Gadfly - 16.04.09

16 April 2009 | By Gadfly

Fat bearded men, lager, peroxideblonde wives, fags and more lager — darts has so much in common with the average media agency exec that it’s no wonder Perform Sales decided on the flashy, fleshy sport for its invite-only May event.

Backed by new media age, the inaugural Media Darts Championship, in association with the Professional Darts Corporation, will see media agency teams compete in a free-for-all, with the top eight going through to televised finals. Darts legends Peter ‘One Dart’ Manley, Rod Harrington and John McDonald will all be present to shame the agency lightweights — at their lagerdrinking performance, obviously.

Phorm has attracted its fair share of frothing-at-the mouth protests, but proving its fearlessness in braving the sort of picketing by crazed privacy hippies seen at BT’s AGM last year, the company held its second town hallmeeting last week. Outgoing CEO Kent Ertugrul took centre stage but the company’s latest board members, including Kip Meek and Lord Lamont, were also present to provide a hefty layer of respectability. Fortunately, with potential protestors no doubt exhausted by the previous week’s middle-class anarcho-fest at the G20, the town hall was left intact and not burnt to the ground.

It’s clearly much calmer over in affiliate land. What with being i-level’s head of affiliates, IAB Affiliate Marketing Council chairman, a prominent blogger and Twittererererer, and arguably new media’s most highprofile (only?) Manchester City fan, it could be said that Matt Bailey has a lot on his plate. But it seems this is not enough, as he has now become a restaurant reviewer for BBC Worldwide’s Olive magazine. It’s unclear what kind of reviewing model he was using (cost per course?), but Gadfly is waiting with baited breath for the inevitable Giles Coren-esque diva antics.

Finally, it seems Poke’s internet balloon race, Orange Balloonacy, was just a warm-up. It’s now turning its hands to bigger races, namely the Mongol Derby, officially the world’s longest horse race. Poke founder Nick Farnhill is attempting to tackle this bronco of a fundraiser, in which a gruelling 1,000km race across the empty wilderness of Mongolia tests riders’ skills, endurance and “the toughness of the skin between [their] legs”. Each rider has 25 semiwild horses, which will be changed every 40km to keep them fresh. Gadfly nearly spilt his latte reading about the potential injuries for this never-before-run race — bleeding kidneys, broken limbs, open sores, wolves — and thinks Farnhill might have been safer to stick to virtual races. You can check out his blog at http://mongolderby09.theadventurists.com/nickfarnhill for more.

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