Promotions Group West created the 1st Annual ING DIRECT Freedom Ride, with hundreds of Harley-Davidson riders completing a 60-mile ride through the San Francisco Bay Area, followed by a family “Freedom Festival” with legendary rock band KANSAS at Justin Herman Plaza in San Francisco,  where Blimpie’s provided lunch, and Coca Cola was onsite sampling their new C2 cola. All participants received branded collateral, and fabulous prizes were raffled off including Orange Savings Accounts, ING DIRECT mountain bikes and the grand prize, a custom ING DIRECT orange and blue 2004 Harley-Davidson Road King Classic!  The event was designed to raise money and awareness for the ING DIRECT Kids Foundation and United Way of the Bay Area’s Honoring Emancipated Youth (HEY). A special breakfast for the foster youth and caregivers was sponsored by ING DIRECT earlier in the day, and the children also had an opportunity to paint murals for Portraits of Hope, a public arts program.

Promotions Group West promoted the event directly to ING Direct customers, to HEY members and corporate sponsors, and to Harley fans (through several guerilla marketing techniques, including chapter meeting presentations to all participating ‘Harley Chapters’ in the Bay Area, onsite collateral distribution at Harley themed events and biker hang outs, and signage display at all Harley dealers and shops in and around the Bay Area). PGW also created a website for ING DIRECT to support the registration of the entire Freedom Ride event.   Promotion was managed by PGW and CEO Russ Jones.

The head of ING Direct leads the ride in a custom ING Harley!