Our Portfolio, Case Studies & Samples

The Client

We can’t disclose the name, but the Moscow-based Client is in the Internet Security Space and competes with Symantec and McAfee. They employ over 1500 highly-qualified specialists, has central offices in Moscow, as well as regional headquarters overseeing the activities of local representatives and partners in five global regions: Western Europe; Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa; North and South America; the Asia-Pacific region; and Japan. The company currently works in more than 100 countries across the globe. The company’s products provide protection for over 250 million users worldwide. For 12 years, they have worked on exposing, analysing and neutralizing IT threats. Along the way, they have amassed a tremendous amount of experience and knowledge about malware and how to deal with it.

The Challenge

If 2008 was the half year to establish The Client in the technology media space, 2009 was to take them to the next level. That means breaking into mass media and to build a following in New Media such as blogs and tweets. But The Client still sells anti-malware software. According to our friends in at the big consumer media outlets, ‘our readers don’t care about consumer media’. Furthermore, The Client doesn’t have a South African office. So what to do?

In May 2009, The Client was back in South Africa for a security conference and to launch their mobile security product, which enabled us to talk to the media about topics very close to the hearts of ordinary consumers: online banking security, mobile phone security, and social media security. These are the three most important things in our lives; our money, our communications, and our friends. So the consumer media will be interested, right? Right!

We got loads of coverage and rose to #2 in Share of Voice and Media Reputation analysis in June as compiled by Monitoring SA. #1 was McAfee, #2 was The Client, #3 was Symantec. Several other companies operating in the Internet Security space and running PR programmes for several years were far back.

In July 2009, we rose to #1 across the board - by Share of Voice (weighted AVE based on position, tone, etc.), AVE, and articles published. Symantec was #2, McAfee #3.

The Client’s PR department in Moscow was very proactive is publishing company and product information, and they appointed four superb spokespeople to handle different areas of expertise and they interviewed particularly well.

In the month of July, it was an SMS online banking scam involving one of the cellular operators that wasn’t talking to the media. We quickly got expert comment from the client and sent to Fin24. The article was published the same day at midnight and gathered over 700 pick-ups from news portals, blogs, tweets, and other websites around the world in the first 24 hours.

We then issued a statement two days later. This got the attention of Independent Newspapers. This campaign culimated with the front page of The Star newspaper on 17 July 2009, top left headline above the fold with Nelson Mandela on the right side. That was the early edition. The late edition bumped Mandela to below the fold - the day before his birthday – and our headline ‘Flaws in banking security exposed’ dominated the entire space above the fold. The article was also picked up by Cape Argus, Daily News, Witness, Pretoria News, and a few other Independent Newspapers titles.