1million web visitors...and counting

Lettingaproperty.com is celebrating a stand-out achievement, 1m unique visitors since '08 and is now celebrating with a major advertising campaign targeting the rental market with it's incredible value-add rent guarantee product. Here's to the next million!

OWB Girls get serious

Doing their bit for Movember at the LDC PA Night, cheers Kiki

WHERE DREAMS ARE MADE...

Not content with sitting in all the fabulous cars at Rybrook Specialist Cars in Hockley Heath, including everything from the fast and furious new McLaren MP4-12C to the luxurious Rolls Royce Phantom...budding racing car driver Harry B gets a taste of the ultimate McLaren - Ayrton Senna's last race winning car..Full marks to the sales team who patiently showed an over enthusiastic 9 year old round some of the worlds most expensive cars...."it's no problem...this is where dreams are made and customer relationships begin...". Thank you Rybrook I like your style!

Invigorating the creative spirit..in sandals and bathrobe

I've never been to a Spa and found myself enjoying last years Christmas present today at Eden Spa, Hoar Cross Staffordshire. Now, whilst I would describe myself as a fairly broad-minded individual, albeit somewhere nearer to stone-age man than modern-man, I had doubts on arrival seeing the amassed flesh wondering around in fluffy bathrobes and soft musak...but wow it didn't take me long to get into the swing of it and grab the whole experience by the flip-flops and get stuck in.

The experience I had was superb, the staff were fabulous and made me feel very welcome (I think I was the only bloke in amongst 150ish ladies from hen groups to seasonal escapees) a few strong coffees in the little café and grasping the Sunday Times I ventured poolside to the detox centre (gave that a good shoe'ing) couple of other aqua bits and a kip to be aroused in time for lunch.

Now that was an experience, believing the whole carrot, lettuce and water myth I was pleasantly offered a chilled chardonnay, beautiful 3-course meal and a couple of christmas crackers!

My afternoon treatment was a face de-stress. I felt quite sorry for the lovely young therapist who had to enjoy my witty banter (well I thought it was witty) - it was an extremely invigorating experience but I was slightly bemused when I was left alone at the end with my head in a towel for 5 minutes -
apparently it allows one to gather oneself.

A further David Wilkie-esque (not) blast up and down the pool, more sleep, and afternoon tea rounded off a spiritually reviving and invigorating experience, certainly not the last time I "robe up in public"
Andy W

Get Your Monations in QUICK!

It’s the final week of Movember and the MOWB team are still going strong!

Jonsey is displaying some real bushy brilliance, Andy has taken the morning off for a grooming session (removing the greys I believe) Mike is now slightly more noticeable but has agreed to start next years Movember in June and Norm has had a week off to pursuit his new MOdeling career.

However, the razors are at the ready for Thursday, and to make sure the boys don’t get twitchy, (with the itch being really poignant here) please do donate to this fantastic cause: http://uk.movember.com/mospace/1797196

Frazier’s Christmas Wine Tasting

A Guide to Frazier’s Christmas Wine Tasting, 24th November at The Forest, Dorridge, Solihull…

DO have a bite to start. It would be a good idea to not start on an empty stomach! (Try our tasting platter from the award winning Forest team available to pre order).

DON'T attempt to try all the wines! Walk the room. Talk to the people behind the booth and allow them to steer you towards a few bottles to try. Have a strategy. Are you after new varieties? Did you want to approach your favourites first or save them for last?

DON'T feel that you have to empty your glass. Our team will give you a decent pour but don't feel that you have to drain the class each time. It's perfectly acceptable to pour the wine out and move to another one. And yes...it is acceptable to spit!

DO talk to people. Ask questions. Wine people are quite friendly and do like discussing the wine. You might even make a few friends. DO take your time. Pace yourself. Wines start pouring at 7:00pm and will keep on pouring until 9:00pm, making it truly an evening not to be Missed.

To purchase a ticket please visit http://www.frazierswine.co.uk/wine-tasting/

Do have an enjoyable evening.

Fantastic LDC Quiz Night - £80,000 raised for Charity

OWB masquerading as Digbeth University Master Brains, took part in the national LDC www.ldc.co.uk quiz last night, over 100 teams took part across the country competing for the coveted title of 'Champion Quiz Team' - we excelled taking 3rd place nationally...the clincher was possibly Norm's stunning Justin Bieber answer...many thanks to LDC Midlands www.ldc.co.uk/midlands for superb hospitality

A wonderful evening supporting 6 incredible charities; Birmingham Children's Hospital, CHAS, Hollybank Trust, Friendship Works, Kidscan, Camp Mohawk and When you wish upon a star.

Mogress Update!

We are 1 week into Movember so its time for an Update on the guys progress:

Andy: Looking more like Ned Flanders every day, you could say his progress is Fantashtic

Jonesy: Close second behind Andy, there is clear distinction between mo and stubble, however a worrying hint of ginger is emerging

Norm: A pre Movember favourite, he is struggling to take the bold step to lose the beard and leave only Mo

Mike: He keeps telling us 'its blond' but to be honest the Mogress would be better named Slowgress

Keep following for latests new, Pictures will be uploaded shortly, as will results of round 1 of the OWB pool tournament.

Taste some spectacular wines for Chrimbo

Fraziers Wine Merchants are putting a wonderful tasting evening on 24th November at The Forest Hotel, Dorridge, Solihull...get online, get a ticket and get some bargains http://www.frazierswine.co.uk

Bryony Doubles up!

Star OWB designer Bryony Cork is struggling to cope with her new found fame, after seeing two of her ads hit the press on the same day!

Fraziers Wine Merchants and Midland Heart both released ads on Wednesday (3^rd November) leaving Bryony and OWB seeing double. Congratulations Bryony!

Mighty start to the season for Walsall RFC

With two fantastic league wins over Ludlow last week and this weekend with a 31-29 smashing of Worcester Warriors Walsall are heading up the Midlands 1 (West) table. The young talented squad are putting in some fantastic performances and as of yet have not had to call the veteran Wilkinson into the squad to add some bobbing and weaving and daisy-chain making....

How to make a great Ad - with Year 8!

Really enjoyed my day with the Year 8's at Handsworth Grammar School last week. As part of their Citizenship Week one component was to create an Ad to sell the school - we enjoyed a few ideas and shared some thoughts on "creative" approaches and media. The winning team will be visiting OWB to see their advertisement being created by the team.
Mike's opening slide depicted Oakley Wilkinson Bryan perfectly and got them all thinking from the off....

Cannot help but think "What if..."

What if...Sam Warburton hadn't made that tackle, what if......Leigh Halfpenny had another yard in the tank and what if the Welsh had been there tomorrow ah well c'est la vie......however in support of our great French Agency partners in Eluere and Dagre we are hoping for a ripper of a game and a full-blooded contest and the French defy the critics.
May the best team wins ALLEZ les bleus..or noirs....or bleus...or noirs...

Inaugural OWB Pool Tournament

The draw has been made for the Inaugural OWB Pool Tournament! 
Simon Thomas, Georgie Thompson and the Sky cameras were here yesterday for the live draw. 
The tournament is to be held on OWB's beautiful new table! 

The new baby!

Fixtures w/c 24th October: 
Kathryn v Issy
Loz v Bryony 
Shari v Murph 
Hayley v Norm 
Andy v Mike (Live on Sky, 3pm)
Pete v Jonsey 
Good Luck to all competitors
Remember Its the winning that counts, not the the taking part!

Dim Problem

Tomorrow the French will be ARAF and the mighty Welsh juggernaut will steam roller forward, to celebrate this OWB are having an all Welsh themed day with Bara Brith, Cwm Rhonnda for hold musak and the OWB troops are offering a welcome in their hillsides...GO CYMRU

Wilkomen, Bienvenue, Ola, Oright Mike...

Its a big group hug for OWB's new team member Mike Eaton, recently graduated, he joins the team as Marketing Executive - we look forward to working with the Mikester and have given him the choice 1) cake or 2) first round at the next bash...... Welcome on board Mike O..... • Full Name: Mike Eaton • Nickname: Mike o, Meaton, Tres • Footie Team: Wolves, looking forward to championship football very soon • University: DeMontfort, Leicester. Should be visiting friends there right now! • Ambitions: Retire at 25 • Musical taste: Anything that didn’t originate on xfactor or glee! • Balti or Chinese.... Chinese for lunch, Balti for tea • Usual weekend location: Piggot arms, Pattingham • Catchphrase: ‘Jonesy, how do you do this?!’ • Ultimate Job: England Cricketer or Pro Golfer (Not very close to either!) • Favorite TV Show: Top gear, Sky sports news, Aerobics Oz style

Georgia gets stuck in, before heading off for Freshers...

Georgie came in for some pre-Uni work experience and was a tip top addition to Team OWB, getting involved with some charity brand research, devising a Marcomms presentation for a Football Club (as a blues fan she knows a challenge!) and sourcing a dance troupe for a PR Stunt...plus she made an amazing Eton Mess - this pic however is a "cake stunt double" as yours truly deleted the original! Fantastic work Georgie, you're welcome anytime..

RWC 2011 some opening weekend observations

One can only say a picture paints a thousand words, well it's not surprising that Jonny was at odds with the boot when you see this (my fave pic of all time in rugby) beauty. I wonder whether JW thought it was a planned move coming from deep....

ITVs choice to track the streaker was also a joy and possibly a rookie cameraman, on that note ITVs choice to use Phil Vickery has provided much merriment around the TV "the world cup is great it brings together lots of countries..." Nice one Phil, also sounds like he's enjoying a few bevvies.

New Campaign to help large egg-chasers

OWB have come out to help the larger rugby player as part of our 2011/12 sponsorship of Walsall RFC...help us stop this cruelty, join the campaign now (you'll find us at the bar having a pint and balti before most games)

Midland Heart get a snappy new campaign

Leading housing and regeneration group Midland Heart took to the roads of Birmingham with OWB's snappy mobile 48 sheet campaign, integrated with press campaign, dedicated microsite and direct marketing campaign promoting the multi-million Crocodile Works development http://www.midlandheart.org.uk/developments/crocodile-works

Rubber duck and one..four for a copy

18 wide wheels of steel have rolled into the OWB compound and the new Sheriff of Digbeth, one Eli J Bryan, has taken purchase of her new rig...this baby will outrun the smokeys and keep the bandits at bay. Put the pedal to the metal and call me on the tin can and what's your 20...and er...stuff.

Fire and firewater....

A rather wonderful team night out, started beautifully at Teppanyaki, ended terribly with a hideous bucketload of foul tasting shots and hangovers....

Norms goes down hard....

The Warrington Whippet, Normski, did some great work for charity mate playing in the blistering heat of south London to raise £121,349 – a new Football Marathon record for http://tackleafrica.org/football-marathon/final-standings/

63 courageous teams battled hard to play 788 games over 12 hours.

"it was hell out there" commented Norm "it was a game of two halves, we kept our heads down and worked the ball through the middle, the side and over the top. The Guv was hard on us and would only let us have 10 pints of bitter the whole day"

See pictured Norm provides a foot-based leaning device to the Green Team.

"Nice one Norm" G. Lineker, Arseanall
"well played meester" D. Maradonna-kebab, Hartlepool FC
"in the box" A. Cole, Spearmint

The BMW ECO-CHALLENGE...its on....

The ECO challenge begins...we’ve been set the task by Rybrook BMW over the course of this week to drive the brand new 320d ED, hot off the production line, we’ve got 2.5 days each at the helm....and have to get the most efficient figures to win the coveted RYBROOK CHALLENGE FUEL EFFICIENCY trophy, chequebook and pen......

The tax benefits for drivers of this impressive new model are outstanding (unless you live in Monaco or the Isle of Man or down the back of the sofa...) producing only 109 g/km of CO2 means that the 320d EfficientDynamics Saloon falls into the 13% Benefit-in-Kind band for company car drivers. And when combined with Vehicle Excise Duty of only £20 per year and impressive fuel consumption of 68.9 mpg, the running costs for this new model are truly staggering......

So day 1 car collected by Former TOP GEAR Female Rally Car Champion 1997 Shaz "skidpan" Bryan..who will be recording her fuel economy on twitter @owb_shari

Creating Brand Logic

Fleetlogic are the leaders in providing fixed costs, accident management and fleet management for commercial fleets the length and breadth of the UK. Our 2011 branding campaign in key industry title Motor Transport and support for the Motor Transport Awards, Fleetlogic as a key sponsor, brought together in a fun and eye-catching manner timely illogical happenings alongside the brand. The results have been excellent with increased brand recognition and new wins for the business

Shari joining the mile high club on Friday - actually 2.5 miles to be exact and coming back towards earth at a mind blowing 160mph....! So for anyone who hates flying - I would recommend jumping out the aircraft instead - it's the only way to go. So keep your clothes on and join the alternative mile high club for the ultimate adrenalin blast!

Cake for Work

Yes, it is official as part of "Start Up Britain" and to encourage the wider acceptance of work based learning we are now offering week long work experience for those who bake cake. Jess (see pictured with her amazing triple decker chocolate, cream, malteser and marshmallow extravaganza) is coming to an end of her week. She has been fabulous, a great asset to the team, has got thoroughly stuck in including brainstorms on new marketing campaigns, research for global fruit growers, working with the design team and sourcing images of penguins!

"Our cake based approach to entrepreneurship is adding value to the UK's GDP" commented a chocolate mouth surrounded head of cake marking at OWB, Stu Williams "we noticed that the introduction of the 'cakeometer' shows that Jess is leading with Vicky W (July 2009) coming in second...albeit Sammie's rum cake was alcohol fuelled..."

J R Hartley Joins the team

Enjoying a rather marvellous day at the glorious Avington Fisheries in Hampshire care of wonderful, forward-thinking accountancy practice and all round good fellas at Wychbury Greaves, Wilko "all the gear no idea" failed to land anything bar a hangover and a man-size bar bill.

Pictured: BIG Sam, the beast of the beats, practices some casting (awesome on land, cack in the water) whilst the main man, Rob "thats trout"s toast" offers some fashion tips: "wear a beige waistcoat...and don't take your anorak"

Social Media takes to the Sand....

Giving an informal, impromptu seminar on social media crouched behind a windbreak fuelled by Boddies and burgers Wilko departs knowledge on @millergoodall @bohojewellery and @savcross....new seminars booked for the summer months include:
- Design in the dunes
- Branding in the boatpark
- PR (with a glass of champagne at the campers toilets, round the back of the clubhouse)

OWB ensure another glorious last place at Woburn

Who could have asked for a better day, sun on our backs, championship course at Woburn, big breakfast, buggies and then the round started...it pretty much went downhill in scoring terms from there! But what a great day and a fabulous event for wonderful client, fantastic people and outstanding organisation www.macintyrecharity.org. We enjoyed every tree Woburn could put in front of us and with our own "Robin of Loxley" in Mark W it was great fun and played in the true spirit of the day. A fantastic amount was raised in the day and once again as the scores were announced our splendid 56 points safely ensured bottom for the second year on the trot...still Mark did win nearest the pin and took a bottle of bubbly home.

Lining up on the Dukes course - Trev, Wilko, Mark, Shaz

Bruno delighted to get in a round with Goody...

JC and Goody taught Big Frank a thing or two about "bobbing and weaving" at the annual Stourbridge RFC business luncheon. Frank was gutted not being included in "neal's tab" and has promised to take him in the ring!

The other major team from Barcelona...ComVort Head Office

Friederike, Wendy, Marti, Karl, Vicky,Maria and Binta from our ComVort Head Office in Barcelona...no doubt all waiting in anticipation for a big win at Wembley this Month!

Go Anna and get Perky in the Peaks..

Anna of Sabiana fame, is nominated driver in this worthy challenge to do the 3 Peaks for Wooden Spoon, Good Luck guys form all at OWB

the latest Twittermobile....

the fun, the stares, the "oright Delboy" shouts...I

never knew driving could be so much fun!

Franz Klammer drops in to OWB

We thought the great downhiller had had his last outing on the infamous Hahnenkamm but NO turning up on OWB's balcony the "Warrington Express" showed us a few of his sidesteps, jumps, turns, splits and banjo-strings...Look out for further news at the "Eddie the Eagle Edwards Home for Olympic skiers". The "Express" is hoping to compete in the Olympics next year (we haven't had the heart to tell him its not the winter olympics!) Go Champ Go!

Its less than a year to the Olympics, I feel in my prime

Brains, Pies, Questions, Pies, answers, pies, pies, mash, pies...

It was the first Forum for Tomorrow quiz night ever held, ever...we mean ever (well at The Old Joint Stock anyway) it was a pie-tastic evening and 8 teams sweated out their steak and kidney puds, with a range of the hardest questions known to man (well they weren't really but the author was the quizmaster which made it easier for me)

Top night, great fun, more pastry and gravy, a range of real ale and a trophy to die for......

Modelling in your own work!!

comedy, me and Cath, and this is the before and after for Greene King

A Wonderful Brazilian

Our Brazilian ComVort buddy Marcello Borges Barbusci has set up ONE-i, a new full-service agency in Sao Paulo, he's off to a flying start with major clients already in the largest and most famous museums in Brazil, the MuBE (MuBE – Museu Brasileiro da Escultura) and ABIPECS – Associação Brasileira de Importadores e Exportadores de Carne Suína (National Association for Import and Export of Pork)

So good work fella, nice to see entrepreneurship is alive and kicking. I'm off for a bacon sarnie and a look at the new MuBE iPad app Marcello has built...

Great night in the Balti Triangle...