Title	ROOTSWITCH
Brand	SHORASHIM GROUP
Product/Service	NON PROFIT ORGANIZATION WHICH SUPPORTS HOLOCAUST SURVIVORS
Category	B02. Use of New Technology in a Promotional Campaign
Entrant Company	McCANN TEL AVIV, ISRAEL
Advertising Agency	McCANN TEL AVIV, ISRAEL

Name	Company	Position
Ami Alush	Mccann Tel Aviv	Chief Creative Officer
Rona Cohen	Mccann Tel Aviv	Copywriter
Moran Kal	Mccann Tel Aviv	Art Director

The Brief

Every year thousands of elderly people and holocaust survivors in Israel are forced to endure the harsh Israeli winter and suffer the cold because they cannot afford heating their own homes. This year, Israel has suffered the coldest winter in 15 years, making this problem more relevant than ever. We wanted to find a way for people to pay attention to this problem and allow them to help solve it in the most intuitive manner by donating easily, more than once and to create a way to reach them at home or via mobile.

Campaign Success

In order to be ready for the winter, we started working on the project 8 months beforehand, working closely with an innovative technology production team. Our main guideline was to create an easy to use product that will merge into the user's home decor. The solution was Rootswitch - an electrical switch to be placed on your home wall, next to your a/c switch. When the temperature dropped and the downer went to turn on his heating, he was reminded that there are elderly people who also need heating and would turn the Rootswitch on, donating money for electricity to help heat their houses. Once the switch was ready, we contacted multiple celebrities who have a big social following and introduced the product through them. We also predicted that the demand will exceed our production rate, so we also created a mobile application that acts exactly like the physical switch.

Describe the success of the promotion with both client and consumer including some quantifiable results

Over the course of the campaign, over 60,000 electricity hours were donated for elders in need. Free media coverage estimated at over $400,000. The RootSwitch app was the most trended app in Israel the week it was launched. The App was also #1 in the lifestyle category on Apple's App-store. Most people still use the switch and its app counterpart today, providing donations even though the campaign itself is over.

Explain why the method of promotion was most relevant to the product or service

Our client was looking for a way to get people to donate easily, more than once and without harassing them by asking for donations again and again. We created a new creative and digital innovation product which encourages people to donate in the easiest way. Rootswitch is a new invention - an electrical switch to be placed on your home wall, next to your a/c switch and connects to your home WIFI network, it is a new creative and technological innovation which encourages people to donate in the easiest way. Every time you turn on your lighting or a/c you also push Rootswitch and accumulate electricity hours as a donation to the elderly. The switch combines cutting edge technology which interfaces with an automatic payment system, an easy and simple way to donate.