Merry Christmas!

Hurrah! Only 2 and a half hours to go and we'll be free until 2nd January 2008. So far today we've been treated to a McDonald's (although I refrained from that anti-vegetarian lunch), a raffle which I won some tea and a bottle of Champagne both of which I shall be disposing of over the festive season.
It's been an eventful 2007 at work - people have come and gone and the 4 troopers in marketing keep the company together with their hard work and hilarious banter ;-D
Merry Christmas to the Marketing Team - Kerry, Ads, Beth and me! We won the fish board for the whole year which proves we're ace!
See you in 2008!

Lucky winners!

Yesterday I had the excellent job of ringing up some of our lucky winners and breaking the good news to them. I felt like Father Christmas dishing out all of our treats! It has just taken me an hour to wrap two parcels top be sent out so perhaps I can give the job as and Elf a miss.
We have new competitions on the site now Xmas4now has ended.

Here they are!

Spanish Cruise - jump on a cruise with three lucky mates and see the sites of the Med.
New Year Makeover - if the festivities leave you looking a state.
Romantic Valentine's Break - £300 to treat your loved one or to spend on whatever the heck you want if you're single!

The Win4now Christmas Party!

It's the morning after the night before in the office today and what a night! It was our Christmas party and hair was let down and rugs where cut on the dance floor.
Most people are feeling worse for wear although some sensible staff members such as Rob and Kath planned ahead and booked today off. Others like Simon and Beth took time out from vomiting to ring in for short notice holidays. If only I hadn't used all mine up way back in October!
Most people where in bed for around 2am but an elite group who chose to go above and beyond the normal amount of excess expected on a works-do stayed up until 5am. I do not know how any of them managed to come in today!
I'm back to writing competitions today so keep your eyes open on Monday for some new ones on www.win4now.co.uk.

Excel hell

I've been rumbled...
After two years of pretending I know how to use Excel and merrily making up nonsense formulas which complicate even the most simple task I'm being sent on a course.
It's not going to be pretty - me and maths fell out in school and even though I have a GCSE grade C this means nothing in the big wide world. We where never taught Excel in school or if we where I didn't listen hard enough!
I have a Nintendo DS so maybe a spot of brain training will do me some good!

New competitions!

It's that time of the month again when Win4now has a surge of new competitions! One of the most used phrases on the Internet is surely 'there's something for everyone' but it's true on Win4now so I'm going to use that cliche and say there's something for everyone with our new competitions!

- A years cinema pass for two people - so you can have date nights all year round
- A pair of Converse trainers - jump on the fashion bandwagon
- Fitness equipment - if the gym is your hell
- A washer dryer - because chores need to be done even in winter
- A Nintendo DS and Dog Training game - because real dogs smell and dribble
- 1 of 3 magazine subscriptions - when there's nothing good on the telly
- Your dream holiday - because you've had enough
- 1 of 10 Peppa DVDs - the cutest pig around

Get entering and enjoy!

Eve takes a tumble

What a way to start a morning. I left the house this morning locked the door and the next thing I knew I was staring at the roots of the front garden hedge and covered in the delightful green stuff growing on my garden path. I escaped any serious injury (don't think a vague ache in my left arm counts) and made it to work for 8am yey!
Feel sorry for a lot of the Win4now staff today as it was the AND Christmas party last night which means sore heads and vomit-tendencies all round :-/
Tomorrow plenty of new Win4now competitions will be going live including cinema passes, a washer dryer and a cool pair of Converse trainers!

Strewth! Check out this competition!

Bonza - ya flamin' Galar!
We have just added a sweet competition to win a bag full of Aussie goodies including a guide book, Aussie food and wine, an Australian hat and much more including an amazing £500 travel voucher!
So throw another shrimp on the barbie and check this competition out!

Ho, Ho, Ho!!

Everything you need for the perfect Christmas celebration can be found at the mighty Win4now.co.uk.
Are you hungry for Christmas food and drinks? Then check out our scrumalicious Christmas Turkey - it's lip smackingly juicy! We also have some Champagne and Chocolates so you could get trollied and gorge yourself on the good stuff.
If the kids are bugging you for the latest toys then we have a whole selection of treats just waiting to be won (literally, they are sat under my desk waiting for a good home!) We have board games, boy's toys, girl's toys, little kids toys, a PSP, a Nintendo DS and the prize more coverted than a pair of Kylie's knickers - the Nintendo Wii!
That lot is sure to squish any 'But what I really I wanted was...' from any ungrateful relatives.

Children in Need

The Twister mat is out, the raffle is on, Gemma's succeeded in a sponsored silence for a whole morning (much to every one's delight) and we're about to have a homemade buffet - it's Children in Need time again!
We have a bucket full of cash already which is getting fuller by the minute. So staff of Win4now - don't be tight and get your wallets out!
I have a hangover so I shall be going easy on the chocolates and avoiding any games of Twister or anything that means I have to move too much.
Kerry has just had to put £4 into the charity swear box as the Design team have annoyed her - the air turned blue and she is now poor but I think it made her feel better. Just hope there's no food fight at the buffet!

Kitten Gate

Two kittens were spotted in the car park yesterday with a cat which is believed to their mum.

The kittens produced mass squeals from anyone who saw them as they were criminally cute. I rang the Cats Protection League to report them but they said the cats where probably feral and doing a-ok on their own. Feral or not those kittens are going to be cold. They haven't been seen since yesterday so the chance of having a few Win4now mascots has passed us by and a few members of staff are accusing me of making the whole thing up. I would think of a better lie if that was the case such as a feral penguin in the bottom of the car park.

We don't have any pet related competitions on Win4now at the moment (again, if you have any ideas for pet competitions let me know) so the best I can do is a Garden Vac. You never know, you may unearth some cute kitties under all those leaves. (A tenuous link I know).

Watch them trends

What's going to be big in 2008? This is the question everyone wants to know so they can jump on the trend bandwagon and ride it through the valley of over exposure and down the one way street of consumer boredom until everyone has fallen off.
Catering to all trends with one idea is never going to work as there are just too many people out there and unfortunately for all those big corporations these people are individuals.
Whatever is going to be big in 2008 we hope to have it covered on Win4now's sister site http://www.instantwin4now.co.uk/. This gem among the rubble of prize sites (Win4now excluded of course) has everything you could ever want to win from electric toothbrushes to nappies and substantial amounts of cash to posh cars. You can win these instantly and it'll cost you nothing.
So what product do you think will be big in 2008? Let us know and we'll add it to the 1407 prizes already on http://www.instantwin4now.co.uk/.
Save my brain and tell me what you want to win in 2008!

Electronic Prizes to Make You Ecstatic!

Just feel those hairs on the back of your neck stand to attention like rows of obedient, technology loving soldiers... no I don't know where this metaphor is going either but all you need to know is we have a great selection of top electronics prizes on the site at the moment!

So say 'buh bye' to your worn out gadgets and check out this lot!

Wind up eco media player - let your arms earn the tunes!

A 42 inch Philips HD TV - as we used to say in school this TV is so big it's 'masson'

An Apple MacBook - you're not winning a laptop; you're winning jealous looks from your mates

A Smeg fridge - ain't no need for boring white fridges anymore so bring on the bold!

As always - any ideas for prizes are more than welcome unless you take the 'micky' and demand mansions and Mercedes as that's just silly :-)

We're baaaaaack!!

It's been a while but the World of Win4now is back online!

Much has happened since our last post in June. We have many new members of staff who are currently looking quite scared to have been 'lucky' enough to land a job in our crazy office :-D

We've all just been treated to pizza and brownies as programmer Pete and PA Jane are leaving today so we all needed cheering up.

Rob wanted a special mention as he managed to win the Fish Board (where paper fishes are given for good deeds) by rigging it and making me write him a fish. Although me and Helen won it too so we all got a bottle to take home!

There are so many new competitions on the site at the moment that I can't write about them all so visit Win4now now! Do it!

Places to escape to

With Win4now there's no need to worry about leaving a giant sized carbon foot print on your travels as we have some great UK holidays to give away. So strap the kids in, dig out the ice box and off you go!

Family Adventure in the New Forest Click Here
Visit the Lake District or Cornwall with the extended family Click Here
Family Fun in the South East of England Click Here

And if you fancy a break for two...
Win an overnight stay for 2 at the Hintlesham Hall Hotel Click Here

Lather up with Win4now

Fed up of the same old competitions? Well at Win4now we say 'poo poo' to boring prizes as we have a superb Spa Hot Tub to give away - and it's portable! Yes you can break out this bad-boy in your garden, on a campsite, at your friends - even in a park if you like to be sociable!

Just click here to enter!

New comps up for grabs!

After what could be called a competition dry patch, the prize flood gates have opened and we are awash with new treats to give away. Check out this little lot of top prizes!

New Forest Family Break
Cruise and Dine
Sony Digital Camera and New Andrew Gross Books
Luxury Spa Break
Ibiza CDs
Ready Beds for your Kids
iPod Nano

More competitions are being added everyday so keep clicking on Win4now for the best free prizes around!

Nudies at Win4now

We have been receiving some strange competitions recently at Win4now, the best of them being a competition to win tickets to the Garden of Eden at the Eden Project. One for botanists and nudists, the Garden of Eden event will welcome 2,500 naturists and friends into the Eden Project where they can hang loose as nature intended.

Just click here if you're brave enough!

The Big Smoke

No we aren't running a competition to win a load of cigarettes, I went to London yesterday and came back in one piece hurrah! I went to make my fortune as I heard a rumour that the streets were in fact made of gold and cats wore boots and Barbra Windsor worked in one of the pubs.

As none of this proved to be true I went on a training course instead and learned how to write copy for the web. Although I have been writing for the web for a year and a half, this extra boost of professional training will allow me to kick my writing into shape and lay off the cliches perhaps. So look out for an even more well written Win4now (but probably still with spelling mistakes!) in the near future :-)

Oh La LA!

Spring is in the air and so is romance in the Win4now office - well on the website anyway as we have a trip to Paris to give away!

So what exactly is Paris the capital of, other than France...

Capital of romance - Yep

Capital of style - Yep

Capital of wine - Yep

Capital of food - Yep

Capital of culture - Yep

So unless you're a single unromantic teetotal vegan with no style who's never visited a museum - Paris really does have something for everyone!

See the exotic sights of Southern Asia

With this competition your summer holiday this year could be your most exotic yet!
Singapore is a city of contrasts and one that certainly never sleeps which means round the clock entertainment of every kind imaginable! The city's huge skyscrapers and business parks mean that on the surface Singapore looks ultra modern but explore a little deeper and you will find an undeniably Asian city with Chinese, Malay and Indian traditions creating part of the everyday landscape and bringing the city to life.

The centre of the city is filled with a melange of districts including the Arab quarter, Little India and China Town, as well as many reminders of Singapore's colonial past in the Padang district. Be sure to take a break now and then and rest your feet in one of the many delicious eateries with quite a few Singapore Slings on the side.

Riddle Me This, Riddle Me That

My first is in 'win' but not in 'in'
My second is in 'one' but not in 'on'
My third is in 'now' but not in 'ow'....

I'll leave it there but if you would like a less obvious and slight more fun riddle then check out Fun4now.co.uk's newly expanded competitions and puzzles.

Click here to find out more.

All Abord!!

OK, so it might not be gliding through the Orient or even the Continent but we have a superb competition to win a day trip on the Orient Express, cruising up and down the beautiful English countryside. You might not need a passport but you certainly won't need an excuse not to enter either; it's a stunning competition and it could be yours!

Enter now!

The choice is yours!

We've recently been doing some tests on the Win4now site to find out which way you prefer the competitions to be written. As well as doing these tests I thought I might as well ask your opinion - do you prefer short, sharp, cheesy text or longer, description text which shows you exactly what you'll get out of the prizes if you were to win them?
Just leave your comments below to help us make Win4now better for you :-)

£1500 cash!

Boost your bank balance!

Win £1500 in cash!
That's right - we're giving one lucky winner's bank balance a real boost by giving away £1500 in cash!

Just think of the weight that would disappear from your shoulders knowing that a decent sized chunk out of your over draft or credit cards could be taken care of! You could forget about your mortgage for three months, pay your council tax for a year or even invest in a few carefully placed stocks and shares!

If all that sounds a bit too serious then spend, spend, spend! Clothes, gifts, meals and nights out in the fanciest places in town will have you looking and feeling like a true star all thanks to Cashback-Rewards!

So what are you waiting for? Click here!

Attention All Gamers!

There's much talk at the moment in our offices and beyond about which games console is best. Sony have just released the Playstation 3 which is all shiny and new but in my opinion it's the Xbox 360 that deserves the title of greatest console on earth!

If I could afford to buy a Wii I think my console preference would change as it looks like the most fun you could possibly have hooked up to a gadget.

You Win4now members are lucky, lucky people though as you get to choose your favourite by entering a competition to win it! Although you could cheat and enter both if you love both of them equally :-)

Win a Playstation 3 - click here!

Win an Xbox 360 - click here!

Win a Nintendo Wii - click here!

Meet Postman Pat!

Postman Pat was a staple father figure in my childhood and I spent many a morning worrying whether Ted Glenn was going to be attacked by a bull or whether Mrs Goggins would find her glasses. Going strong since 1981, Postman Pat will be appearing in person at Longleat this summer and with Win4now you could meet him (now this is a competition I wish I could enter!)

You could win 1 of 5 family tickets for a day out at Longleat and have the chance to meet the P-Man himself while you're there!

Comic Relief at Win4now in pictures

Red Nose Day at Win4now

Red Nose Day for Comic Relief always brings about an air of excitement which makes all day Friday seem like the lat ten minutes of a Friday afternoon.
Most of us are in red of sorts, except Gemma who's opted to wear a pink PVC nurses outfit. She'll have to go easy on the feast we have laid out at lunch time as there are more baked good and sticky treats than a WI meeting.
We've been inundated with fun prizes recently, so check out this little lot...

If you can handle the saccharine than you can feel the love with Donny Osmond's Love Songs of the 70s ... Win 1 of 5 free copies of Donny's new album!

Climb aboard the Mystery Machine with our fantastic Scooby Doo competition... Win the DVD, complete with a DVD player, a hamper of sweets and a fantastic family ticket to see Scooby-Doo live on stage and meet the characters in person

P-p-pick up an Exclusive Happy Feet Goody Bag...To mark the release of the highly anticipated DVD

Run Win4now Run!

In a moment of fund raising madness we've decided to take part in the Race for Life. Eleven of us will be running round the Don Valley stadium in no doubt baking heat for 5 km.

If you would like to help raise money for a very good cause and encourage us to run that bit faster sponsor us!

http://www.raceforlifesponsorme.org/win4now

Da da daaa da da!

Take a slice out of the Big Apple!
Start spreading the news...because you could be top of the heap and king of the hill with a trip to New York City!
From its distinctive sky line to its vast parks, superb museums and world-class eateries, New York is a legendary city with something to offer everyone.
Take a shopping trip down the famous 5th Avenue pausing for a spot of window shopping at Gucci, Versace and Tiffany and Co, or head to the boutiques of Soho for some one off bargains. Try out one of the many shows on Broadway, or take a stroll through Central Park. New York is the city that never sleeps so its nightlife is second to none with clubs, bars, shows and thousands of top-notch eateries on offer.
The lucky winner will receive a cheque for £2000 from Cheapflights.co.uk. So if New York is not your perfect place to visit simply choose another destination to fly off to.

A year older

Since the last time I wrote I have turned 26. I feel exactly the same as I did when I was 25 and in fact, when I was 15. But I did receive 2 delicious cakes to share with the win4now office so what's another year when you have some sponge delights to stuff your face with?

If you fancy a holiday that doesn't involve long waits in the departure lounge and no leg room then check this out...

The Peak District is England's fourth largest National Park with 555 square miles of rolling hills, woodlands, quaint villages and babbling brooks to explore. Our sponsors harthillhall.co.uk are giving away a five day mid-week stay for a family of up to five people in a luxury holiday cottage right in the heart of the Peak District countryside.
Harthill Hall specialises in self-catering holiday cottages with a difference - they excel in luxurious comfort with features including four poster beds, en suite bathrooms and even a private outdoor jacuzzi.


Not bad eh?

New offices for us!

No longer are the marketing team locked away in a darkened room on our own, we have been allowed to integrate with the other departments, all in one big room. Although this has the potential for breaking into a fist fights with members of the sales team with the accounts team running a book, things haven't taken a turn for the worse so far. My tendency for listening to things that have nothing to do with me means that I have to wear my head phones all the time or risk having enough material to fill the entire Blogger bandwidth with office gossip.

The new offices are light, massive and airy, you might say they are ideal which leads me without a seam in sight to our latest competition...

100 pairs of tickets to the Ideal Home Show, ta daa!

Win 1 of 5 Apple iPod Shuffles

The all-new iPod Shuffle now comes in an array of fabulous colours to go with your outfit including hot pink and cool blue, so now your music can be a fashion statement!

With iTunes auto fill, iPod shuffle delivers a new musical experience every time you sync and the dinky design means you can carry 240 of your favourite tunes on your shirt sleeve, purse strap or wristband!

We have 5 iPod Shuffles to give away courtesy of www.pigsback.com, giving you more chances to win!

Where in the world...

With £2000 of holiday vouchers stuffed into your bulging wallet or purse, the world is very much your oyster, all be it a very expensive oyster.

At Win4now we are very lucky, or rather our members are, as every month (until the amazing generosity of our sponsor ends) we will have a trip abroad worth £2000 to give away.

I have the task for choosing the monthly destination for this competition and with so many places in the world worth visiting where do I pick? If I was able to enter my perfect place to visit would be to Perth in Western Australia so I could visit my friend again and it's summer there which is a bonus.

We will be starting with a trip to Dubai running in February but...

...where would you go?

Storm outcome

I forgot to say that our Sheffield offices are thankfully intact after all the gales. I found my fruit and veggies two days later in the outside loo looking a bit forlorn. So all is well weather wise, although we've not had the snow yet...

Win a portable DVD player and the top 10 DVDs!

Relax at home, on the train, on your lunch break or anywhere you can think of with this fantastic Toshiba portable DVD player and the top ten DVDs.
The eight inch screen offers vibrant images that are complemented by the 3D virtual surround sound. You can also view photos from your digital camera and watch DVDs with a friend thanks to the twin headphone sockets.
The top ten DVDs include hard hitting futuristic drama with Children of Men, comedy from Will Ferrel in Talladega Nights and top US drama from series five of 24. It's a good job as well as unfortunately the top ten also includes the Disney phemomenon High School Musical. With the good, always comes the bad!

We've got wind

Oh yes and lots of it. Seventy miles an hour gusts are ripping past our offices, rattling windows and shifting the ceiling tiles.
Sheffield is in chaos.
Roads are closed, trees are falling down all over and it's going to be a total miracle if I get home before about 8pm tonight. What's worse, we have our first ever organic veg delivery which was to be left in a box on our back door step today, I imagine our back garden is going to be splattered with the remains of my over priced vegetables.
So if you're lucky enough to be in doors, stay there, pray your roof doesn't blow off and enter some competitions!
Lulu Guinness handbag stuffed with cash
Motorola KRZR K1 mobile phone
Sanyo HD 32 inch TV

Broken resolutions

It was inevitable that no drink and no booze would make Win4now staff unhappy. This weekend Beth broke her no smoking promise with a pack of 10 Marlborough Lights and Ads came in a close second with four pints of beer. I am still allowed to be smug as I've drank nothing for 14 whole days now! Kerry is attempting to give up smoking and she's made 15 hours so far but her temper is fraying like an unfinished jumper right now and I'm scared for my life. Another New Year resolution I am making to provide our users with the best prizes ever like these two bad boys...

Free petrol for a year!





£400 to spend on eBay

Win a Mini Cooper

We're just to darn generous at Win4now!
The Mini Cooper is as much a part of British culture as fish and chips and wet weather, only far more stylish.
Compact, cute and undoubtedly cool, BMW's Mini Cooper is powered by a four-cylinder, 1.6 litre, 16-valve engine enabling the car to accelerate from 0-62 mph in 9.2 seconds and reach a top speed of 124 mph.
The Mini Cooper is versatile enough for you to feel comfortable in rush hour traffic or dashing down the motorway.
Wherever you decide to take the Mini you are sure to have an incredible experience driving there!

That went quick...

I'm sure that everyone in every job in the whole world who has had time off at Christmas will be at work today thinking, 'have I really been away?'

Have I?

I seem to be more tired than I was ten days ago, the only indication I have of being off work is that demolishing six tubes of Pringles and drinking everything (including, for reasons unknown, White Lightening) means I can't get as near to my desk as I used to.

Things are going to change in marketing though ... Adele and I are giving up drinking for at least a month and Beth is giving up smoking. There was talk of an aerobics class at lunch time but one step at a time and all that.

Members of Win4now are a lucky lot as you could win stuff to make their New Year more exciting than ours will be with our salads and cups of herbal tea.
If I didn't work for the mighty Win4now here's what I would love to win...

A trip to a Champneys Spa
AA driving lessons
A secret admirer
Luxury apartment
Nintendo Wii

If there's anything that you would love to win and we don't have it on the site - let us know and we might just put it up there.