Get Rid of the Blue - and Win Things Too!

We’d like to encourage more City fans to do their Internet shopping via the links at Bristol City Fans’ Forum www.otib.co.uk. So we’re launching two brand new competitions: one to remind all users that the Forum needs your support and another where you can win up to £50 in Play.com vouchers.

What You Can Win
We’re giving away £50 in Play.com vouchers to one random shopper who has made a purchase on-line via one of our links between now and 30th September (STOP PRESS: Now revised to one £50 voucher EACH month for the months of July, August and September).

How to Enter
All you need to do is send an email to otibshop@bristolcityst.org.uk every time you make a purchase. Just tell us the name of the website you bought from and when you made the purchase. It’s as simple as that. Please don’t tell us what you bought or how much you spent because, to be honest, we really don’t want to know that much about you. If your name is randomly selected as the winner we’ll check that a purchase was made with that vendor at the time you said and as long as there’s a match you’ll have won. If we can’t find the purchase, we will let you know and we’ll try to get a bit more information to help find it. The draws will be made at the end of each month.

Get Rid of the Blue
“Get Rid of the Blue” is a team game for all City fans to play. We have introduced a “Get Rid of the Blue” pie chart that will show how much revenue has been generated relative to the monthly target. We’ll update this chart once a week. The red indicates how much of the monthly target we’ve raised and the blue segment represents the amount of shortfall.

Only when we’ve reached the monthly target will we be able to get rid of the blue.

What Are the Shopping Links?
If you are buying something on-line, please check the Shopping Forum and go to your chosen website via one of the links. The links in the top banner of the Forum are just a few examples of the shops you can buy from in the Shopping Forum.

Things you can buy include:

• CDs and books
• Mobile phones and contracts
• Car breakdown cover and car insurance
• House insurance and things for your home
• Gas and electricity
• Holidays and car hire
• Fashion and kids stuff
• Hotels and travel
• Electrical goods
• Stuff from big name stores
• And much, much more

If you’re about to buy something on-line, the chances are that there will be an appropriate link in the Shopping Forum.

You get the same offers and deals that you would if you went to the websites directly, but with the advantage that you are helping to support the Forum. By remembering to click OTIB links when you buy, you will be generating money for the Bristol City community that would otherwise just boost the retailers’ profits.

Why Are We Doing This?
The Bristol City Fans’ Forum www.otib.co.uk is one of the most frequently visited websites in Bristol, handling a phenomenal amount of traffic. The level of support provided by those good people at Clik Software www.cliksoftware.com is significant and always top class. Bristol City Supporters Trust started funding the support for the site in 2006 and despite our efforts to date, the cost of running it has consistently exceeded the revenue we’ve been able to generate from it.

It follows that money that the Trust spends on this site cannot be spent elsewhere. It means we have less money available to help with putting on events, supporting community initiatives and making your voice heard. Mainly, it means less money available to be invested in our football club, Bristol City.

So please, next time you plan to buy something on-line, think of OTIB, purchase via one of the links and drop us a quick email to get your entry in the draw. Thanks to all those users who have shopped via the links so far and thanks to all of you who plan to shop via OTIB in the future.

Come on, let’s get rid of the blue!

PS: If you've nothing to buy online at the moment, but would like to help us cover the costs of OTIB by making a donation, the 'Donate' button on the forum lets you do just that.  And we'll add your name into the prize draw!

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