Every March, America goes so crazy over a single-elimination college basketball tournament that it’s referred to as March Madness.Launching their NCAA Corporate Champion sponsorship, Capital One sought to provide an engaging online entertainment experience for the March Madness audience while building awareness for the travel-rewards benefits of their new Venture credit card.So we created for Capital One the 'The Ivan Brothers', an ode to the stories of hope, destiny and the underdog teams that rise to glory in the tournament every year.Building on the equity of the brand’s iconic Visigoth characters living as fish-out-of-water in a modern world, the campaign united a desperate Coach on a worldwide recruiting trip using his Venture Card rewards with two gigantic brothers oblivious to their undeniable athletic instincts.Ultimately, the Ivan Brothers garnered national attention for their team and Capital One as they prepared for their first-ever NCAA tournament.

All campaign elements funneled traffic to a YouTube video hub that housed a six-minute short film about the Ivan Brothers—a parody of human-interest stories you might see in March Madness or Olympic coverage.The YouTube site went live one week before the tournament to begin seeding on key influencer blogs.Receiving just sixty total seconds of TV support, a 30-second spot ran twice during the CBS March Madness 'election Show' The creative showed the Ivan Brothers’ team anxiously awaiting their tournament bid from CBS analyst Seth Davis, mirroring the program’s content and creating intrigue with the viewing audience.Banners on ESPN.com, Yahoo!, CBSSports.com and YouTube illustrated the Ivan Brothers’ natural translation of Old World chores into basketball prowess. Finally, fifteen and thirty-second videos ran during live streaming games on CBSSports.com. With famous college coaches acknowledging the Ivan Brothers’ arrival, their authenticity continued to grow.

The Ivan Brothers proved to be a successful campaign for Capital One and the March Madness audience as online brand engagement skyrocketed. On the opening day of the tournament, The Ivan Brothers” became a top 25 Google search in the world.

The banner click-thru rate was triple the category average, and Capital One ultimately became the first financial services brand to ever make the AdAge Viral Chart.Just days before the tournament’s pinnacle Final Four weekend, the Ivan Brothers short film tallied over 1 million YouTube views. We're still counting...