Text 100 Malaysia is 2!!

How time flies…on 1 August 2006, Text 100 Malaysia opened with just one person in a serviced office suite. This time last year, we were a significantly larger team of 6 moving into a new office and today, Text 100 Malaysia celebrates its second anniversary with TWELVE people.

I joined Text about 9 months after they opened, in May 2006, and ever since then it's been a lot of hard work and problems…but not without its lighter and 'classic' moments too. But perhaps the tale would be best told in pictures rather than stories…

It all started with just ONE…ML!


One week later, our office 'cili padi' hopped on board…


In October, these *cough* gentlemen came on board – don't worry, they're usually this mad (!!)


When the team got a bit too squashed for that tiny serviced suite, they moved into a SLIGHTLY BIGGER serviced suite…and that's where all the fun started…


Until now, I still can't imagine how we all survived being packed in there like sardines…


Then along came me and Libby in May, bringing our lil' office to 6 people!


Thanks to the two of us taking up so much room (and being able to take on more work with the added manpower lah!), the office started getting more and more cluttered with client materials.


Celebrating Text 100's Star Awards – it was an Indian theme, and yes, SOMEONE wore a 'dress' that day (and no, it wasn't the girls!)


M&Ms was a particularly funny memory…we were literally SWIMMING in boxes and boxes of M&Ms which were delivered to the office (before we repacked them to send out to the media)


Every available nook and cranny was stuffed FULL of M&Ms…and that was roughly the time we knew we had to start looking for a bigger place…

There were two big events in particular that prompted the move to our new office though...


The sight of our poor Shafaat who had to sit on a stool "mamak style" to work at our office because we had no other available space!

And when the carpet underneath David's table decided to start sprouting a leak (which we initially blamed on him!), we knew we had to get out of there…what with the semi-regular power cuts, aircond failures, inability to actually MOVE in the office and having things underfoot EVERYWHERE…

So lo and behold…sometime in June, we found a unit at the new Northpoint Office Suites just across the road, and after renovations, tadaaaahhh!!

Such a far cry from the old office suite, and it's OURS!!


Finally, our very own signage!!


We wanted to make our office as colourful and cosy as possible, so we decided to have nice beanie bags…and a breakout area too!!

For our first birthday, we decided to combine it with our office opening party and share it with our media friends, suppliers and clients, which made for a very happy event!!

Happy Birthday to us!


Alamak…nothing but FOOD…and more FOOD (no wonder all of us are getting fat!!)


The Wii was a big focus…some of them got a bit overenthusiastic and started smacking people that got in their way!

And just 3 plus months (and three additions later), we were standing at a formidable team of 9 people for Christmas – and with so many people, Christmas was definitely one celebration to remember…just check out all the presents!! :D

Between Christmas and CNY, we grew just slightly to 10 people…but we ALL also grew sideways!

And despite our busy schedules, we managed to take time out for our "CEO" outings – Chief Entertainment Officer outings, that is…not to mention take part in internal competitions, like the photo comp below:

All a little bit fruity!


*pssst*…that's our breakout area we're using…

The Wii has also been a great source of entertainment for us…just ask anyone in the office – looking at the way we play, I think the tenants on the floor below us feel tremors every now and then…

The big highlight of the first half of 2008 – Text 100's MC offsite, which was held in Cyberjaya. Being the host country, the team had to entertain all the Managing Consultants from Text 100 GLOBAL…and I don't think we disappointed them (or, we HOPE we didn't disappoint them)…

Moprah saves the day!!


We had them in stitches…not to mention all these pseudo-'paparazzis' started taking pictures and videos!


The team with our Text 100 CEO Aehdmar Hynes and APAC Regional Consultancy Director Ava Lawler

And to top it all off, we got this…

(click to enlarge)

Yup, Text 100 Malaysia was one of the co-finalists for Asia Pacific PR Awards New Consultancy of the Year Award. We had to share the spot with another consultancy from Singapore, but it was a respectable achievement all the same.

So there you have it…two years of Text 100 Malaysia's history crammed into a couple dozen or so photos…there are plenty more that I could share, but some of them would be too disturbing (!!) However, if you REALLY want to know about those incidents…just ask any one of us…we may or may not tell you…