To demonstrate the application of IBM Cloud technology to Runkeeper’s business, our film showcased Simon Wheatcroft, a blind ultra-marathoner, who relies upon the fitness-tracking mobile app to help him navigate public roadways as he prepares for competitive hundred-mile footraces.

With IBM’s Cloud as the link between Wheatcroft’s mobile phone and it’s servers, Runkeeper is able to monitor his location in real-time, track his pace, and deliver contextual encouragement. Adapting Runkeeper to meet his unique needs, Wheatcroft uses the app’s distance and pacing data to situate himself, avoiding obstacles he encountered on earlier runs by remembering their distance from his starting point.

His story becomes a metaphor for the challenges and limitations which become little more than signposts of our progress thanks to the power and support of IBM Cloud. The film, then, serves as a case study of the IBM/Runkeeper partnership and showcases the potential of the IBM Cloud.

Simon Wheatcroft participated in the development of the script and storyboard firsthand. Throughout the course of the narrative, viewers witness actual obstacles Simon faced while teaching himself to run, such as crashing into a lamppost at a specific mile mark and learning to avoid it next time, and collapsing at the 83-mile mark during his first attempt at a 100-mile marathon.

The creative development, shoot, and post-production took course over a 16 week window beginning in July, with the hero film going live October 12. Along with the Medium page, short-form versions were created to post across owned IBM channels. These teasers provoked viewers to further explore how IBM could help a blind man become an ultramarathon runner.

With few KPIs beyond reorienting the way prospective enterprise customers within the Fortune 2000 viewed IBM Cloud, we focused on driving engagement with the Runkeeper case study and building enthusiasm for a new approach to storytelling within IBM’s marketing group. The film enjoyed earned media coverage garnering 26k views (more than 200x the average for IBM Cloud content).

More significantly, it has become the centerpiece of IBM Cloud’s go-to-market strategy. At the recent IBM Interconnect conference in Las Vegas, the IBM Cloud booth was wrapped in imagery from the film and Wheatcroft himself addressed 30,000 IT professionals during a keynote address.

While quantitative data results are scant (IBM sales and implementation processes take many months to complete), the effect of the case study on IBM Cloud’s business has vastly exceeded client expectations, becoming a centerpiece of the company’s efforts to reposition the masterbrand as a cloud-centric company delivering human outcomes.