Security PR can be challenging. There is so much noise, it is hard to break out of the crowd. It often seems that people don’t worry about security until they feel insecure. Add the need to explain the deep technology that makes up the cybersecurity landscape, and there are days it’s easy to understand why they say that people are the weakest link in an organization’s threat chain. Therefore, we’re always looking for a compelling, relatable way to tell a client’s security story.
That’s why it feels great when you not only get recognition for a client, you get recognition for your work behind the scenes. These challenges make me really proud to announce that Voxus brought home the gold from Monday’s Global Excellence Awards for both “Executive Visibility Campaign of the Year” and “Heightening Security Awareness Campaign of the Year” for our work with WatchGuard Technologies!
Making cybersecurity compelling and relatable
From consumers to business, cyber criminals are constantly looking for vulnerabilities and creating new threats. A big part of overcoming these security challenges is making sure you’re aware of them and understanding how to stop them.
So our team at WatchGuard and Voxus conceived of a new campaign that would drive visibility for our newly minted chief technology officer. We pitched a column authored by him to a leading technology news site that marries pop-culture with real, engaging educational information about infosec.
Well-crafted, with intriguing storytelling and well-developed characters, USA Network’s breakout summer hit, Mr. Robot, nails most aspects of infosec, hacking, and the underground Internet culture. In fact, the show gets these things so right – from motivations, to actual code, kits and hacks – the IT community can and should learn from it.
This campaign highlighted Corey Nachreiner, CTO at WatchGuard Technologies, as he breaks down some of the technical aspects of the show. Corey is on a mission to educate everyone, from the C-suite to IT pros to consumers, making sure that people have good, timely, consistent information on security issues.
Tactics:
- Created the idea and pitched it to GeekWire’s Todd Bishop,
- Worked with Corey to finalize his weekly column for the run of the show
- Prepped Corey for a wildly popular live-to-tape podcast on GeekWire and KIRO Radio
- Created organic and promoted social content
Results:
- Corey was the most read contributor on GeekWire in 2015
- More than 3,000 podcast downloads, landing in the top five GeekWire podcasts for the year
- Secured ongoing monthly column for the entire year (current focus on Star Wars), with Mr. Robot renewal for next season
- Launching pad for Corey to be on CNBC, KOMO, Q13, KIRO and more
- More than 1,300 engagements on Facebook, more than 600 on LinkedIn
As you can see, the campaign had great results. We heard from the co-founder of GeekWire that Corey’s podcast was one of the most popular of the year, second only to an interview with the Amazon Echo. In a town that headquarters tech heavyweights like Microsoft, Amazon and T-Mobile, as well as offices of other tech giants Google, Facebook, Nintendo, HTC… the list goes on and on… that kind of popularity is amazing.
Beyond the award, or even the stellar metrics, my favorite thing about this campaign is that it makes information security more accessible to everyone. Direct links from something that people could see on TV to ways to keep their business and personal data safe helps everyone be more secure.
But don’t take my word for it, go check out Corey’s column on GeekWire!
This post is part of a month-long series based on Voxus PR’s award-winning work in security and cybersecurity public relations. To view all of this month’s posts, click here.