Rubrik, a leading cybersecurity company specializing in data security and cyber resilience, hosts several summits that convene cybersecurity thought leaders to delve into emerging trends and imminent threats, addressing the concerns paramount to security and IT leaders. In 2023, Rubrik's social media team embarked on a mission to differentiate how we promote these events, steering clear of conventional approaches such as featuring breakout session graphics with headshots.
The team strategically centered the campaign around the event's overarching theme—data security maturity. A distinctive approach was adopted, seamlessly weaving together brand messaging and entertainment to enhance impressions and engagements surrounding the event. Recognizing that data security is a technical concept and the target audience comprises technical professionals, the team aimed to be inclusive of non-technical audiences. This inclusive mindset guided the entire campaign, ensuring that the content remained accessible and digestible for all audiences. By balancing technical depth with broad appeal, the campaign successfully bridged the gap between the intricacies of data security and the diverse backgrounds of the target audience.
The key to any successful campaign is to not execute it in an echo chamber. We started with an old-fashioned brainstorming session with cross-functional teams who were all critical stakeholders for the event and our brand. A prevailing challenge in cybersecurity is the uncertainty leaders face regarding their organization's security posture, or "maturity." Our keynote focused on a data security maturity model, providing leaders with a tool to gauge their organization's maturity and overall security status. The resonance of the term "maturity" led us to the creation of our tagline: “Put your (data security) maturity to the test.”
But a good campaign isn’t a tagline. It has to be relatable, it has to bring value, and it has to be entertaining. Since the global pandemic shifted workers to remote work, poking fun at corporate culture became a hot trend on social media. Merging this theme with our tagline, we envisioned scenarios set in an office environment typically perceived as formal, where individuals behaved remarkably immature and out of place.
From there, we brainstormed different scenarios where you might be walking through your normal office and out of the corner of your eye catch something a little off, do a double take, and be stunned at the immaturity on display. After we had our master list of ideas, we ranked which scenarios were the funniest and most feasible to achieve. Given that we were promoting an event, we wanted to make sure we had ample time to promote the videos before the event so they could generate some social buzz.
A pivotal success factor for us was the decision to feature Rubrik employees as actors. While professional actors are valuable, using our team created a more authentic experience, fostering excitement among employees who could identify with their peers on "the big screen."
The final stage involved shooting, editing, and publishing five videos in different office settings with distinct scripts. Adopting a social-friendly format optimized for various platforms—square aspect ratios for X (formerly Twitter) and LinkedIn, and sized for Reels on Instagram—we strategically released the videos in the weeks preceding the event. Leveraging our internal talent pool, we successfully engaged our employees, who, in turn, contributed to the campaign's amplification through likes, shares, and comments. The culmination of these efforts resulted in a campaign that not only showcased our brand's creativity but also generated significant social traction.
Our team's primary objective for this campaign was to boost engagement and impressions, with registrations serving as the bonus element. By comparing the results to previous years' promotions of similar events, we were able to gauge the success of our efforts. The year-over-year (YoY) growth metrics were remarkable, with +562% YoY growth in impressions, +1,031% growth YoY in engagements, and +71% increase in our overall engagement rate. Impressively, we also observed a +14% YoY growth in registrations from social channels.
These outstanding outcomes underscore the effectiveness of our campaign in surpassing the benchmarks set by past promotions. The success metrics were not merely quantitative; the campaign generated our top-performing content, indicating that our innovative approach not only met but exceeded our team's objectives.
