PR powder-hounds! December 11, 2009
Posted by Text 100 Sydney in Social Stuff.Tags: Bungy Jumping, Coronet Peak, Holiday, Queenstown, The Remarkables
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As Claire mentioned in her first blog post in this series, here at Text 100 we work hard and we play hard! Some people like to take time out and relax by sitting by a pool or visiting a winery… but not us. Don’t get me wrong, we love those things (especially visiting wineries) but sometimes the best type of stress relief is to go totally extreme and my big holiday of 2009 was definitely that!
I took some time off with my partner in September to catch the tail end of the skiing season in Queenstown, New Zealand. This was my second visit to Queenstown but the first time that I have skied there, or skied anywhere for that matter and it was absolutely amazing!
We began our skiing (or more precisely snowboarding) experience at The Remarkables, one of the most beautiful mountain ranges I’ve ever seen. Unfortunately for us our first day on the slopes was terrible weather wise. Gusty, high-speed winds had closed the other ski fields and our group was frequently blown off our feet during our lessons – a sight of great hilarity as it was precisely syncronised. Imagine eight newbie snowboarders being blown flat on their backs at exactly the same moment 
At the end of the first day we mastered basic turns and the most important thing of all – stopping.
After a day off to rest very tired leg (and butt) muscles, we took a trip up to Coronet Peak and it was absolutely stunning, exactly how I imagined a day on the slopes to be. The sun was shining, the snow was perfect and after another morning lesson we were up on the chairlifts and trying out the different runs. As a newbie adult snowboarder I was so envious of the the little kids, who had obviously been skiing for years, just flying down the mountain with little or no fear whatsoever! Skiing in Queenstown, Coronet Peak in particular, is definitely something that I’d recommend to everyone, especially people with little or no skiing experience.
Not content with the adrenalin rush from skiing we also decided to take part in another Kiwi tradition – bungy jumping! This was my second jump in Queenstown but this time we decided to throw ourselves off the ‘Bungy Ledge’, a purpose built platform that sits over 400m above the town and affords jumpers spectacular views of The Remarkables and the lake as you throw yourself off the edge. As with my first jump, this was just an incredible adrenalin rush and one that really makes you feel alive.
I’ll leave you with the picture on the left of me throwing myself off the bungy ledge
- Lukas.
Work hard, play hard December 9, 2009
Posted by clairevm in General, Social Stuff.Tags: Ayers Rock, Darwin, Holiday, Kings Canyon, Northern Territory
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Work hard, play hard seems to be the Text 100 motto and after a very busy year in the Sydney office we’ve reward ourselves and visited some very cool locations. Long walks through the Australian desert, skiing the slopes of New Zealand and sipping sake in Japan, this is a team that knows how to unwind. Over the next two weeks the Sydney Text 100 team will share their holiday tips from 2009.
My big holiday for the year was an eleven day trip to the Northern Territory. We started at Ayers Rock where we spent two days walking around the rock and checking out the other local attraction, The Olgas, also known as KataTjuta. The scenery and weather here were amazing, It would get to around 30 degrees C during the day but at night the temperature would drop to about 6 degrees C. We then drove about four hours through the very flat and dry Australian desert to Kings Canyon where we went bushwalking and completed a four and a half hour walk around the rim of the canyon which was just spectacular.
There are opportunities to do little offshoots of the walk to head up to lookouts and little oasis’ such ‘the Garden of Eden’. one minute you can be in a tropical rainforest and the next your walking along a cliff with the sun beating down and plants struggle to grow through the cracks in the rock. One of the highlights of Kings Canyon was an amazing five course meal under the stars called Sounds of Firelight. The meals included many native herbs and spices, kangaroo filled pancake with wattle seed aioli and bush tomato consommé with lobster wonton. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.
From Kings Canyon we drove four hours up to Alice Springs where I met some of the locals and then took the train to Katherine for the day where we went canoeing. I was told not to worry about the big saltwater crocodiles, “just keep an eye out for the little freshwater ones” needless to say I nearly panicked when we nearly capsized the canoe.
We then continued on the train to Darwin where we spent several days. We checking out Litchfield National Park and although we went swimming in the water holes, I must admit to not feeling entirely relaxed while in the water. The local markets were great with lots of local produce and art, we also checked out some amazing sunsets and the jumping crocodiles on the Adelaide river. You can see all the photos from my trip on Flickr.
Text 100 Girls Go ‘Wild’ December 8, 2009
Posted by clairevm in Events, Social Stuff.Tags: Christmas Party, Flip, Razor, Text 100, US
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Some of the Text 100 Flip team got their claws out last Wednesday evening for the Razor/US ‘Where the Wild Things Are’ Christmas party.
Thanks to the Razor/US team for throwing such a ‘wild’ bash and for inviting us along, we had a grrrrrrrrrreat evening!
Check out some of photos below
- Claire
We’d like to thank the academy… November 25, 2009
Posted by Text 100 Sydney in APAC, Awards, PR.Tags: Asia Pacific PR Awards 2009, Awards, Text 100
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Great news came through earlier this month from some of our APAC leaders who attended the Asia Pacific PR Awards 2009. Text 100 won the Honourable Mention for the APAC Midsize Network of the Year Award. This was the highest award for this category. The awards are open to PR consultancies, solo practitioners and in-house departments from all countries in the Asia-Pacific region.
Further evidence of what a great team Text 100 is
The full list of winners can be seen here.
The very glam Text 100 team posing with the award…
Help us, help our colleagues fighting cancer… November 3, 2009
Posted by Text 100 Sydney in Events, Social Stuff.Tags: Cancer, Cancer Council, Free to Breathe, Fundraising, Text 100
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Being part of Text 100 is a peculiar experience sometimes – although I haven’t met the majority of my global colleagues I still feel like I am part of a virtual global family. That’s why, when I learnt of a colleague in the New York office, Lisa Altobelli, being diagnosed with lung cancer in August of this year, I felt we had to do something to help.
Despite never having met Lisa in person I felted linked to her in some way. Since her diagnosis Lisa has since been on medical leave and reports to date have been encouraging. We also sadly lost a colleague to cancer a couple of years ago, and it’s a sobering reminder of how pervasive cancer is and how critical it is to find a cure.
We recently discovered that the NY team were planning to participate in the November 7 “Free to Breathe National Walk” fundraiser for lung cancer research and awareness. So in the spirit of global collaboration the Sydney team decided to create our own Free to Breathe walk – and on Friday 6 November the whole team will walk 5km from the office over the bridge into the City. We will be fundraising for the local NSW Cancer Council organisation.
We aim to raise $500 and hope you can support us in a small way. The great news is that Text 100 will match whatever we raise so that would take us to $1000. Please take time to donate here.
Thanks in advance – The Text 100 Sydney Team
Text 100 Sydney wins PRIA award! October 1, 2009
Posted by ak101 in Events, PR.Tags: Awards, Kronos, PRIA
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Adrianne accepting the PRIA award
At the recent 2009 PRIA State Awards, Text 100 kept up its track record by earning a Commended Award in the Business to Business category. The campaign, ‘Profile of Nursing Workforce 2020′ for Kronos, was noteworthy for how PR helped drive awareness and sales in an exceptionally short timeframe.
By partnering with health workforce experts, the Australian Health Workforce Institute, Kronos was able to commission important meta-research to assess the state of the nursing workforce in 2020.
The resulting report gave Kronos’ health experts a strong thought leadership platform and the research was sought by media, government and many health organisations.
Karen and Antonia also attended...as seat-warmers
The campaign resulted in strong mainstream print and broadcast coverage and a flood of sales inquiries for the previously little-known Kronos. In fact, we’re still receiving requests for the report, more than one year later!
Well done to the Text 100 Sydney team and let’s look now to the 2009 Asia Pacific PR Awards to see how we fare regionally.
-Adrianne.
Decking the (beer) halls with gadgets and gizmos… August 26, 2009
Posted by Text 100 Sydney in Events, PR, Social Stuff.Tags: Altec Lansing, Dyson, Electrolux, Erin McNaught, Maxwell, Nikon, Phillips, Plantronics, Xmas in August
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Last Wednesday evening Text 100 Sydney held its third annual Xmas in August event. The event is designed for vendors (and not just Text 100 clients) to showcase their products to the industry media.
Held in August of each year, the timing is designed so that the long lead m
edia can get all the information they need to compile their Xmas gift guides.
This year the event was held in the Bavarian Bier Cafe in the Sydney CBD (yes we have German beer halls here!) and the stein glasses were overflowing with wheat beer as more than 100 journalists from the IT, technology, consumer and digital lifestyle sectors roamed the beer hall sampling the latest wares from Plantronics, Altec Lansing, Dyson, Maxwell, Electrolux, Nikon and Phillips.
We were fortunate enough this year to also be graced with the beautiful presence of former
Miss Universe Australia and Plantronics brand ambassador Erin McNaught who, aside from her official duties with Plantronics, also assisted Antonia and Lukas with the drawing of the lucky door prizes to the eagerly awaiting throng of media.
While not of former Miss Universe acclaim we were also graced with the presence of Text 100’s global Chief Operating Officer and former Text 100 Sydney managing consultant Andrew McGregor who ensured that the tinsel was hung correctly and operational costs were kept in check
An interesting addition this year was ‘Innuendo Man’ – a scantily clad male model, employed by Phillips, who roamed the event all evening with their latest male body shaving product (or man-scaping as we say here Down Under) getting unsuspecting journalists (and a few Text 100 staff) to shave his body hair. He started the evening rather hirsute and finished off totally smooth, well almost totally smooth anyway!
For more photos from the event you can check out the Text 100 Xmas in August Flickr stream, or see the below video from the event including Thomas getting up close and personal with Innuendo Man…
-Lukas
Text 100 Sydney prepares to EXC1TE in FY2010! August 19, 2009
Posted by Text 100 Sydney in Events, PR, Social Stuff.Tags: Adobe, Aedhmar Hynes, August 1, FY2009, FY2010, Karaoke, Text 100, Video
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On Friday night Text 100 Sydney, along with all the Text 100 offices around the world came together to celebrate the end of the 2009
financial year, which for us runs 1 August to 1 August – a heritage from when we were August 1! As with most organisations around the world we have not been immune to the global financial crisis, but what sets Text 100 apart, and always has, is a tenacious spirit to endure, band together and see the silver lining to every cloud.
We’re hoping that we’ve seen the last of the stormy financial clouds with the end of our FY2009 so as a global family we decided to pause on the year that was, hear some inspirational advice from our global CEO Aedhmar Hynes, put the past behind us and move on in the best way that Text 100 knows how – with a party of course!
The theme – disco. The outfits – outrageous. The karaoke – appalling!
The Text 100 Sydney boardroom was turned into a grooving disco den with a spinning mirror ball, strobe lights and karaoke machine as the team sipped on cocktails and partied the evening away until the singing almost sounded good.
The highlight of the evening was definitely Adrianne rollerskating her way from the carpark in full disco attire up to and into the office and managing to stay upright all evening!
For me personally, FY2010 is going to be about pushing boundaries, challenging myself and exciting our clients and the industry. Further to our great work in social media in FY2009, I’m looking forward to working on more of these exciting campaigns in FY2010 and furthering our use of digital.
Kicking off the year in fine form, I participated in an Adobe Premiere Pro course on Monday and wanted to begin the new year with the first, of what I hope will be many, great videos to come out of Text 100 Sydney this year. It’s a little rough, but hey, it’s my first one, it can only get better! Be gentle!
Without further ado, the video evidence of our FY2010 Kick Off Party…
Cheers, Lukas
Official City to Surf Finish Times August 11, 2009
Posted by Text 100 Sydney in Social Stuff.Tags: Text 100
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Once again to start, let me play some appropriate music…
What an awesome day it was here in Sydney on Sunday, beautiful sunny weather, blue skies and 75,000 people making their way from the centre of the CBD to Bondi Beach for the annual City to Surf, a total of 14 gruelling kilometres including the imfamous ‘heart-break hill‘ which has claimed many a runner over the years.
The sporty and agile Text 100 Sydney team moved like gazelles as they sprinted from the starting line, dodging the thousands of other runners, walkers, people dressed as gorillas and the multitude of other oddities and characters that take part in the race. The official finishing times are as follows:
- Thomas – 83mins, 9secs
- Lukas – 85mins, 10secs
- Kara – 92mins, 7secs
- Le – 92/93mins
- Niki – 109mins, 19secs
- Claire – 110mins, 26secs
An absolutely awesome effort by Niki and Claire who shaved over 8 minutes off their times from the previous year. Line honours at Adrianne’s place went to Lukas, followed closely by Thomas, who would of gotten there first if he hadn’t of decided to take a nap on a park bench on the way. As they say Thomas, “You snooze! You lose!”
Once the team all arrived at Adrianne’s place we enjoyed a feast of mammoth proportions as Adrianne and Jonathan showed their mastery of the BBQ with a three course meal worthy of a place on MasterChef!
All in all a great day had by all and some very sore feet and legs in the office yesterday!
