Leeds Digital Hub tenant set to Capture an even bigger slice of the market

Founder and director Rob Julian said the business the current business environment in the region is ideal for dramatic growth.

He said: “Yorkshire is really alive at the moment. There are so many businesses, beavering away, getting bigger. It’s exciting.”

The Capture Lab is a media promotion company that use video production to widen the online presence of businesses.

It was one of the first companies to join Leeds Digital Hub, an innovative business scheme from The Yorkshire Post and Leeds Beckett University, earlier this year.

“We focus on giving online businesses a shop window,” Mr Julian said.

“It’s not just about putting a video on a website – we give companies personality. People like to know what’s behind the business.

“Imagine a high street with rows and rows of shops with nothing in the window. That is what most companies’ websites are like.

“The internet is awash with those sort of websites and we work to improve businesses’ presence.”

All elements of the products, which can include film, photography, animation and mixed media, are completed in-house, including music scores and editing.

These are then used to promote the business through a variety of online channels, including search engines Google and YouTube.

Video is an essential part of online promotion because of YouTube’s prominence, Mr Julian said.

“If you haven’t got video, you’re not on YouTube, and that’s the second biggest search engine online. We work with companies to educate them about their options.

“Social media is a big part of that, it’s massive.”

Client relationships are at the heart of The Capture Lab’s work, with a heavy emphasis on consultation throughout the production process.

“We spend a lot of time learning about the business and what it’s about before we storyboard the video,” Mr Julian said.

“It bounces back and forth between ourselves and the company before anything is started. We’ll then produce the video and again, it’ll go back and forth until they’re happy.

“There’s nothing worse than not being happy for something that you’ve paid for. It has to be right – videos really stay with the business.”

To date, the business has worked with clients across a number of sectors, including manufacturers, estate agents, charities, and networking organisations.

It produced videos for independent music licensing company Sentric Music, which the firm subsequently requested to be translated into German for use in its European roll out.

The Capture Lab has also created awareness videos for West Yorkshire homelessness charity Simon on the Streets.

Mr Julian said the business is currently looking to expand into different sectors. Until recently, the company was a two-person enterprise, but recently added a sales role and is already seeing the results.

“It’s taken off already,” Mr Julian said. “With the number of leads that are being generated, we’re anticipating a four or five-fold increase in turnover this year.”

Being based in the Leeds Digital Hub is also adding to The Capture Lab’s growing customer base.

“I’m already doing business within the Hub,” Mr Julian said. “There’s great cohesion. It’s ideal to share ideas and keep up to date.”

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Leeds Beckett University is hosting a Leeds Enterprise Network Event on November 20, with guest speaker Ajaz Ahmed.

The free event, backed by The Yorkshire Post and sponsored by Finance Yorkshire, will include insights from Mr Ahmed, the man behind Freeserve, and include a showcase of Leeds Digital Hub tenants.