Profile: Conservation International

To create buzz around the race, CI created an online baseball card about each turtle on the site and also did international press. These viral techniques worked: Before the race took place, 6,000 people had signed up to support their favorite leatherback turtles.

CI named one of the turtles after political satirist Stephen Colbert — actually, the turtle was called “Stephanie Colburtle, the Leatherback Turtle” — with the hope that the faux news anchor would take notice. It was a smart move: Colbert heard about it and discussed the race on his television show for four nights in a row last April. He also showed CI’s URL.