CASE STUDY
Forescout
AMNESIA:33
A Risky Humble Brag
Forescout Technologies is a leading cybersecurity company who we’ve partnered with since 2015. When Forescout Labs was the first to discover a bundle of 33 new vulnerabilities affecting millions of connected devices in organizations worldwide, they brought Blu Fable into their circle of trust to help them prepare for the big announcement.
In the cybersecurity world, being the first to discover such a massive threat is both a moment of prestige and responsibility. It can be a delicate balance, letting the world know that your team has the smartest engineers in the room, while also quickly sharing the information needed to protect critical worldwide infrastructure to the largest audience possible.
Project Summary
Building Reputation by leading Well
Having the reputation of being a good leader is what some would call Soft Power. In the right hands, it’s the leverage to open new opportunities, the edge to beat out the competition, and the value-add to command a premium price.
So for this project, it was important that we struck the right balance of letting Forescout take credit where it was due, but not get in the way of sharing the right amount of information needed to convey the sense of urgency behind the announcement.
Be Smart AND Be Heard
For Forescout, being smart was the easy part. Making sure that they were also heard (e.g. understood) was our responsibility.
We knew that the audience for the video wasn’t fellow engineers and researchers, it was actually CTO’s and other C-suite executives. So the information had to be presented at a level that was easily accessible for them, and in a logical framework that retained their attention and inspired them to take action.
We developed a script and storyboard that took the viewer on a journey of awareness, alarm, confirmation that it applied to them, examples of potential scenarios to reinforce the relevant key information, helpful information of how to mitigate risks, and finally, a clear call-to-action for their next steps (which, of course, included further engagement with Forescout!).
Do The Work; Earn The Reward
In the weeks following the announcement of AMNESIA:33 and the release of the motion-graphics animated PSA we produced, the PR campaign was the most highly engaged earned media that Forescout had ever seen.
We’re proud of the work we were able to produce for this long-time client, and glad they trusted us to be brought in under an NDA to work with their research department in the leadup to the release of this important public service announcement. It also opened the doors to work on several other communications projects for Forescout Labs, including white papers and executive presentations.
If you have a complex project that needs the right balance of technical information and nuanced messaging, let us know! We’d be happy to help.