Kaspersky Lab

Can a community protect your company? Can karma save you from crimeware? Can you make your enterprise more secure by hiring 250 million more people? And if so, can Doug explain it all to you in his case study of 300 words or less on the new Kaspersky Lab advertising campaign?

Three years ago Kaspersky Lab introduced their first Anti-Virus software product to North America, taking on well-established category giants Symantec (Norton 360), McAfee and Trend Mirco. Despite being an award winning Internet Security software solution in Europe (a.k.a. Anti-Virus software), Kaspersky was a relative unknown in the U.S., facing an established category bracing for the arrival of an 800-pound gorilla, as Microsoft was about to launch two new Internet Security products of their own.

So, how do you launch a Russian made software product into a mature Internet Security market, dominated not only by a few well-established domestic competitors but about to be hit by a tidal wave named Microsoft? First, you build a better product. Next, you spend two years patiently working to get your product reviewed and endorsed by the leading industry pundits and into the hands of some influential customers who are currently using – and are frustrated by –your competitor’s products. At the same time, you focus on getting your product established not as a brand name with consumers – but instead among those “in-the-know” in the industry – through OEM deals with Internet Service Providers (AOL, Cox, etc.) and second-tier Internet Security companies (F-Secure, G-Data) seeking a way to keep them competitive in a fast moving market.

Finally you take the award winning industry reputation you have built along with the millions of followers you have gained worldwide, combine this with the collaborative approach your company is taking to the growing threats facing the Internet and announce your arrival not as an unproven entity but instead as a growing community of like-minded people all committed to maintaining the way we all live and work on the Internet nowadays. The result, a refreshingly unique advertising campaign directed at large businesses in North America that juxtaposes the ideas of security with the inferred openness of a community, to highlight the different approach Kaspersky is taking to build a safer Internet community. We and our clients at Kaspersky both feel it helps to highlight how they offer a better way.