Now Yoo Too Can Doo The Zaroo!

Z/Yen was commissioned to invent, design and put together an entirely new financial game by our forward-looking client Zaroo. From invention to implementation this several hundred thousand pound project has taken five months. Zaroo has begun selling "FatCat Zillionaire" to large organisations as an internet marketing tool – "you’ve caught the surfer, now give them a wave to ride!" Players have fun and win prizes by trading ‘shares’ in web entities and gaining dividend points based on the web entities’ popularity ratings. The game combines an industrial strength exchange (5,000 player orders can be matched per minute) with web-tracking technology such as DoubleClick’s and is suitable for up to 6 million players. Zaroo has applied for a patent on FatCat (four Z/Yen people are named as inventors) and readers are welcome to try it out on www.zaroo.com (note: until launched by one of Zaroo’s clients, this demo version lacks the thrills of hundreds of simultaneous players). So far, the most interest has been shown by retail, financial, travel, betting and advertising internet brands.

Clean Business Cuisine: Now And Z/Yen – Only 120 Shopping Days Till Christmas

Although not on general release until 1 September, our management novel is getting rave reviews:

• "Hilariously sophisticated stuff…wonderfully daft" – a Sunday Times Book of the Week, 30 July;
• "Highly imaginative and entertaining" - The Baroness Dunn of Hong Kong and Knightsbridge;
• "Clever and well thought out" – Computer Weekly, 10 August.

Clean Business Cuisine has already gone global, on CNN World Business This Morning, 7 August. A rare sight at 6.50 a.m., Michael put in such a fine, semi-conscious performance that CNN retransmitted the item twice, describing Clean Business Cuisine as a "fascinating book" with "fascinating accolades". Clean Business Cuisine has also been described as "an ideal gift to give to the workaholics in your life". To that end, several clients have already placed bulk orders for Christmas. To guarantee your bulk Christmas order, or even to place a single order, call Tanya Aslan at Milet on (020) 7562-7657. Alternatively, buy online or nag your local bookshop, ISBN 1840592273.

Up For The Charity Shield?

No, not an obscure reference to Jeremy Smith's fanatical devotion to Chelsea FC, Z/Yen is proud and delighted to announce that it has been shortlisted for a coveted charity services award. A star studded event in September (alright, perhaps not, but Rory Bremner is hosting), the UK Charity Awards is the UK voluntary sector's equivalent of the Oscars. To add to the kudos for Z/Yen, The Children's Society have been shortlisted at the same event for the Best Practice Award, based on our joint initiative, MART (see Now and Z/Yen’s passim). Ian Harris has been preparing his impromptu acceptance speech (just in case, you understand) since we learned of the shortlisting. Ian is also trying to master the art of spontaneously bursting into tears when mentioning his supportive family and friends. Seriously, it is a great tribute to the work of the Z/Yen team, not least Marie Logan and Mary O'Callaghan.

Bounding Technology

Eland Technology (strangely only partially named after the antelope-like creature) is one of our newer clients in the high technology arena. This Dublin-based organisation provides "middleware" (remember, you heard it here first) to various industries, but particularly transportation – Eland are integrating the Star airline alliance. They seek significant funds for expansion and were told by investment banks they approached that they needed to develop a high quality business plan. One of the banks recommended Z/Yen for the work. Kevin Parker and Michael Mainelli have nearly finished this assignment and several Z/Yen people have already helped introduce Eland to organisations which may further fuel their growth.

Chippies Galore - Or Is It The Three Bears?

We've had several new joiners in the past few weeks. Sarah-Jane Critchley joins us as a consultant from Amey. Sarah-Jane thinks Z/Yen is "so hot". Jo Park arrives straight off the boat (her phrase) from Darwin, Northern Australia to help us manage growth at HQ. Jo thinks the English Summer is "so cold". Andreas von Schlik is with us temporarily from the world of forestry and fishing in Germany. He thinks our beer is "so warm".