Going to the Source

How could HP advance its business in an evolving category that is vulnerable to crisis and threats? How could the brand take the lead in a commoditized space? How could it get people talking about something they don’t want to talk about: cyber-security for printers?

While HP’s original goal was to build awareness and lead generation among Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) throughout Canada, with increasing international attention paid to cyber-security and cyber-threats we were convinced that, a larger B2B and B2C campaign would allow the brand to own the print security conversation.

We knew we had to show, not just tell, the threats for individuals and businesses. Since CISOs already are well-versed in cyber-security, we also knew that they wouldn’t listen to us, but might listen to a person who could actually break into their company.

We shocked people into seeing how personal and business devices and systems can easily be hacked by putting a face to the process: Michael ‘MafiaBoy’ Calce, a now-reformed cyber-security expert who was once considered one of the top black hat hackers in the world. We took them on a journey deep into the underground world of hacking by producing a short documentary that captured MafiaBoy’s story and showed, first-hand, why everyone should be very concerned about the current state of cyber-security.