(written by Len)

The day started off pretty much like any other day… except Len was late – he says he was stuck in a Guest House….hmmm?? … but it was like any other day.

Retha and Kristoph did their normal Project Status meeting and it appeared everything was under control.

Len & Karin trying to figure out where to go

Then, Retha briefed us on what we had to do for the day.. a Team Treasure Hunt! Images of The Amazing Race/  Survivor/ Thunderbirds/Travel Channel came to mind when she gave us the brief!

We had quite a few stages to get thru and had to start quickly. First off, we had to find a picture, which was taken at the office, and then put speech bubble comments on it…this was going to be our invitation to lunch later on! What fun that was!

We then had a long list of questions, which had to be answered, some quite weird, but we managed to answer most of them! Then we had to drive to DuikerPrint to get some information and samples from various people in order to get our next clue.

Len, Karin & Lloyd at Digicape

Digicape was the next stop on the list… and wow, if we knew what was in store for us there! We had to hand out flyers at the traffic light!! We all vowed that Retha and Kristoph were gonna pay for this!!! (We did eventually find out that it was not their idea at all, but rather the manager at Digicape!! We’ll deal with him later!) (note from R&K:

The Pause Room at the Gardens Shopping Centre was the next port of call, where we had to get some handwash (for the office) and then count the steps in the Tower block! Oh wow.. there are 20 floors…! but we managed to do some quick calculations and got an answer… although we still do not believe that our management actually knew the correct total! (note from R&K: Of course we did!)

CT traffic wasn't kind either!

Parker Cottage was the next stop, to take a picture of the dog and mms it to our managers. So, what happens… we arrive there, only to find the dog isn’t there!!! Not only that, but one very confused manageress who had NO idea what we were talking about! One of Kristoph’s last minute idea’s! (note from R&K: There’s a pic of the dog on their website… you should have known that, and it could have saved you the trip!  Initiative! J)

From Parker Cottage we had to get to the New Cape Quarter, to Philip Wulfsohn jewellery for the next clue… fortunately he was a lot kinder than Digicape, and we just had to answer a question about the hardest substance known to Man…. A Diamond. (also a girls best friend!)

Niel distributing pamphlets at Digicape!

Our last stop was Andiamo for lunch and some well deserved wine!! Our lunch was full of fun and jokes and it was a fitting end to a busy year!

Thanks to Retha and Kristoph for making the day possible and for the arrangements.

(We each received a 2 night stay for us and our long-suffering partners in one of two hotels in either Knysna or Mossel Bay)

Happy Holidays from everyone at Kreatif !

We are looking forward to 2010 !

Len Timbrell joined our team in March as an Account Executive.  He brings a wealth of experience to .Kreatif, in determining clients requirements, being able to analyse those needs and putting together packages to suit individual clients. He loves working with people and having owned his own business as well as working with large corporates, he understands the requirements of his clients businesses. His role is not only serving clients but ensuring that the work rolls out after being scheduled and liaising with clients, helping .Kreatif to serve our clients better!

If you need any information about what .Kreatif has to offer, a quotation for a web site, online shop, designs, newsletters, brochures, business cards, etc. Len is the guy to speak to!  You can contact him on sales@kreatif.co.za

He also runs the Events Business Network Franchise and owns a website, Bizeventguide.co.za which is a listing of business networking events globally.

Karin Prinsloo is joining the Kreatif team today, replacing Gill as our Studio Admin Manager.  We are very excited to have her on board, and wish her a long and exciting career with us!  Here is a little introduction from her:

“I’ve been working in the Admin field for about 3 years now. I do however also have a diploma in Sound Engineering and do Sound after hours. I am one of those people who love taking on different projects and keeping myself busy and entertained.

My big love is Animations and my passion is doing the sound for it. In the rest of my spare time I love watching movies, series, playing computer games and cooking.

I am happy to join the Kreatif team and I am sure that we will have some great times ahead of us. ”

Note:  Karin got married in February 2009, and is now known as Karin McLea!  Congrats to Karin & Geoff..

Well, my time at Kreatif is almost up. I decided to relinquish my position as Studio Admin Manager and move on, not because I want to leave this GREAT company but to pursue my illustrious acting career!

As far as companies go, and I’ve worked for a couple, Kreatif has been extraordinary – couple a unique group of talented individuals, freedom of creativity and a sense of excellence and humour and you get Kreatif – a company that provides top notch design and service with integrity. I have really loved every minute of it (except dealing with some devilish service providers – I wont mention any names… we all know who they are!) and am truly going to miss everyone.

To Niel: The newest to the team but the most together!! You put us all to shame, you are always the first in the office and the last to leave. We can all aspire to work as hard as you.

To Ryno – You have a brilliant creative mind and are a superb illustrator. I’ve been constantly entertained  by your antics and will always remember your silly renditions of “Total Eclipse of the Heart”. We’re still going to write a children’s book.

To Lloyd: We are the oldies. Here right at the beginning of it all and its been great. Thanks for so willingly helping me with my blog and just being so easy to work with all the time. You’re great.

To Retha: You are so on the ball with everything and its been a pleasure working for you and learning so much from you. I can now run a company thanks to you!

To Kristoph: We’ve come a long way – ever since being cooped up together in the small Sea Point office. You have truly been the coolest boss I’ve ever worked for and you are the most brilliant designer in the whole wide world…haha. I will really miss you.

To whoever will be taking my place, I hand the torch over to you. Good luck and enjoy! Ps. Ryno is really gullible, so use this priceless information. It was a good source of my amusement. (:

I wish Kreatif all the best with its very bright future and have no doubt that it will continue to grow in many different, innovative ways.

So Auf Wiedersehen, Ciao, Adios, Au Revoir and goodbye!

Gillian

Thursday 29 November:

There’s nothing like having to work for your lunch! Lloyd, Ryno, Niel and I (Gill) arrive at work all chipper because it’s almost Friday, the sun is shining and we know that today is loaf day (although we thoroughly enjoy working hard). We were told that today we would be having our Kreatif Krismas lunch. What we weren’t told was that we had to earn it!

So at 10am Kristoph pipes up that its time to leave for lunch BUT he is not going to tell us where we will be lunching! “Your first clue will be found at one of our client’s offices, Omnisol”. There was one rule: If we phoned Kristoph and Retha for directions, we would owe them a bottle of wine for helping us. Kristoph gives us fifty bucks for petrol and says good luck with an evil grin because he knows that he will be knocking back the first glass of wine in about 30 minutes while we run around the city…

So we all pile into my silver bullet (Corsa Lite – the lite side of life) and off we go to find Omnisol in Plattekloof with some tunes pumping the windows down and Ryno, our navigator with the map – all very exciting!

Will very little effort we find Omnisol (Well done, Ryno) and we get our first clue, further instructions and an envelope for each person. The heading of the individual letters is “RynoVSLloydVSNielVSGill” with 4 questions each relating to one of our jobs – a competition! After much deliberation we decide to work together to answer all the questions correctly and split that prize. After all, we at Kreatif pride ourselves on working together as a team (I think that scored serious brownie points with the bosses) . Along with that we got a piece of wood (huh) and a map to the next destination. Ryno immediately recognised the Exquisite Ice map (he should – he designed it) and we raced off to Riebeeck st in the city not forgetting to send an MMS of ourselves at Omnisol to Retha.

Once at Exquisite Ice Ryno and Lloyd jumped out while Niel and I circled the block. There Jacqui Rens gave us our next envelop with instructions and a key

- Go to the Waterfront Clocktower Tourism Centre and pick up flyers from three Kreatif Clients and then walk to the post office in the centre and get the post. Our next clue would be found there!

We quickly found the flyers, took another MMS and set off to the post office inside the V&A Waterfront to find the next clue.

At the post office we emptied the post box and found the last envelope. Our final clue will be found at http://treasureafrica.com/treasurehunt.

Niel cleverly remembered where we could find an internet cafe and we missioned off in that direction. Click the link to see what we found!

So it was time to put all the clues together to find the destination where we would be treated:

1. We received something at Omnisol…. WOOD

2. Leaving the Clock Tower you crossed a…. BRIDGE

3. What we found at the link… a picture of an ISLAND

WOODBRIDGE ISLAND! Whoo hoo, we had figured it out.

By this time it’s about 1pm, we are quite hungry and really ready to ring up the company bill but to our dismay my car was parked near the Clock Tower and the bridge linking us from the Waterfront to the Clock Tower had mysteriously broken.

Needless to say we sat in the blistering sun for about 45 minutes waiting for them to fix the bridge, dehydrating and insanely jealous that Kristoph and Retha were about to move onto there second bottle of wine!

We finally arrived at Maestro’s and were treated to a glorious meal and great company.

It really was a great experience. It’s rare to find a company like Kreatif, where so much effort was put into ensuring that we had a good Christmas Party. The treasure hunt was a fabulous way to build team spirit and get us working together and it was just plain old fun!

I would seriously encourage all our clients to consider doing something like this. If you look after you staff, they in turn will look after your company. It works for us.