Making 130,000 employees care about cybersecurity.
Security awareness training fails because it asks people to care about something that doesn’t feel real to them. Cisco needed to change that for a global workforce of 130,000. We didn’t build a better training program. We built a cast of characters, a reward system, a physical presence on campus, and a culture around the idea that security is everyone’s job. I drove the creative concept and directed execution across the full campaign: character design and 3D development, the digital training platform, physical collectible toys, campus environmental design, and video.
A threat for every tactic.
We created twelve monsters — each one personifying a different type of cyber threat, with its own name, personality, and specialty. The idea was simple: if the threat had a face, it was harder to ignore.
Finish the training. Keep the monster.
Complete the modules and Cisco shipped you one of three physical toys modeled after the cast, manufactured in biodegradable plastic to stay true to the company’s sustainability commitments. Engagement with the education modules ran higher than anything the program had seen before.
Then we let them loose.
Life-sized cardboard cutouts started appearing overnight in hallways, lobbies, and common areas across Cisco's campuses. Elevator wraps. Window decals. The monsters were everywhere — because the threats are too. A few cutouts were stolen and carried to other offices. Employees started demanding we return their monster.
+700%
Increase in security incident reporting
Most security programs try to change behavior. This one changed the culture.
When employees started stealing the cardboard cutouts and demanding their monsters back, the program had already won. The 700% jump in incident reporting was just the proof.
View more case studies.
