The plan: Rise up, gather 'round, rock this town to the ground:

1. Create some attitude

Capitalize on the band's local popularity to develop an irreverent brand that would get noticed.

2. Develop multiple digital communications touchpoints

Use every pixel we could muster to get the word out that we were putting on a party nobody would want to miss.

3. Provide tools and resources to help the beneficiary groups market the event to their own constituents

Arm the participating charity groups with materials they could use to get their followings interested in The Rusty Ball.

On this night, we saw a crowd become a community.

We'll admit it, we totally sold out.

For a second year, we donated our creative services to The Rusty Ball. And like all great sequels, this time, it was personal. The combined efforts of all those involved in the event resulted in a sell-out before the doors at the Duke Energy Convention Center ever opened. Calls for extra tickets rang out from Facebook to Craigslist. One dude actually tried to scalp the tickets on the RB Facebook page. Sheesh!

In addition to serving on the planning committee, OFC continues to donate the following services:

• Social media outreach via Twitter and Facebook
• Event branding, message development and design
• Event graphics and signage
• Website copywriting, design and development
• Merchandise and apparel design
• Customized posters for each charity

Year one was about creating the brand framework while the group worked to prove the concept of the event was viable.
As the first Rusty Ball came together in less than 6 months, we kept pace by creating the brand identity and the website that would serve as the foundation for RB08 outreach.

56 charities signed on for year one and the first ever Rusty Ball was an early success in 2008 with nearly 1,000 attendees. So all agreed there should be a sequel in 2009.

When the bottom dropped out of the economy, we knew we'd be facing a new challenge in year two.
But the good news was that the planning committee learned a lot from the first event. The group grew to include a lot of stellar people overseeing areas of specialization that included entertainment, beneficiary management, auctions and contests, marketing and design, security and financial management.

A coordinated blend of social media met the airwaves. We totally rocked your radio and your Facebook.
An aggressive radio campaign with local radio partners Rewind 94.9 and Q102, the existing website and other grassroots marketing efforts helped grow an active and loyal fan following to more than 1,100 on Facebook and 250 Twitter in less than 3 months. And the numbers added up to triple the ticket sales in a year that was known for being difficult for fundraising efforts.

There was a rock poster for everyone (and we mean everyone).
We had this crazy idea to design a template system that would allow all 91 charities, as well as, sponsoring companies to have access to customized poster downloads with their organizations' logos on them. They were a hit. Over 700 custom posters were downloaded from the site.

The response was resounding. The RB09 planning committee held regular meetings with the participating beneficiary groups to share ideas for promoting the event. Additionally, brand elements such as logos and graphics were made available to the sponsors and beneficiary groups to help them market the event through their own channels.

Event signage and merchandising gave us more opportunies to express our inner Flock of Seagulls.
We designed all the wayfinding signage, as well as, motion graphics that played on the big screens at the event. Secretly, it was great fun to walk around the night of the event and see people stealing signs as keepsakes.

We used Facebook to build a direct connection to over 1,000 fans in less than three months.
Fans got access to info including previews of auction items, as well as, cool downloads. We rustied up iPhones all over the greater Cincinnati area with RB09 phone wallpapers. There's nothing like blending the latest mobile communications technology with sweet eighties graphics. SuperflyPhone anyone?

We argued over which t-shirt designs to produce, so we let the Facebook fans settle it for us.
Classic Rusty Ball logo? Rusty Ball logo with eagle wings? RB09 alla ACDC logo? Let's just say there were some heated debates. So we put the question to the Facebook fans and they helped settle it: print them all.

With the production help of Cincinnati-based Fanattik, the designs we created were printed and sold at the event. Additionally, we designed 100 custom "tags" that allowed people to design their own clothing using heat-pressed decals right at the point of purchase. Proceeds from the sale of apparel and tags went back to the RB General Fund. And the most important part: everyone looked marvelous.

But then came the greatest thing we'd ever design in our lives: The Official RB09 Commemorative Fender Strat.
An instant legend, rainbows and thunder flew from its strings. Beams of light fell upon it while angels sang "AHHHHHHHHHHH" wherever it went. We should have NEVER let it be auctioned off... Oh wait, we have the design files and could have another one made any time. Excellent!