We're baaaack... and almost fighting fit

Sorry for our prolonged absence from the land of the blog. But ooooh it's a busy old time!

There's been lots going on.. Stu's got married and gone off to Barbados with the new Mrs Stu (although he is back tomorrow, no doubt sporting his usual "I'm not burnt that's a tan for me" look), and Lou and Duncan did a great job of getting unwisely drunk at rather posh celebrations on the big day itself.

While they've been sunning themselves, the rest of us have been working our bottoms off and most of us in the Freeads.co.uk office under the arches have got some sort of a lurgy. Although we haven't sprouted unfortunate 'taches like this poor fella in the picture which is something at least.

But aside from weddings and feeling a bit rubbish, we've found time to tell the world that Pete Doherty is the least popular flatmate ever, that we've got a brand spanking new deal with 4DS, Channel 4's inhouse digital advertising agency and that Freeads.co.uk now boasts more than 65,000 unique ads every day. We're great.

Ooooh it's a busy old life - now pass the Lemsip.... sniff

Stat Monkey is in office

Don't Panic! We're still here.

After the come down of Big Monday we all put our heads down and got on with the day to day grind of life in the archway. A week later and we're continuing to be overwhelmed by positivity with the caravan coverage still trundling in like a shed on wheels, and all the Freeads.co.uk KPI's going in the right direction.

With my impending departure for warmer climes I've enlisted the help of 'Stat Monkey' to keep the crew upto date with the day to day figures for the next couple of weeks.

I'm confident Stat Monkey's up for the job, he once was jailed for a bank job but was released early when he gave all the 'silver back'...that's a gorilla pun for the less ape savvy amongst you.

Caravan-a-rama!

It's been a tough day at Freeads.co.uk today.

Thursday may be the new Friday, and Friday may be the new Saturday, but I assure you Monday is still just the same old Monday - that's the Monday you never go out on because there's still a whole lot of week to go if you happen to get
boozed at the races, lose a bit of cash, and buy an ill-advised kebab to boot.

On a plus point however we're going a little caravan crazy today, Lou's dynamic, insightful and down-right brilliant research on the resurgence of the caravan in the UK has been latched onto like a particularly sticky stick and we're all mightily impressed.

http://travel.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/travel/news/article1784734.ece

http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/general/water_cooler_moments/cool+caravans/510532

We're still waiting on some feedback from the UK's No.1 caravan hater Mr Clarkson but he's proving a little elusive - although Jason did see him this morning driving a Lamborghini, it's yet to be confirmed whether he was towing a caravan.

Shabby Tuesday

Stu's prediction was correct. Things are looking fairly shabby in the Freeads office underneath the arches today. Subdued and in need of snacks is the main feeling.

But it was all worth it. Our 'stag' (plus Lou) night at the Windsor races in honour of Stu's imminent wedding was brilliant.

Like any good story there was tears (when we lost), there was laughter (and Duncan's 'Mannequin On The Move' dance), and there was a trio of bald blokes standing near us, which amused Matt, Ian and Lou more than was strictly necessary.

Virtually everyone had a winner, some were gracious in their victory and bought the beers, others formed secret betting alliances and scurried off in pairs to the bookies, one of the gang was more interested in the promo girls and another (yes you Phil) was highly shifty about whether they had had a bet at all and wouldn't say whether he was winning or losing, but most had no real clue what they were doing.

But look how happy we were when we DID win (about a fiver each).... bless us.

Fancy a Wii?

Another week over for the dynamic Freeads.co.uk team, and another week of great progress towards our ultimate goal of world domination - we'll take UK domination first, but it's good to set the sights high...

Amongst other things, on Tuesday we launched our first competition to win a nintendo wii - apparently they're pretty hard to come by, but not for Phil, he know's people who know people if you get what I'm saying...you don't? we'll he's got a Wii and he's giving it away and that's all you need worry about.

On Friday we launched our new finance centre, I may need to use it myself with an expensive wedding and honeymoon only a couple off weeks away. More short term concerns focus on what's been dubbed 'Big Monday', as the Freeads.co.uk team head out to Windsor races for the evening. I have a nagging feeling 'Big Monday' could be followed by 'Shabby Tuesday'...

The mid-afternoon slump has hit us...sigh...

Ooooof here at Freeads Towers we've hit a bit of a mid-afternoon lull.

An hour of sitting in the sun over a friendly pint to welcome our new boy Jason, lunch and then a frankly unwise mix of sweets and jaffa cakes has sent us all into a near sunshine, beer and sugar-induced coma.

Stu in particular is suffering it seems, there's a lot of huffing and puffing and standing over the air conditioning unit... think it's best not to ask. Meanwhile Phil is getting angry on the phone and Jason is still gamely munching through the Percy Pigs from M&S.

However there is something on the horizon to cheer us all... a good ol' British Bank Holiday! So get out those painting overalls and barcecues, because that's what we Brits do - we paint things badly then eat some charred cheap meat.

Enjoy kids!

It's all about boats

Ahoy there!

We're all getting in the Bank Holiday spirit a bit early here at Freeads, and it seems that our users are too.


Since it got all St Tropez in the UK weather stakes, the number of people buying and selling boats trebled in April alone.

So who know perhaps the marinas of Britain will take on some of the glamour of the French Riviera this long weekend?



And who's this cheeky chappy infiltrating our blog?
Hello sailor...

Meeeeejah stars

This rollercoaster of a week continues with what can only be described as a "media frenzy" surrounding the fact that we launched the new look Freeads.co.uk as well as the dynamic, buff and terrifyingly young-looking management team.

So far we've had Media Week, Brand Republic, Travel Weekly, mad.co.uk and travelmole.com all battering down our doors dying to know what's going on.

And just so you can see what they're on about here are a few snippets:

travelmole: Ex-lastminute.com bosses take over at classified ads site
Two ex-lastminute.com marketing chiefs – Duncan Horton and Stuart Parish – have taken over at independent classified advertisement site Freeads.co.uk.
The new management team is backed by Clive Jacobs, founder of Holiday Autos, who bought a major stake in the business earlier this year. The original founder of Freeads.co.uk retains a share.
Horton oversees the day-to-day running of Freeads.co.uk from its base in Windsor as chief executive. He is supported by Parish – formerly head of marketing at lastminute.com - who has taken on the role of marketing director.

Brand Republic: Freeads.co.uk appoint ex LastMinute.com marketers for classifieds
by Alex Donohue Brand Republic 26-Apr-07, 11:25
LONDON - Independent classified ads site Freeads.co.uk has appointed former Lastminute.com marketing chiefs Duncan Horton as chief executive and Stuart Parish as marketing director.
Horton, who is the former head of marketing at Lastminute.com, will work alongside Clive Jacobs, who acquired a substantial stake in Freeads.co.uk earlier this year, and Stuart Parish, who will be responsible for the marketing development of Freeads.co.uk

Now though it's time for lunch... we're going for a swift half to celebrate the newly relaunched Freeads.co.uk, let's hope that the paps aren't out there waiting for us.

We'll wear our outsized sunglasses Paris Hilton-style just in case...

'Moovers and shakers'

Well, the inappropriate uncle never arrived and frankly I'm a little glad.

The photographer did a fine job of postioning us all in a variety of poses in order to offset our short comings, and by all accounts we all appear 'normal' relatively speaking.

I've been asked 'Stu, why do you look so miserable in the group picture', and I'm not sure to be honest. It might have something to do with the Friesian cow hiding behind me, or possibly the lingering concern over the disproportionate size of my left leg...there goes the dancing career.

Oooooh it's our first blog!

Woooooo! It's a big day today here at Freeads.co.uk - it's the day that our new look site has gone live, the day that we've just had our official photos done and Stu's just put some Elton John on the stereo.
So what with the music choices, the photographer and the tears due to the CD selection it's got a bit of a wedding reception feeling in our offices under the arches in Windsor today.
Now all we need is a giant cake and an inappropriate Uncle...