Well, I signed the dotted line with Ikon Communications in December ’08. Although Ikon and their sister company New Dialogue are well established and highly successful in Australia, they are new to the New Zealand marketplace.
We were invited to pitch for a banking client, and after being informed we were successful, I spent a frantic few weeks setting up our new Wellington office – phones, Internet, office equipment, furniture etc, plus bedding in our processes, as well as working closely with our brand new bank client. All this while our relatively new Auckland office (4 months old) was recruiting more staff and working their socks off on media and channel strategies for our global beverage category client. In New Zealand, ‘Pre-Christmas’ also equals ‘Pre-Summer’, and the summer season is especially busy for various beverage and refreshment categories.
2008 had been a grueling year for us, so my partner and I decided we needed some time out together. So over the Christmas / New Year break we got on the night ferry across to Picton, then drove down to Central Otago for 11 days of camping and cycling.
Central Otago has the hottest summers, coldest winters, and driest climates in NZ. Surrounded by mountains and with a multitude of lakes and hydro projects, it has a strange beauty. The climate is perfect for grapes and produces some of the best Pinot Noir you can drink. We stayed for 4 days on the shores of Lake Wanaka, then moved on before setting up camp in Alexandra for a blissful 5 days. Thankfully, my partner is so in love with the area, she has insisted we go back at the end of the year!
DigiEx 