New Year, New Clients

Work in the City has started quickly this year with the announcement of three new benchmarking surveys covering both internal and external processing costs. Several new clients have already been signed up via a series of workshops and presentations. Our new associate, Martyn Howell will be working with Jeremy, Giles and Rakesh on the publication of the 2002 studies. A summary of last year’s studies is now available on the Z/Yen web-site.

Other 2002 clients include a market investigation for Research in Motion’s always-on-e-mail solution Blackberry.

Business development review for Kroll Associates and risk management consultancy for Johnson Controls

Va Va Voom - Crunch

Z/Yen is broadening its transport interests from the nautical to the automobical with the publication of Jeremy’s article, “I bought one!” for EVO magazine in early March. The car in question, an ageing Maserati, was lovingly polished and photographed to accompany the article and then, 24 hours later, reversed into a bollard. Ouch !

Kevin Parker Recognised In New Year Lecturer's List (Scout's Honour)

Kevin's work in innovation and technology commercialisation has been recognised by the University of Edinburgh, who have asked him to become a Visiting Lecturer teaching innovation to science and engineering undergraduates. In a separate part of his “portfolio”, he has been seen recently teaching 8 to 10 year old cub scouts to read maps and recognise the pole star. He comments that the enthusiasm and 'quick-on-the-uptake-ness' makes an interesting comparison...

Global Branding Issues Solved (What Do Logo Design Companies Do!)

As Z/Yen and Aspect were wrestling for brand and logo dominance, many key issues were addressed! Who came last in the alphabet, what shade of blue meant trust and above all what would the brand personality be?

Meanwhile two people who just got on with it solved the problem! Linda Cook answered the phone “Z/Yen Aspect” and Laura Wright suggested we combine the logos. 10 minutes work and at least £1m saved!

Failure Evolves Into A Cunning Plan?

Our series of Reflective Repasts continues. Z/Yennies will know that we hold regular dinners with a guest who hosts a discussion on their favourite paradox. December’s Repast featured Gerald Avison who led 15 of us on a challenging romp through his problem, “Is Failure Really a Good Thing?”. The debate seemed to divide the hold of the Lady Daphne into those who believed that they did learn but were not always sure what, and those who believed that they couldn’t learn much because alternative courses of action were rarely pursued.

Our Reflective Repast in May features John Lloyd, the producer of all four Blackadder shows who worked with Douglas Adams on The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, who also developed Not The Nine O’Clock News and numerous commercials. He’ll be talking about humour in business and what intrinsic properties make things quite interesting.

Superstitious Old Z/Yen… And Salt On The Wound

Astute readers should have noticed (sadly no phone calls) that Z/Yen was so determined to skip the unlucky 13 we mis-numbered our Now & Z/Yen editions. Much as we’d love to claim that our systems have been designed to automatically remove risky situations, the more prosaic truth is that Michael needs to sit in with his four year old daughter on certain counting lessons.