As the Senior Director of Client Strategy for our B2B clients at Goodway Group, I had the good fortune of working with the team at McAfee before they launched their new brand, Trellix. Leading the creation of a global brand launch strategy for a client as large and storied as this brand was a tall order, but an amazing amount of fun and hard work. Read more of the case study below.

Strategy Goals

Disrupting the Enterprise Cybersecurity Space: The Trellix Brand Launch Strategy

As a new brand seeking to stand out in the industry against established market leaders such as Microsoft, Crowdstrike, and Cisco, Trellix needed to disrupt a crowded yet niche market. Trellix needed to build brand awareness and create a recognizable brand voice. Leveraging brand momentum, our team helped pivot Trellix more fully into demand capture/demand generation mode by leveraging an account-based go-to-market strategy. Trellix’s primary business objective was to obtain 6% unaided awareness by the end of 2022.

Building a Sense of Perceived Ubiquity

The strategy was intentionally built to align the customer journey to a sense
of perceived ubiquity through targeting frequency focused on unique reach backed by media optimizations. The strategy cast a wider net with awareness-focused media channels for the brand launch. Across the target audiences, multiple persona types were developed to deliver relevant content with market-by-market considerations across premium inventory including Business Insider, The New York Times Technology Section, CNN, The Verge, and other high visibility, contextually relevant placements. Measurement played a crucial role by typing together media metrics to business-level objectives for true closed-loop measurement.

Breaking Through the Noise with an Unexpected Messaging Strategy

In B2B advertising, breaking through the noise with creative messaging and visuals is difficult. Historically, a common tactic used by competitors in the space is to focus on fear as the driving element in the messaging strategy. The guidance for Trellix was to take a different route, with a more organic, welcoming approach to creative concepts and messaging. Bold, eye-catching creative features were ensconced in high-impact, interactive ad units on premium inventory. Furthermore, placements were bespoke to each market to ensure broad coverage across the spectrum of digital touchpoints most often used by influencers and decision makers in the enterprise cybersecurity space. Trellix as a new, fresh brand in the market appeared everywhere, from The New York Times tech section takeovers to TheVerge.com to Vox.com.

Media Approach and Partner Selection Lead to Over-Performance and Doubling of Projected Impressions for Trellix Launch

The media approach for Trellix’s launch initially focused on high-impact placements with a wide variety of partners selected based on Trellix’s ideal customer profile (ICP) research, its historical first-party data and an expansive tool kit to source industry-leading data and research including Pathmatics, GWI Work, Statista and Bombora.

Actual impression volume nearly doubled what was initially projected due to value adds, performance improvements and optimizations with an average daily impression volume of 4.4MM impressions in Q1 2022. Over 50 different partners globally ensured coverage on high-visibility sites including Tech Insider, CNN Business, The New York Times, Information Security Media Group (ISMG), WSJ Tech, The L.A. Times, ZDNET, Squawk Box and CNBC to name a few.

In early Q1, YouGov was selected to survey a panel of highly qualified information technology decision makers (ITDMs) to set a baseline Unaided Awareness figure, which hit 4% soon after the brand launch. As we moved into Q2 and Q3 2022, our strategy slowly transitioned into demand-generation mode backed by account-based marketing (ABM) with more refinement given to audiences. The always-on omni-channel approach across programmatic, connected TV (CTV), YouTube, paid search, programmatic audio and video, and paid social tactics ensured Trellix’s brand was front and center to its target audiences. As 2022 progressed, the panel was surveyed again and achieved 13% Unaided Awareness by EOY (more than double the goal at launch).

Results: Trellix Brand Launch Exceeds Expectations

The results of the Trellix brand launch campaign were nothing short of impressive. Within just three months, the campaign had surpassed its mid-point Unaided Brand Awareness goals by a significant 33%, setting the stage for even greater success in the months to come. By month 11, Trellix had reached an astounding 2x the original goal, solidifying its position as a major player in the industry.

One of the key factors contributing to the success of the campaign was Trellix’s use of audience segmentation and targeting strategies. By precisely identifying and reaching qualified IT decision makers, the campaign was able to generate more than double the forecasted traffic, demonstrating the efficiency and effectiveness of these strategies.

Moreover, the campaign achieved remarkable results in increasing consideration and conversion rates among target audiences exposed to Trellix. Specifically, those who were exposed to media had a 268% increase in consideration and a 119% increase in programmatic conversion rates compared to those who were not exposed to the brand. These findings demonstrate the importance of effective media exposure and the potential impact it can have on a brand’s performance.

Finally, the brand launch campaign established a strong benchmark foundation that will be vital as awareness objectives transition into more revenue-focused goals through the addition of ABM. This means Trellix is well-positioned for continued success, with a solid foundation and clear road map for growth in the future.

In summary, the Trellix brand launch campaign delivered exceptional results, exceeding expectations and setting new benchmarks for success in the IT management solutions market. Through strategic audience targeting, effective media exposure and a strong foundation for future growth, Trellix is poised for continued success and growth in the years to come.