickets for Folly Farm - Won by Jayne Dalgleish £13.00
2 tickets to see Dads Army in the Swansea Grand theatre - Won by Rob Watts £32.00
2 tickets for Bath Christmas market, including bus - Won by Judith James £18.00
2 x 20 lap tickets for BP Karting - Won by Mike Cockburn £18.00
Dance UK Wireless Karaoke microphone for PS2 - Won by Dave Hayes £10.00
£30 voucher for Pembroke Carvery - Won by Alan Muir £25.00
£10 voucher for Moon and Sixpence or Vincent Davies - Won by Roy Thomas £10.00
Family ticket (2 adults and 4 children) for National Botanical Garden - Won by Paul Davies £12.00
2 adults and 3 child's tickets for Techniquest, Cardiff - Won by Jo-Ceri Lewis £15.00
Real silver bracelet with lilac stones - Won by Val Smith £15.00
£10 jewellery voucher for use when the jewellery lady is here on 4th December - Won by Jayne Dalgleish £10.00
1 months free membership for Curves gym in Pembroke - Won by Angelina Dyne £5.00
Autographed photos of Fern Britton, Philip Schofield and a "This Morning" funny bits dvd - Won by Gavin Davies £25.00
£10 voucher for Premier Meats - Won by Jayne Dalgleish £7.00
Official BBC Children In Need Pudsey bear - Won by Angelina Dyne £11.00
£100 Thomas Cook voucher - Won by Angela Davies £50
Victoria Beckham Perfume - Won by Karen Lewis £18.00
Date with Karen Lewis (Inc. Dinner) - Gavin Davies £26.00
Date with our very own ex-Pro Wrestler Gavin Davies (Inc. Dinner) - Won by Jenna Clemance £32.00
Necklace and Earring set - Won by Victoria Hussey £11.00

Shaun also wants to give his thanks on behalf of everyone to Margi Jenkins and Kate Adams, who have worked really hard to get the prizes for auction and the prizes for the raffles.

Also! There is plenty more to come, with raffles and games on Friday! Any donations would be gratefully accepted!

Does your boss have the X-Factor?

This was forwarded to me by Sarah, who is hopefully not hinting she wishes I was more like Sharon Osbourne...

People starting out in their working lives really want their employer to have the X-Factor, according to a survey released today. The ‘Dream Jobs’ research conducted by Alliance & Leicester Premier 21 Current Accounts revealed Sharon Osborne was the young professional’s most popular choice when asked which celebrity they would most like to have as their boss.

The survey comes as part of a new programme by Alliance & Leicester to support their market-leading Premier 21 Current Account, which offers people starting out in their working lives the unique opportunity to spend a day with one of ten celebrity professionals including chef James Martin, business guru Tim Campbell and designer Wayne Hemmingway.

The research also revealed that while being an X-Factor judge might boost your popularity, if you’re considering entering next year’s Big Brother, you might want to think again. Reality contestant, along with politician, was voted the least sexy profession by 16-21 year olds. Unsurprisingly, policeman and fireman came out top as the hottest job for a man, confirming the stereotype that most women can’t resist a man in uniform!

Sharon Osborne came top of the list of celebrity bosses, which included Homer Simpson, Richard Branson and Nelson Mandela. For once she managed to beat Simon Cowell for the top spot - he’ll be disappointed with third place. The future doesn’t bode well for conservative leader David Cameron however who, as well as being a politician, came bottom of the list after Jose Mourinho and Darth Vader.

Andy Bayes, Head of Current Accounts at Alliance & Leicester commented: “Regardless of whether your career path takes you in the direction of your dream job, or towards something you had not previously considered, one thing that everyone will need from the time they start their working lives is sound advice. As part of the ‘Premier 21 Mentor Scheme’ we have brought together some of the most successful people in their chosen careers. What better advice can youngsters get than from people at the top of their game who have been there, done that and got the T-shirt?”

Dream Jobs Stats:
· Women still love a man in uniform, with policeman and fireman being voted sexiest job for a man
· Respondents voted politicians and reality show contestants the least sexy profession with less than 1% voting them the sexiest
· Actor was voted the most glamorous job
· More people are willing to be an escort or stripper than they are a toilet attendant, with 90% of young people saying they would not be willing to work as a toilet attendant
· Working as an escort proved more popular with men, with twice as many males as females saying they would consider being an escort as a profession
· Despite the prevalence of reality talent shows, 60% of 16-21 year olds are currently striving to be a businessman/business woman

Pembroke Children in Need update

Another lot has been added to the auction - a £100 voucher for Thomas Cook in Haverfordwest.

Plus here's a photo of Niki's hair that she had done at the weekend...

Shame it's not the good old Pantone 375 (only Design and Studio will understand that I think!)

Another crew member for the Friday Group

We recently completed the acquisition of Mailspeed Marine, which is the UK's largest mail order chandlers.

They are based in the Northwest of England, with a retail unit and warehousing facilities, plus two further retail stores in Essex.

Chris explained the reasons behind this acquisition: "We have made this purchase as it offers us the perfect opportunity to use it to form the basis of our future retail operations.

"Their extensive facilities mean we can add products to the warehouse to fulfill our other retail areas (equestrian, snow sports, motorbikes etc).

"It also allows us to extend our LetsGoShopping brand, with the eventual aim being to have retail channels for all of our relevant websites."

Green hair, diets and Pudsey at Pembroke

The guys and girls in Pembroke are making a big effort this year to raise funds for BBC's Children in Need.

They are doing lots of things this week including:

- Guess the teddy bears name
- Raffle
- Prettiest pets competition
- Niki Favorido is being sponsored to dye her hair green
- Angela Davies is doing a sponsored diet (4.5lbs so far and most people are sponsoring her £1 per 1lb!!)
- Auction

For the auction itself they have managed to get loads of great lots including:

- Child's mermaid fancy dress costume, age 9-10yrs, green
- Meal for 2 in the Pembroke Ferry Inn
- 4 tickets for Folly Farm
- 2 tickets to see Dads Army in the Swansea Grand theatre
- 2 tickets for Bath Christmas market, including bus
- 2 x 20 lap tickets for BP Karting
- Dance UK Wireless Karaoke microphone for PS2
- £30 voucher for Pembroke Carvery
- £10 voucher for Moon and Sixpence or Vincent Davies
- Family ticket (2 adults and 4 children) for National Botanical Garden
- 2 adults and 3 child's tickets for Techniquest, Cardiff
- Real silver bracelet with lilac stones
- £10 jewellery voucher for use when the jewellery lady is here on 4th December
- 1 months free membership for Curves gym in Pembroke
- Autographed photos of Fern Britton, Philip Schofield and a "This Morning" funny bits dvd
- £10 voucher for Premier Meats
- Official BBC Children In Need Pudsey bear

Although many of these items are local to Pembroke, if anyone from the other offices wants to bid on something then please contact Ann Jones, and she will bid on your behalf.
Email - ann.jones@friday-ad.co.uk or call her on extension 6705

More from Spain

With the first publication of the new Costa Blanca Friday-Ad hitting the streets tomorrow (09/11/07), here's a quick "Who's Who" from Marion who was out training staff in the new Costa Blanca office...

The new office is in Villa Martin, just outside Torrevieja. Tim Kafourous will be looking after the Sales Operation in the Costa Blanca, in addition to the existing Costa del Sol edition

The new reps working on the new edition are Graeme Nicol, Nick Da Roza, and Vicky Knight, who are all English and living in the local area.

Jean Pickering has also taken the big step of moving to Spain from Bristol, where she was previously a field sales rep for Trade-It. Her partner Mark will also be working for Friday-Ad in Spain, doing a combination of field sales and distribution.

Before we'd even opened for business we had people coming in the door to place ads, so the signs are great!

You've seen the bricks, now check out the website

Following on from ‘those brick posters’ that graced our office walls recently, all has become clear with the launch of TapThat.co.uk.

TapThat.co.uk is the UK representative of an international family of community websites that are based on a common platform and have shared development. They are currently operating in Hungary and Romania, with another three countries planned to launch before the end of this year.

TapThat.co.uk is a free community website that aims to support and develop local communities by getting their residents to interact online.

The main reason for the launch is to take on sites such as Gumtree.co.uk in cities like London, where Friday-Ad.co.uk is not so prominent.

Despite having some classified content, TapThat.co.uk differs from Friday-Ad.co.uk (and Trade-It.co.uk) in that there is more of an emphasis on listings of local events, services and news, and getting users to interact via discussion boards.

The site also has a strong charity angle, with partnerships set up with a number of leading UK charities. Planned developments to the site mean that anyone advertising their items for sale for free can then opt to make a charitable donation when listing the item, or sell first and donate the proceeds.

Competitions, discount offers and e-cards will all add to the TapThat experience for users.

The site officially launches today (1st November), with online and offline marketing kicking off over the next few weeks.

For more information about TapThat.co.uk contact Jodie Oliver on extension 7507 or email jodie.oliver@tapthat.co.uk

IRT are the best

Well I would say that as I'm hugely biased, but as well as driving the best cars, having the best taste in music and having the tallest person in the world on the team, the sales boys can also make money.

Last month's team target was the year's biggest to date at £135,000, but the chaps pulled together and pulled out all the stops to beat it by £7,468.

Not only that, but they also beat the Quarter 3 target by £8,558!

Celebrations are set to coincide with the leaving drink for Justin O'Connor, our Scottish-based Irishman, who is leaving the company after over 5 years. Plans are vague at this stage but the fact that Spearmint Rhinos has opened in Brighton is no coincidence.

Swearing is ****ing good for us

That's several 10ps in the swear box for us then...

Swearing in the office relieves stress and is good for workers and bosses, according to a new study.

Foul language creates a good team spirit, allows staff to vent frustrations and cements relationships, researchers discovered.

Professor Yehuda Baruch from the University of East Anglia oversaw the survey of around 100 people in Britain and the US.

He said: "Employees use swearing on a continuous basis but not necessarily in a negative, abusive manner."

Women swore more than expected - especially among themselves.

The research found a ban on swearing would be bad for motivation and morale in most firms.

Prof Baruch said: "Swearing is used as a social phenomenon to reflect solidarity and enhance group cohesiveness or as a psychological phenomenon to release stress.
"The primary issue for management is whether or not to apply a tolerant leadership culture to the workplace and deliberately allow swearing."

But the professor warned abusive and offensive swearing caused stress and should be stamped out.

He added: "Managers need to understand how their staff feel about swearing. The challenge is to master the art of knowing when to turn a blind eye."

It's the new black don't you know...

Visitors to our online retail site Lets Go Shopping recently were suprised to find that they could become instant trendsetters if they bought a pair of Musto GP race shoes. Not only would they be getting a pair of practical of boating boots, but they could choose this season's new colour combination...

The dangers of typing too quickly...

Yes it should have been "Spanish" not "Spainish", but what's an extra "i" between friends?!

Buenos Dias to new Spainish Friday-Ad

Next week sees the launch of the third edition of Friday-Ad in Spain for the Costa Blanca area.

Here's the map of where it covers, so if you're off there on holiday next year then make sure you grab a copy of your favourite free classified paper...

For more information please contact Tim Kafourous via internal email.

www.friday-ad.es

New recruits for Pre-Press

Two new faces in the Sayers Common Pre-Press department: A belated welcome to Jess Baldwin, who actually started 3 months ago. And a 'Hello' to Dina Cameroo who joined last week.
Both are 'Pre-Press Originators', which sounds a little bit like a character from an Arnie film!

Do you know a 'Borrower' or 'Pussy Galore' in your office?

An interesting press release arrived today from officebroker.com, highlighting the various types of 'office personalities' there are in the workplace.

Here's a few of them. See if you can match people you work with (or used to work with) to them...

The Hipster – He wears the shiniest suit, the loudest tie and the silliest socks and is a grand master of the fake golf swing, finger pistols, thumbs up or spin bowl action. Shout Fore! or Six! every time he swings into action and get everyone to email him details of the local bespoke tailor.

The Borrower – Something missing from your desk? Every office has a perpetual borrower. Tell them you’ll start charging ‘interest’ if they miss the deadline - one chocolate bar for every hour past the deadline sounds a reasonable amount.

The Snake – Slimy, limp hand shaker who slithers around and stares at colleagues for far longer than should be allowed. Intensify your own hand shake grip and start staring back in an attempt to out freak your colleague.

The Smacker – The colleague who slurps their way through lunch, talks with their mouth full and shares far more of their lunch than they should. Vomiting actions or comments on the nation’s poor eating habits should nip this in the bud.

Pussy Galore – sweet yet neurotic colleague whose desk is covered in pictures of ‘Fluffy’ and who loves to share stories of her pussy’s ‘cute’ and ‘amazing’ antics. Fight back with ‘Fido’ pictures or invent a few alarming shaggy dog tales about cat lovers.

Moaning Minnie – there’s always one person who we’d like to put a sock in it – sometimes literally! Counter the corporate Victor Meldrew by whistling ‘Always look on the Bright Side of Life’.

The Gossip Monger – loves a good drama and is always first to share any scandal. Tell your colleague a story ‘in confidence’ then watch it spread like wildfire. Then confront them publicly with the fact that you are not really moonlighting as a lap dancer to pay for your daughter’s gap year – surely they can understand a joke when they hear one!

The Sniffer – The woman (or indeed man) who overdoses on perfume or aftershave and wafts through the office. Invest in the cheapest, nastiest smelly you can find or break into fits of sneezing and talk about your severe allergic reaction.

The Message Mangler – Takes a message but always forgets to find out where the caller is from or take a contact number. Give them a message template with headings for name, company and number or remove their phone altogether.

When ads go wrong

Hampshire Police have recently started an advertising campaign on buses across the county.

They have booked several 'bus backs', which is usually a prime advertising spot as motorists stuck in traffic will be able to read the ad.

Sadly they neglected to take account of something when planning the design of it...

New recruit for Boats and Outboards team

Captain Tucker has found another victim, I mean person to join her motley Boats and Outboards crew.

His name is Joe Bennett and he is their new online sales executive.

Alan Partridge

Joe Bennett

Here's some Joe Bennett facts:

• Customers at his previous job included Number 10 Downing Street, Robbie William's tour manager and the Williams F1 racing team


• He had an audition for Masterchef Goes Large


• He ran a bar in Greece and delivered yachts around the med
  
  

Simply breeding like rabbits

Perhaps it's something they put in the water up North, but Simply Online has now launched another 3 jobs boards:

These sites fall into the 'Super Niche' category, meaning that they represent a specific niche area of jobs (i.e. 'media sales') within an already niche industry (i.e. 'sales').

All three sites already have hundreds of relevant jobs on them and thousands of registered users.

Marketing and PR activity to support these is planned for the forthcoming months.

For more information contact Ian Partington.

I fought the law and the law won

We have recently completed the acquisition of another website - Simplylawjobs.co.uk.

This niche jobs board contains over 10,000 legal jobs from solicitors to legal executives to legal accounts.

The site will be (coincidentally) operated under the Simply Online Services umbrella of niche job boards.

JustABid.co.uk promotes local online bidding

This week sees the launch of JustABid.co.uk, a new concept from Friday-Ad. It's focused just on Sussex (and Tunbridge Wells) and is the UK's first 'regional' online auction.

The idea is simple - our readers find an item that they want and bid online. If they win the bid then they collect the item from the local shop or business that has given it. As the businesses are local this means people have the chance to view the item first as well before they bid.

The auction runs from October 19th to November 5th - browsing is available from tomorrow (October 16th).

A free 48-page publication featuring the lots on offer will be distributed throughout hundreds of Friday-Ad stockists across Sussex.

There's a huge choice of items, from a Vespa to tennis rackets. Here's a few examples:

• 5 Course Medieval Banquet for 4
• Union Jack Smeg Fridge
• Thailand Holiday Villa for 2 Weeks
• Scooter Vespa 150 Sprint

For more information about JustABid contact Gemma Abrahams.

Croeso i Cymru Mr Cruise

Firstly apologies to any Welsh speakers if my translation is wrong...it's been a while since I left Uni in Wales!

Just to prove the world of New Media is changing fast, there are a couple more staff moves...

Paul Cruise will be soon taking the post of Operations Director at Pembroke Dock and will therefore also be moving to Wales.

Gillie Fuller has now become Online Sales Manager for the Sayers Common online team.

When Paul leaves (in a matter of days/weeks), the responsibility for IRT sales will be in the safe hands of the dynamic duo of Stuart Fowler and Gavin Pitts (see previous post for more details).

New recruit for Sayers Online team

The Sayers Common Online Sales team has a new member of the team - Chris May.

Chris is New Media Sales Executive and is responsible for selling online advertising products on Friday-Ad.co.uk and other sites.

His previous jobs have included an events and promotions manager and professional footballer for Brighton and Hove Albion.

Fascinating Chris May fact: He once went on a date with Kelly Brook, official hottie and contestant in BBC1's Strictly Come Dancing.

(listen for audible reaction of jealousy and respect from most male staff).

Ironic press release of the week

Good to know that England Goalkeeper Paul Robinson has a nice new lawn at home. No excuses for 'bobbles' eh Paul?

www.inturf.com/press-releases/paul-robinson-lawn.html

Quote of the press release:

“It is very pleasing to know that Paul has also chosen our turf for his garden – and that he sees Inturf as a safe pair of hands!”

Which is more than he has himself, many England (and Spurs) fans would argue.

Boris is a winner at Mascot Grand National!

OK he didn't win the actual race (although he did do very well coming 25th out of 55 runners), but he did win the award of "Best Turned Out Mascot"!

The Mascot Grand National, held last Sunday at Huntingdon Racecourse, was a fantastic and at times very bizarre occasion.

55 mascots from across the UK gathered for this event with characters including Captain Blade, Spike the Road Safety Hedgehog, Reggie the Red Devil and Pudsey Bear. They paraded in the show ring, fought a bit, then raced each other down the final furlong of the racecourse in front of thousands of spectators.

As well as raising hundreds of pounds for Children with Leukaemia and The Brooke, we also got some fantastic PR for Horsemart. This included Boris being interviewed live on Sky News, being interviewed by legendary racing commentator Derek 'Tommo' Thompson, an interview with Virgin Media, plus numerous mentions of Horsemart on the PA during the day.

We filmed Boris throughout the day and will be putting together a montage for your viewing pleasure very soon.

In the meantime you can view a short video of the race here. Boris is the one behind Pudsey on the left of the screen - blink and you'll miss him!

And you can watch Sky News reporter Derek Tedder getting a cuddle from some mascots too.

Well done to Chip Kidger whose weeks of training paid off. Chip has now headed back to University to bask in his glory and consume the case of John Smith's he won for his troubles!

Thank you to all of you who sponsored Boris - I will be coming round to collect your donations shortly.

New team leaders for IRT

Congratulations to Stuart Fowler and Gavin Pitts who have both been appointed as team leaders for the IRT sales team.

Stuart is now Staff Development Team Leader, with the main responsibility of developing and leading the staff to achieve both sales and productivity targets.

Gavin is now Business Team Leader, with the main responsibility of monitoring and reporting on the performance of the team.

In case you're not familiar with these two characters, here's a bit more info about them...

Fowler Facts:

* He drives an old skool VW Golf convertible

* He likes Hip-Hop music

* He's a bit of a Gordon Ramsey and enjoys creating new dishes in the kitchen

Pitts Particulars:

* He drives a TVR (flash g*t!)

* He is getting married next year (sorry girls)

* He has a deep and heartfelt passion for milkshakes

Bikers, bands and babes in Brighton

Sunday saw the return to Brighton of Brightona, an event sponsored by UKBike.com.

Here is Boyd's report...

Brighton groaned under the weight of several thousand bikers on Sunday 7th October down at Brighton sea front Madeira Drive.

The event was the fourth annual ‘Brightona’ event a charity biker day organised by the Sussex Heart Trust in conjunction with UKBike.com

Channel Manager for UKBike, Boyd Cruttenden, would like to express large thanx to all the team that showed up and helped make the day a roaring success.

Photo: The UKBike Team before the event

450 new members were recruited and equivalent amount of t-shirts given out to those who chose to register.

Photo: After the event was over (l-r) - Kerry Rolls, Sarah Strudwick, Dan Murasko, Lawrence Murphy, Karen and Rob Hancock, Kelly Smith, Chloe and Samantha White, Boyd Cruttenden, Monica Howlett, Jiab Rosewell, Byron and Fiona Wratton, Nicky Tucker.

He does a lot of good work for charity

Boris took a break recently from his busy training schedule to present a cheque to the Hope In The Valley charity, a riding group for the physically disabled.

The £300 donated was raised from the Horsemart Tack Sale that was held at Sayers Common at the end of the summer.

The cheque was presented by Sarah Wood and Boris to the chair of Hope In The Valley, two of the children that ride with them and two of their ponies (who looked completely unfazed about having a giant furry horse stride towards them!).

You're hired!

A recent survey of 2,500 interviewees found some interesting facts for all of you who are carrying out interviews to consider...

11% of people have flirted during an interview

10% of women admit to dressing provocatively in order to get a job

14% of those think this is the reason they got the job

Despite these results, I'm sure none of you would be swayed by such obvious tactics as this!

A day at the races

Some nice PR for friday-ad.co.uk and horsemart.co.uk today with a couple of races at Brighton Racecourse named after the websites.

The naming of the 2.20 'Horsemart.co.uk Apprenctice Handicap' and the 4.50 'Friday-Ad.co.uk Handicap Stakes' means that the sites get promotion in all national newspapers, racing papers and racing/betting websites. And they're screened live on Attheraces TV so we'll get name-checked there too.

Not that I'm condoning betting of any kind betting whatsoever, but the hot tips are Young Bertie in the 2.20 and Dancing Mystery in the 4.50...

David Brent is alive and working in publishing

Solid gold advice on how to hand out a free magazine by Mike Soutar, the man behind London's newest free magazine - Shortlist.



Don't get any ideas Rob Hancock!

Free tickets offer

Sadly not for any England games, but I have two VIP tickets for Grand Designs Live at the NEC Birmingham, 5-7 October (next week).

Despite it being short notice and in Birmingham, if you would like to go please shout...first come, first served.

Would you buy a hot tub from this man?

Remember I told you about Pembroke sales bod Gavin Davies who has been entered into the new ITV reality show "Commission Impossible"? Well guess who was spotted at the weekend at the Southampton Boat Show? Yes it was indeed our man Gav, who was taking part in one of the challenges for the ITV show - trying to sell £40,000 worth of spas and hot tubs in a week on the Hydropool stand.

He was spotted by the Boats and Outboards team and told them that he thought he had been given a target twice as big as the other contestants because he was too cocky! Doesn't sound like Gavin at all does it Pembroke?!

His progress in the show is still hush-hush, so you'll have to wait a bit longer to see if he walks away with the £100,000 prize.

New extension for Homes Sales & Lettings

Last Friday (21/09) saw the launch of the Homes Sales & Lettings section within the Seaford Friday-Ad edition.

Seaford used to be covered as part of the separate Eastbourne Homes Sales & Lettings edition, but feedback from estate agents in that area suggested that they would like something dedicated for Seaford, Newhaven and Peacehaven. By making this a section within the Friday-Ad rather than launch a separate magazine, it maximises the potential revenue.

The section started with five pages of property adverts for estate agents and has this week already expanded to eight pages.

It has been especially well received by the new property builders in the area, who are pleased to have a local dedicated property section to showcase their developments. Two developers have booked for this week with more expected for next.

For more information contact Tracey Schaufler (ext 7604) or Jo Chubb(ext 7592).

Me, myself and I

Being the author of this blog it would be a wasted opportunity if I didn't provide some news about myself, so here goes...

As of Monday 1st October, I will also be taking on the role of Online Marketing Manager for IRT. This means I will be responsible for all aspects of marketing for the four wonderful sites that are: AviationJobsearch.com, TravelJobsearch.com, CareersinRecruitment.com and InAutomotive.com.

I am still retaining my role as Editorial and PR manager for the group, so please continue to send me any copywriting, proofing, grammar checking or PR requirements, and either myself or Sarah will fulfill these for you.

Big boats and big pockets

Just back from the Southampton Boat Show where the Boats and Outboards team are working hard promoting the website and magazine to hundreds of thousands of boating enthusiasts.

But it's not all work for the girls (and Stephen) as last night saw the Boats and Outboards client party, held in one of the city's swanky bars.

Around 150 invited guests joined the team for some food, drinks and dancing (to our very own in-house DJ Gary Still's tunes). A very enjoyable evening was had by all, but we also managed to raise over £7000 for our nominated charity Sail 4 Cancer.

Our guest auctioneer for the evening was Mike Deedigan who kindly helped people feel guilty and dig deep for a very worthy cause.

Some of the lots on offer included a signed Ellen McArthur sweatshirt (bought by Stephen Sumner) and a week's stay at a Spanish Villa (bought by Nicky Tucker).

In case you think that our Boats and Outboards team were keeping all of the prizes to themselves, other people were allowed to bid too!

The lot of the night was a brand new jet ski worth £7,000 which was won by Nicky's partner...to say she was quite pleased is probably an understatement!

Before the party started I had spent most of the day at the show taking photos of boats and also playing my own boat show game of "find the most expensive boat and blag a tour around". My previous record had been at this year's London Boat Show where I experienced first hand the Sunseeker 37 M4, which weighed in with a hefty £10 million price tag. This time the M4 was back, but the one here was now £11 million!

Some feel it is completely ostentatious, but personally I know where my Lottery winnings are going...release those balls!