Timezoneone Blog

Today I just wanted to provide everyone with a light-heart, fun clip from a show here in the states called Ellen DeGeneres. This had me laughing out loud, it’s perfect for mid week and a mid day break. Get ready to laugh…I hope.

Fearon

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This is brilliant!

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Hello all,
Because I’m 15 weeks pregnant with twins, today’s blog is going to be all about just that. Twins. Did you know that 12 out of every 1000 births are twins.
Twins seem however to be more common among celebrities. Angelina Jolie, Julia Roberts, Chuck Norris, Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Denzel Washington, George W Bush, Lance Armstrong and Nat King Cole are all parents of twins.

My husband and daughter are very excited about our little family jumping from 3 to 5. Evie takes pride in telling as many people as she can that her mummy has 2 babies in her tummy. Then her fascination with numbers takes over and she updates her stats, telling people I have one, two, three, four babies in my tummy. The scary thing is this is partly true as my chances of having twins again in a future pregnancy are 5 times higher!

Having twins means making sacrifices, we are planning to sell our cars and buy a people mover and the trip to Nepal with my sister will have to wait. However I’m anticipating being a mother to twins will be similar to climbing mountains, and Nepal’s mountains will always be there for a later date.

Having two cute babies is more than I planned for, it doesn’t happen often, which makes me doubly fortunate.

Maria

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TimeZoneOners now have a quirky reason to look forward to stepping into the office. Thursday is now Crocs day. It’s a small part of our Up Close philosophy. TimeZoneOne not only creates love of a brand through fantastic graphics and copy, our Up Close advertising creates loyalty and a physical relationship by allowing the customer to see, touch, hold, taste, feel and own. So the question is will having our own individual relationships with the product we are creating advertising for make us even more understanding of that physical relationship the customer has with the product that we create? It may have some effect; we will have fun in our Crocs on Thursdays regardless. We are an Up Close agency our advertising gets up close to the customer, it’s effective. We know this because Crocs and TimeZoneOne’s marketing strategy increased crocs sales by 180% above target and won us an Effie.

I have asked a few zoners to comment on their crocs.  Kim owns 3 pairs of beaches and a pair of Athens. ‘Best jandals I’ve ever owned. I like to wear crocs’n’socks in the winter, a real fashion statement’.

Rose is also wearing her crocs today. ‘ They’re just so comfy and versatile; I can’t bring myself to stop wearing them. I don’t need to worry if they get wet, I can wear them after swimming, when I’m cycling, and they make great driving shoes. These Alice’s are great with jeans and skirts, and can be worn winter or summer.’  

Tim is wearing his Hi-Crusiers today ‘Hi-Crusiers, Santa Cruz, and Sobeks. Crocs like all good things take time to appreciate. Crocs aren’t about their look (at the moment); they are about their inner beauty - comfort being the key. It took time, but this zoner can say he wears his Crocs more often than he would like to admit! 

And  me - I’m wearing my new YOUbycrocs Mykonos. I like them they are summery and girly, a great transition into summer. YOUbycrocs are my favorite Crocs. The spring/summer range is on sale at the moment and I’m planning on buying another pair.

My 3 year old is also wearing her Crocs today she looooves her ‘tiger shoes’ (Disney tigger pelican) and without fail will run around the house every time she puts them on roaring like a tiger. Sounds cute and it is, but it makes life interesting in the morning when I’m late for work. The fact that she gets so much enjoyment from an item of clothing is pretty cool though.

 So there you have it Crocs day is off to a good start.

 Maybe if the bestman at this wedding had been wearing Crocs his friend’s marriage would have had positive beginning as well. Something for Rose to think about.

Enjoy.

   Maria            

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For those new Zoners I hope I haven’t caused you to fear the TimeZoneSun experience. Do not be afraid it means you no harm.

Last year we were flown up to lofty glaciers, where we toasted our success with champagne. We ambled through the beautiful Mount Cook mountain ranges and climbed the awe inspiring Fox Glacier (it forms part of the South Westland World Heritage Area did you know).

We also frighted townsfolk, tourists and sheep alike as we formed mobs and proceeded to attempt sheep riding and unconventional poses with South Island landmarks (there’s a photo out there somewhere that I’m praying has been destroyed).

The range of activities we take part in range from spectacularly memorable to something similar to those dreams you have where you go to work in your underwear.

Unfortunately this year a couple of our team members will not be able to attend the whole North Island experience. Mark is expecting his first child but will relinquish his responsibilities as a new father to join us half way through….that’s how great TimeZoneSun is, the magnificence of creation and a father’s natural instincts to protect his family just doesn’t measure up. 

Adam from Myth Busters is another good contender for surviving the TimeZoneSun challenge as the following clip shows (this is a clip that I thought was a fitting reference to the antics we get up to).

And this is how the professionals would do it. Nobody could possibly be this co-ordinated on TimeZoneSun but it gives us something to aspire to.

       TimeZoneSun planner extraordinaire Maria      

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Spring is in the air, flowers are blooming, lambs are skipping onto dinner plates all over NZ and TimeZoneOne staff are excitedly planning adventures, mischief and mayhem in unsuspecting small NZ coastal towns.

TimeZoneSun, a team building experience like no other, bringing together special qualities found only in a college road trip, an infomercial and a high school musical. Only 5 weeks away this year’s team building experiment is in the top of the North Island of New Zealand. I’ve never been there before so I’m really looking forward to once again abandoning my loving husband and child and skipping off into the sunset with my co-workers, a vague itinerary in one hand and a gin and tonic in the other.

This year I’m feeling a tad guilty as my 3 year old toddler is not as co-operative as she was last year. Our efforts in raising a confident, self-assertive child, although well meaning, often back-fire on us. Lately we have the feeling that the only reason on those odd occasions she has fallen into line is because we out-number her. With me out of the picture for 5 days and nights poor Nick doesn’t stand a chance. 

Last year was my first TimeZoneSun, I made all the usual mistakes, I drank too much, resulting in car sickness, emotional instability and snapping at rather confused co-workers (sorry Brett). This year I’m looking forward to repeating it all again but with a bit more class.

TimeZoneSun, it’s a 5 day and night team building extravaganza. After day 3 some may consider going on to be too dangerous. Words like choreographed rhythmic gymnastics in stubby shorts would make most companies retreat. But TimeZoneOne’s creative team are made of sterner stuff. We continue on. Some of us may require a break stop to barf at the side of the road. Others may require a stop to purchase the latest NZ Naturalist to complete their summer outfit. The fun must and does continue. By day 5 we are exhausted. In the 5 days together we have laughed so much our faces are sore, frolicked in the sun so much we are red and freckled, climbed so many mountains that we long for the flat Christchurch terrain, and drank so much our livers have applied for asylum. And each year we look forward to doing it all again. And that’s why we will never end up like these guys.

 Happy, well adjusted, team member, Maria     

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Something a bit lighthearted for Friday. Here are a couple of pictures of the inspiration for my wedding dress:

It was worn by Carly O’Brien of Gloucester when she married in 2006. Weighing in at 425 pounds, it had 30 layers of material and 30,000 Swarovski crystals. Who wouldn’t want a dress that was heavier than they were?

Some interesting and little known facts about weddings:

The tradition of wearing wedding rings on the third finger has two sources: one started back in ancient times when it was believed that the third finger had a nerve that ran straight to the heart; the second is metaphorical, while every other finger can be extended to its full length and straightness alone, the ring finger can only be fully extended in the company of an adjacent finger.

Groomsmen were basically henchmen. Originally made part of the wedding party by the groom in order to keep too many uninvited people from joining in the celebration and the wedding party getting big, rowdy and uncontrollable. Today, they are simply symbolic.

In Christian ceremonies the bride stands on the grooms left. This was started when it may have been necessary for the groom to reach for his sword with his right hand in order to keep someone from riding up and stealing his bride during the wedding.

A number of cultures adopt the western custom of a bride wearing a white dress. This tradition came to symbolize purity in the Victorian era (despite popular misconception, the white dress did not indicate virginity, which was symbolized by the face veil). Within the ‘white wedding’ tradition, a white dress and veil would not have been considered appropriate for a second or third wedding of a widow or a divorcee.

 And finally, a funny twist to the traditional wedding dance:

Signing out for the last time as ‘Miss’ Rose

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This Sunday is Father’s Day in New Zealand.  So this weeks ‘Zoner of the Week’ goes to all the Dads at TimeZoneOne for creating so much more than just extraordinary creative, Nigel Foley, Andy Carruthers, Murray Grossmith, David McLeod (me) and Hamish McDonald. Mark Cornellison gets an honorable mention, but narrowly misses out on new socks and hankerchiefs this year, his baby is not due for another month.

Here’s a little Father’s Day entercation…

Although normal English punctuation guidelines indicate that the holiday should be spelled “Fathers’ Day” (as it is a plural possessive), common usage dictates that the ostensibly singular possessive “Father’s Day” is the preferred spelling.

In New Zealand…

the average age of fathers of new babies is 33 years.

Fathers with children aged under one year manage 42 minutes less sleep than the average of 8.5 hours.

Over a lifetime, fathers have seven fewer Father’s Days, on average, than mothers have Mother’s Days. This is because men generally start parenting later in life and women have a longer life span. So make the most of it.

More than a quarter (28 percent) of babies born in New Zealand last year were to fathers who were not themselves born in New Zealand.

In the USA…

Father’s day is celebrated on the 3rd Sunday of June (In New Zealand, it’s the 1st Sunday of September.).

there is an estimated 64.3 million Dads.

Americans spend around $11 billion on gifts for Father’s Day. This is about $7 billion less than the amount spent on Moms for Mother’s Day.

David ‘top of the fooseball ladder’ McLeod

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For a little ‘from the archives’ fun, I dipped into the darkest corner of the TimeZoneOne archive cupboard and pulled out ‘Idea Unique ARCHIVE ONE’ - circa May 1995. What interesting long forgotten work lays on this dusty little Kodak Writable CD with InfoGuard Protection? Well, I found a little piece of my childhood on there, in the form of some adverts for Linwood City Shopping Mall…

For those who didn’t grow up in Christchurch’s coolest suburb, Linwood City was an old mall that was renovated many times and renamed EastGate Mall, all that remains of the old mall now is the McDonald’s. I was there when that McDonald’s opened (I got a cheeseburger happy meal, the toy was baby kermit the frog riding a skateboard) and I had my 10th birthday party there and won the monthly birthday prize draw. I would’ve been about 12 when this advert was made, and I might’ve entered my mum in the competition if I wasn’t so busy playing Street Fighter II and Puzzle Bobble ‘fully hard out to the days’. My mum worked at the Post Bank and we used to go to Video Village and rent Sega Master System games and my sisters would get Benji and Care Bear movies and my best friend from primary school was banned for 2 years for stealing marbles from Whitcoull’s… and I was a little sad when they started tearing stuff down, like the big Super Mario and Sonic the Hedgehog characters on the roof, and changed the name to EastGate.

Anyway…

Sticking with the ‘old stuff’ theme… here’s something really old that’s less about me and more about the graphic design/advertising industry. Welcome to Adobe Illustrator 88….

David ‘Puzzle Bloggle’ McLeod

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Christchurch is my favorite city/town in NZ, but like most other cities in NZ it is rapidly becoming a sprawling web of suburbia.

Boulder had a very similar feel to Chch but with one difference. I could’nt imagine that a town with a mear 98,000 residents could feel bigger than Christchurch pop. 348,435. Perhaps Christchurch could learn somthing from cities like this, Boulder has a rule that the city cannot grow/develop out any further, therefore creating a tighter community and bigger “breathing” city feel. In Comparison to Christchurch, so spread out, even on a friday evening the city streets are as silent as a mid week church visit.

There’s an amzing book “Lifestyles by Bruce Mau “, but gruelling read, where he encourages low density metropolitan life. Decreasing suburban sprawl, building cities up , not out and living together as tighter communities to minimise societies impact on the planet.

On a lighter note he has a whole load of manifestos or “life mottos” about creativity and design. Some of my favorites are:

Think with your mind. Forget technology. Creativity is not device-dependent.

Stay up late. Strange things happen when you’ve gone too far, been up too long, worked too hard, and you’re separated from the rest of the world.

Power to the people. Play can only happen when people feel they have control over their lives. We can’t be free agents if we’re not free.

Brett King

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