Switch Raises $16,382 for Charity, Generates New Business, 31 New Business Leads through Online Holiday Promotion

ST. LOUIS, MO, January 02, 2011

The "12 Days of Switchmas" holiday promotion may have ended on Dec. 17, but for experiential marketing agency Switch - Liberate Your Brand, the work has just begun. The unique cause-marketing campaign raised $16,382 for Independence Center of St. Louis, garnered two new pieces of business and 31 new business leads for Switch, and introduced the agency to more than 4,000 people across the United States and throughout 75 countries.

Switch used email marketing and digital and social media as the primary forms of communication for the promotion. The "12 days of Switchmas" promotional approach encouraged repeat traffic to the promotion's website to check on daily "free" grab items, bid on auction items and provide an outlet for visitors to give personally to Independence Center (www.independencecenter.org) to help adults in the St. Louis metropolitan area with serious and persistent mental illnesses, to live and work in the community independently and with dignity.

"The '12 Days of Switchmas' promotion was extremely successful for us in terms of generating awareness and new business for the agency, plus we helped a worthy cause and unloaded 120 'office heirlooms' we otherwise would have been moving to our new offices," said Switch CEO Mike O'Neill. "We look forward to working on the Switchmas-generated business in 2011 and possibly cultivating a few more as a result of the campaign."

Starting on Dec. 2 and each business day during the "12 Days of Switchmas," 10 items were available for visitors on the promotion's website (www.12daysofswitchmas.com) to grab free of charge on a first come, first served basis. The site generated more than 7,800 visitors (4,085 unique visitors) with all items being "grabbed" each day in two minutes or less. The items were shipped free of charge by Switch to the lucky recipients.

Auction items, which included goods, expertise and an estimated $150,000 worth of Switch services, were available for bid for the duration of the 12-day promotion with 100 percent of the proceeds going to St. Louis' Independence Center.

The promotion's auction winners included Elsevier - Health Sciences Division which won the Switch Creative Lollapalooza strategic development package valued at $50,000, and St. Andrews Charitable Foundation of St. Louis which was the high bidder on two creative packages - a live event concept and theme development and a full-field marketing plan which includes engagement strategies, sampling tactics and operational insights. Both packages are valued at $15,000 each.

Mike Keller, Executive Director of Independence Center, said the agency plans to use Switch's generous donation to assist mentally ill adults who are in crisis and in between funding sources.

"It was a wonderful experience and we were bowled over by the amount of money raised by Switch," Keller said. "Our clubhouse program offers a lifelong membership for adults with mental illnesses. If they are doing well and don't need our services, that is great, but knowing that their mental illnesses may come back and put them in a crisis situation, we can provide that support until they can successfully get back into another funding source. We can only be a touchstone in these peoples' lives through the generosity and support from folks like Switch."

About Switch
Switch liberates brands from the confines of traditional media by engaging audiences to explore and learn through sensory experiences. Headquartered in St. Louis, MO, Switch creates and produces experiential marketing programs for clients worldwide; specializing in live events, field marketing, sponsorship activation, digital media, exhibits and environments.
For more information, visit http://www.liberateyourbrand.us.

Jennifer Beidle Communications, LLC specializes in business to business public relations. For addtional information, please contact us at 314-607-9459.