Hiscox claims industry first with new campaign that tracks live cyber attacks

Hiscox is claiming an industry first with the launch of a campaign that will track cyber attacks in real time, as it looks to position itself as the go-to brand for business insurance among SMEs.

For the campaign, which launches Monday (19 February) and was created by AMV BBDO and Goodstuff, Hiscox has set up a ‘honeypot’ test server that detects attempts at unauthorised access. The server is very similar to one a small business would have and in tests Hiscox found that it was getting up to 25,000 attacks a day.

A digital outdoor campaign will highlight the extent of this problem, counting and showing in real time how many server attacks it detects on any particular day. A display that spells out ‘cyber attack’ will see dots light up and then pulse as the attacks are detected.

Accompanying this will be outdoor advertising that highlights the scale of the issue, using statistics such as ‘one in three small businesses have fallen victim to cyber attacks’ and ‘you are over 40% more likely to be a victim of a cyber crime than burglary”.

Alongside the outdoor activity, three radio ads will run that feature a normal Hiscox ad and then one that uses an AI and synthesised voice, with the aim of showing listeners how difficult it is to detect a real and a fake call.

This will all be supported by Hiscox’s biggest social campaign to date. Social media content will include videos explaining how the AI and synth radio ads were created (see below), as well as blog content that aims to reinforce Hiscox’s position as a leader in business insurance.

Hiscox will also be running cyber academies as part of a wider move to educate the market on the cyber risk and how to meet that challenge. Customers will be able to undertake training to help them understand when they have received a phishing email and how to defend their company from cyber attacks.

Hiscox hopes the unique nature of the campaign will achieve cut-through in the market at a time when most other brands, including Facebook, are trying to reach small business owners by showcasing small business.

“Because Hiscox isn’t that scaled of a brand yet, it has to punch much harder. We felt to do that type of story [showcasing small businesses] ran the risk of being very samey. We need to do it in a differentiated way,” Olivia Hendrick, head of marketing and partnerships at Hiscox UK and Ireland, tells Marketing Week.

While the campaign is aimed at raising awareness of Hiscox’s insurance, in particular cyber insurance, for small businesses and therefore sales, Hendrick believes it will also have a halo effect on the whole brand. Hiscox will be measuring key brand metrics including brand affinity and consideration.

Hiscox has always been a very distinctive brand, we want to look at how we move it forwards.

Olivia Hendrick, Hiscox

“The core objective is gearing ourselves up for the future and setting ourselves up as lead insurer for cyber. But this will fundamentally have a halo effect on the Hiscox brand and we hope this will drive some of the key metrics that are key drivers of the brand,” she explains.

Hendrick says Hiscox wants to take more risks in its marketing going forward, including a look at how it reaches customers via digital and online. She joined Hiscox nine months ago having worked with Hiscox’s global brand director Annabel Venner at Coca-Cola.

READ MORE: The Story of my CV – Annabel Venner

In fact, Venner has brought a number of new people into the marketing team over the past six months from outside financial services as it looks to evolve its marketing.

“When you work at a brand like Coke there is loads to talk about, people want to have conversations [with the brand] every day. In insurance you have to have something that is worthy of an interaction or a conversation. Cyber is one of those,” adds Hendrick.

“Expanding the team is bringing in new energy, and the fact many are not from financial services brings in fresh, innovative thinking. Hiscox has always been a very distinctive brand, we want to look at how we move it forwards.”cy;b