Vikki has joined us in Emmanuel’s team to support him strategically and tactically with the portfolio he oversees as Account Director. Would you like to know more about Vikki? Let me start with a photo of her which looks like a happy holiday snap.

And now let us take the time to get to know her more with a quick interview

So you are an Account Manager at CJ. What did you do before you worked here?

Well I worked as a Marketing Manager for a Canadian software company called Eedo. It was a private company which merged with a US company last year called OutStart who are the leading provider for Social Business and Learning Solutions (Editor’s note – I think that we could have probably guessed Vikki’s job title from the way she  described her previous company).

Where do you come from? Tell us a little bit about it.

I live in Greenwich in south-east London which is also where time is from. As well as Greenwich I have also lived in Sardinia for six months, France for six months and Florida for a year and a half.

What interests you in affiliate marketing?

As someone who has worked in marketing, I find affiliate marketing interesting primarily because of the results it can deliver if used well. I enjoy the fact that it is so fast-growing because it is cost-efficient and quantifiable for both the affiliate and the merchant. It seems like it is a win-win solution if you know what you are doing on both sides.

How are you finding CJ so far?

The training has been great and the people are so welcoming, friendly and helpful (collective CJ blush). I’m excited to be working with a fantastic network of people in a constantly-changing industry and I look forward to meeting people in the wider industry over the coming months.

Let’s up the pace for some quickfire questions

• What are your hobbies?
• Snowboarding, running, power-kite flying (eh?) and diving.
• What is your favourite colour?
• Yellow
• What is your favourite film?
• Tough one as there are so many greats but I would have to say that up there would be the Green Mile, The Goonies and Con Air.
• What was the last book you read.
• Twilight – hated it, stupid vampires
• If you were an animal, which would it be?
• A Giant Squid – I love the Ocean and these things can morph into anything (editor’s note – anything??)

Well many warm welcomes Vikki, with your morphous shape-shifting animals and their intriguing ability to take on the form of apparently anything in the world. Maybe over time you will learn to love CJ’s new favourite animal, the much-maligned, gold-hearted Blob Fish

Many of you will be remember Matt Ware who left CJ a year ago to join Shopping.com. Well it is with great pleasure that we now have him back in the ValueClick fold. He re-started with us last week and will be flying off to join ValueClick’s new(ish) Hong Kong office at the end of this week.

Here’s a nice photo of Matt.

Let us hear from the man himself of just some of the array of feelings he is experiencing on his emotional return:

So Matt….did you miss us?

Yip – I missed all of your smiling faces:-) I’ve always enjoyed the office environment at ValueClick. I’ve also missed the affiliate industry which has a really good vibe to it and some great characters. It’s a real place for innovation and that’s exciting to be around.

How does it feel to be back?

Great to be back. The team here’s pretty tight knit and I’ve been working in Richmond so could regularly swing through for Friday drinks. It’s certainly the most social office that I’ve ever worked in so staying in touch was really easy.

Tell us a little bit about yourself.

I grew up in Surrey, in a town called Godalming (made famous by many distinguished figures, including a woman who gave birth to rabbits). I’ve worked online for a few years now and have been living in and around South London for that time. Before London I was living and working in Barcelona for a year which was a great experience and it remains a city I enjoy going back to. As I enjoy living in new places I thought I’d really push the boat out this time and jet off to Hong Kong.

What excites you about working for ValueClick?

The best thing about ValueClick is that there’s so much online activity coming through one company. As it’s multi-faceted you get the opportunity to learn about display (ValueClick Media), price comparison (PriceRunner), search (Search123) ad serving technology (Mediaplex) and, of course, affiliate marketing. Although these are separate companies there are overlaps which we all learn from. The ‘lunch and learns’ and open communication within the group means that you can get a really solid online foundation in a relatively short period of time. It’s certainly a fantastic place for someone new to the industry to learn the ropes. ValueClick nights out aren’t bad either

What are you looking forward to about Hong Kong?

About the city itself, it has got to be the weather. That’s a big one. There’s also loads of great travelling on your doorstep with mainland China, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand all a short flight away.  It’s a cosy city with seven million people occupying an area half the size of Berkshire but I figure three years of Clapham Junction on a monday morning is good training.

In terms of work, then the sheer potential of Asia Pacific is hugely exciting. To be part of something that in five to ten years is going to look so radically different from what is does now is very motivating. 17 days public holiday is also a bonus!

What do you want to achieve in your career?

To be able to say you were part of building something successful that stands long after you’ve left would be a great achievement.

There spoke he.

Well done Matt – it’s great to have you back in the office for these two weeks and we look forward to the leaving drinks. Good luck.

James Lamb and Roger Lee both trained for many months and made many sacrafices (namely beer) to take part.

Roger does a Rocky

James looking a tad cocky

Here is the race in their words:

Roger -

• Pre Race thoughts:
• “Doing the first 20 miles on time should be fairly easy, it’s the last 6 that will be really tough. It’s all about making the ‘Wall’ my **** and running through the pain barrier.”
• Post Race thoughts
•  “Very, very painful. Finished in 4.17 which was a bit disappointing but was always going to be diffiult in the sunshine”

James –

• Pre Race thoughts
• “Let’s get this show on the road. There is no way I am stopping or letting the dreaded ‘wall’ make me slow to a walk…Eye of the Tiger, no pain. NO PAIN!”
• Post Race thoughts: 
• “Very very painful. Finished in 4.24 I was on target for 3.50 up until mile 22 but then the heat, fatigue and the wall got me. Started feeling really faint and dizzy, started swaying and felt myself about to black out. After seeing people around me collapse and hit the floor I thought I best slow down. Once I was walking my legs started to seize up and it was hard to get back into it. The Roger passed me, the crowd got me going and I ran the last mile.”

Wow – well done guys. Much talk of this mystical ‘wall’  – is it something similar to the ‘wall’ one can occasionally hit from excess drinking? Or wait, is that the floor..? Special mention should also go to another Marathoner (yes, I have made this word up) from the ValueClick family, David Pattison who also ran the race (and he had a poorly knee!)

Anyway – I appreciate that the blog has seen a raft of beautiful ladies recently so here to bring the balance are some rather fetching photos of Roger and James………….

…….Ahhh before you get to see them I want to give the details of their charities. I think that once you scroll down to reveal the boys in their marathon gear everything you see after will be a haze. So:

• James ran his marathon for Cancer Research UK. If you want to add your support you can do here
• Roger ran his marathon for the Ron Pickering Memorial Fund. Here is his page
• Last but not least, David ran here marathon for the British Heart Foundation – details here

Finally  – here are the glorious photos:

James and his medal

Roger er....words fail me.

Here she is…..

So….all affiliates out there…..log in to your A4U account and vote for Hildegunn – I implore you

Linda hails from Germany – specifically she is from a place called Koblenz which is apparently near to Cologne and Frankfurt. She has been in London since the 17th of January and at CJ for a few weeks. We have been keeping her busy with our particular brand of ValueClick entertainment – she is particularly well-versed in the pubs and bars of Putney already. She said ‘CJ is a warm, welcoming team – everybody is nice and helpful. I enjoy seeing that it’s possible to work and play hard at the same time. Nice mixture of different characters’ (ahh – we like Linda )

Linda has just finished her studies at the University of Trier (which is apparently a small town in West Germany, near to the border of Luxemburg – for those of you who need a geographical reference point). She studied sociology with a specialisation in marketing  so it is great to continue to broaden our already wide marketing expertise.

She is looking forward to learning the ins and outs of affiliate marketing and is interested in seeing the effect of the channel on the more established, traditional channels that she learnt about whilst studying. ‘It’s clearly a profitable aspect of sales and marketing strategies, very important for the future’.

We welcome Linda to the team.