Together with our partners, Captains created an integrated campaign that included “The Institute for Back-Up Trauma” web video featuring Dr. Harold Twain Weck (John Cleese), as well as a virtual institute that viewers could explore. The film tells the story of hapless IT managers that suffer from Back-Up Trauma – a psychosis that takes hold when out-of-date tape-based backup systems fail.

The campaign quickly went viral, as literally hundreds of websites and blogs created links to the LiveVault site.   LiveVault saw a 20% click-through rate on its e-mail blasts. Over 1,000,000 people watched “The Institute for Back-Up Trauma.” LiveVault saw a ten-fold increase in their site traffic, experienced a 500% increase in sales leads, and watched their sales double.  Talk about marketing ROI.

Before the launch of the campaign, Googling the words ‘Back-Up Trauma’ brought up only a few random hospital links. Today the term brings up literally hundreds of thousands of links from around the globe. This demonstrates why good web content is the centerpiece of organic search engine optimization.

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Captains created The D Stop, a micro-site that features engaging web content: short interactive comedy films and animations, video e-cards, quizzes, prizes, offers and more. The most fun part was an interactive tutorial for the language of Dunkinese, a form of sign language known only to caffeinated Dunkin Donuts lovers. The D Stop, in effect, turns the traditional ad model on its ear; instead of paying media companies to run ads on their channels, our web content turns DunkinDonuts.com into its very own channel. The entertainment has been carefully crafted to reinforce the Dunkin’ Donuts brand in subtle ways, building customer loyalty while laying the foundation for ongoing opt-in e-mail communications.   D Stop email promotion click-through rates were five times higher than the industry average, and D Stop visitors stayed on the site four times longer than they did on the corporate site.

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A reporter for the Wall Street Journal found “That’s Revolting!” through Google when hunting for antimicrobial products, and subsequently featured Agion in their weekend edition, delivering over 2 million impressions at no cost, and without any assistance from a PR firm. This is another example of how Captains of Industry’s web content improves search engine visibility organically. Good content is the core of a successful inbound marketing strategy.

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Captains of Industry has years of experience in renewable energy, but thanks to the economic slowdown in early 2009 landing a solar account was proving to be a daunting challenge.  One day Captains’ creative director, Ted Page, blurted in frustration, “If we don’t land a solar account this year I will eat my shorts!” Thus was born the Solar Shorts blog, with a video in which Page pledged to actually eat his shorts and put the video on YouTube unless the company landed some solar business. To launch the site, Captains reached out to friends and colleagues through social networking channels such as Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin. The result? Emails and blog posts from around the world starting coming in immediately after the site went live, and within 2 weeks Captains had started its first project for the largest solar installer in the Northeast. The blog was featured in the Boston Business Journal. Renewable Energy World online magazine provided free web banners to promote the blog. And the videos have been seen throughout the solar industry. It’s another example of how good web content (in this case a funny video), combined with social networking can deliver terrific results on a budget.

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Arbor Networks, the leader in network security and performance, came to us with an ambitious set of goals. They wanted to inform their existing customers of new services they were offering, follow up on thousands of qualified leads generated by trade shows, and welcome new customers to Arbor Networks while informing them of Arbor’s comprehensive host of services. And they wanted to do it in a way that had never been done before.

Captains created “Secure the Core,” the first ever 12-episode dramatic podcast series. This audio experience combines intriguing characters and dramatic storyline with expert commentary from leaders in network security and performance, all designed to showcase the advantages of Arbor Networks technology.

Though the series features an overarching storyline, each podcast is able to stand on its own as a comprehensive, informative piece. As a result, the series edifies listeners about Arbor’s myriad of services and is entertaining enough to be applicable to Arbor’s broad customer base. Most importantly, the “Secure the Core” podcast series provides Arbor Networks with a marketing campaign that is as groundbreaking as the network security and performance services they provide.

Hardcore network security guys, who swore they would never listen to a dramatic podcast, tuned in by the thousands – hooked by the story and characters. Having this unique web content helped Arbor engage with customers and build both its brand and sales.

SolidWorks is a different kind of 3-D Mechanical Design and Software firm. They are passionate about their products and want their software to change the way their customers look at the world. That passion is reciprocated by their customers who love – LOVE – their products. Because engineers rely so heavily on peers and colleagues for product recommendations, Captains used video testimonials to transform the plethora of satisfied SolidWorks customers into the best new business sales force in the world. Whether it was an educator explaining how SolidWorks made reading classes possible in rural Africa or a Fortune 500 company crediting SolidWorks for helping them stay ahead of their competitors, the spirit of the customers became synonymous with the spirit of SolidWorks. Our powerful testimonials played an integral part in helping SolidWorks overtake their competitors to become the industry leader in solid modeling software.

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Contact us to find out how to Captainize your story

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It all began when they decided to make a short film together. Fred and Ted wanted their work to be seen on the film festival circuit to demonstrate both their comedic charm and filmmaking abilities. Thus, There Once Was a Man From Pawtucket was born.

The movie is about a happily married elderly couple, the Wingtight’s, who “live” in Cranston, Rhode Island. Loosely based on Ted’s in-laws, the plot features a woman so preoccupied with clipping coupons she doesn’t realize her husband has been dead for five years. He has a rare condition known as Ambulatory Mortosis (he’s basically a walking stiff).

The actor who played Mr. Wingtight played such a convincing dead person, that the film crew truly believed he suffered from ”AM”. Fred and Ted quickly added a public service announcement to the end of the film, and set up a website for the American Ambulatory Mortosis Foundation http://www.fredandted.com/Mortosis/ where visitors could do a self-assessment for the disease and join a support group. A new disease was born, along with Fred and Ted’s filmmaking careers. The film appeared in festivals across the United States and was selected to open the Providence Film Festival, where Fred and Ted solicited donations from the audience for the treatment and prevention of AM. Fred and Ted decline to state where the money was spent, but rumor has it that beer was involved. Soon after, Fred and Ted were hired to make serious films in healthcare and other industries.