Apparently there’s only one thing to do when a year/decade comes to a close… create a Top Ten List!  I get it but come on, people. There have been more Top Tens in the last few weeks than Letterman’s had in his entire career. [rim shot, please]

But looking back does have its merits. First, there’s that whole “those who forget history are doomed to repeat it” thing. And then there’s the nostalgia factor that allows us to bond over shared moments. And bonding is cool. So let’s do some bonding, shall we.

New work, new faces and new ideas made it a great year at Switch, and this blog has been a great resource to see it all go down. So let’s take a look back at some of our favorite posts from the past year.

10. Go Speed Go – Some pictures are worth a thousand words, and then there are some pictures like this one that are worth a cool mil.

9. Interns Score Some Muffins – We had four great interns last summer, and in addition to creating The Weekly Intake, they also managed to hook us all up with some Lil Debbies.

8. A Trip to The Fort – Remember that picture of Bigfoot in the woods? Well, seeing Coder without his omnipresent chapeau on is just like that. Only funnier.

7. Free Cardinals Tickets/Winner Revealed – Copywriting 101: “Free” is the most powerful word in the English language. But when you couple that with “Cardinals” and a Publishers Clearing House spoof, you get the most commented post of the year.

6. Field Day – Nostalgia doesn’t get much better than seeing everyone dressed up in crazy costumes and acting like a bunch of  12 year-olds without their Ritalin.

5. The Flying Shoe — What happens when you combine a 280lb man with a Razor scooter? Comedic gold, friends. Comedic gold.

4. Major League Thinking – Of all the amazing work we did this year, throwing THE party at the MLB All-Star Game was definitely a highlight.

3. Defining Social (Me)dia – Perhaps one of the most astute and dead-on observations of the past year. We know what you’re thinking. We can’t believe Burns wrote it either.

2. Welcome to Nellyville – Rap stars visit the office all the time, so that’s really not that interesting… unless John Nickel dresses up as his alter ego, 5 Cent.

1. Liberation Talk – The post that started it all. Reread it. Live it.

And yes, we know these are subjective selections. And no, you can’t change any of them. But you can submit your own in the comment field. So what were some of your favorite posts/moments of the past year?

Happy bunch, aren’t they? That’s because they know 74 people are going to get some pretty cool office gifts and the St. Louis Children’s Hospital is going to get some serious cash money in their names — all courtesy of The Switch Office Giftaway.

Visitors from over 68 countries (yes, countries not counties) visited our boss’ virtual office this year in hopes of stealing themselves a free gift. Unfortunately, all the gifts were gone in 20 minutes. Pretty amazing, really.

Anyway, the elves stayed late to make sure every gift got wrapped and they even had fun doing it. So thanks, Satan’s Santa’s little helpers. You’re the best.

Tonight’s the night – - oneinchead at the Gramophone 6-9 all proceeds to benefit 100 Neediest Cases – - see some old friends, buy some handsome collectible items or baked goods (silent auction – don’t even think about Nickel’s pecan pie – Eilers will overspend for it) enjoy a frosty cold A-B product and have happy holidaze all around!

Before hitting two days of great meetings at the Dickies Agency Summit, Coder and I did a site-check at the new Cowboys Stadium, preparing for the Dickies Iron Cowboy on Feb 20th.

I’m now pretty certain that Jerry Jones is Dr Evil…and at some point when the worm turns for that dood he’s going to press some huge button in is office and this entire thing will blast off into space.

The stadium rocks, and frankly, makes the Ed feel like the ghetto.  Only downside:  by my calculations a beer and dog at this place would run you about $125…and that’s if you don’t want mustard.

On Friday, the writers held their first annual Writers Walkout for a little bowling, bonding and boozing. I’ll spare you the sordid details, but here are a few of the highlights: 8 strikes in a row by yours truly, shotgunning, scaring kids, Andrew D rapping on the mic, TH at Novaks and someone hitting White Castle late night. Big shout out to Annie and Mike for making it happen.

What’s the difference between a winning team and a team that just shows up every week, you ask? Sports Science takes a detailed look at the athleticism of the pit crew and the importance of their skill set… Endurance, precision timing and pro athlete ability is a must, or go home.

Click on image below to watch the video.

Information technology solutions? Perhaps it’s not the first thing that comes to mind when you think of fun or exciting business. However, Savvis, Inc, with the help of Switch, succeeded in making services like managed (web) hosting, collocation and network connectivity, understandable, consistent, and even entertaining.

After re-branding their corporate headquarters, Savvis recognized the value of extending their image to other locations. With millions of square feet devoted to computer servers all over the US and across the globe, the Savvis datacenters house, protect, maintain and upgrade their customers’ valuable servers. They keep networks and websites running and enable important global commerce.

Data isn’t the only thing these locations house; both Savvis and client’ employees work at them year round. In addition, the datacenters are often the first point of contact that prospective clients see as they tour with Savvis salespeople. Because of this, the datacenters represent the face of the company much of the time.

Before the interior branding project began, many of the office spaces were rather anonymous and cold, devoid of all but the most basic and slapdash identity—not a place you would happily anticipate going to work every day. Inconsistent and somewhat drab, it was hard to identify the spaces as part of the Savvis family.

With the goals of upgrading the spaces, injecting the company’s personality and unifying the look and feel, a plan was created to communicate the Savvis’ identity, and make both clients and employees feel valued.

Knowing that budgets where tight, and dollars available for branding would fluctuate by location, Switch proposed a catalog of interior branded elements to communicate and extend the new identity. Design elements included: paint and carpet recommendations, custom furniture and finishes, and a variety of graphics, signage and interior accessories like clocks, vases and mirrors. Our proposition: “Don’t say you’re committed to quality by hanging a framed poster from Successories.; show you’re committed to quality by creating something of quality.”

To do this, Switch visualized Savvis’ brand characteristics; innovative, energetic, personal, simplifying, secure and trustworthy …through the idea of “capturing light”. It became a visual metaphor for the intangible aspect of information technology itself. The vast majority of the design elements were more subtle and integrated, but the Savvis “burst” logo is obviously important and proved to be very versatile. Switch gave the logo a range of looks: enlarged, cropped and abstracted, turned sculptural, screened back on a photographic image. Recognizable? Yes. Standard and expected? No.

In 2009 Switch completed Savvis Headquarters and 6 datacenters. Twelve more datacenters will be completed in 2010, and the balance in 2011. In these times when everybody has been cutting back, it was a bold acknowledgement by Savvis of the importance of building and sustaining brand equity through design.

Switch CEO, Mike O’Neill, shares his views on what our annual Employee Field Day means to the agency and to our brand.

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