Promoting Enterprise Cybersecurity in the

World’s Most Dangerous Race

It was the ultimate publicity stunt.

Vanguard Integrity Professionals, a mainframe security company, wanted to connect with European and Asian potential customers and was competing against IBM with mixed results.

Vanguard CEO Ronn Bailey decided he would raise awareness and apply his limited racing experience competing in the world’s longest, furthest most dangerous race — the Dakar.  More than 7,000 miles and two weeks from Paris to Dakar, Senegal with teams encountering blistering heat, punishing desert terrain, abandoned minefields, and armed bandits. In Europe and Asia, the Dakar is followed with the same fervor as the Super Bowl in the U.S.

We decided the communications strategy should be to position his CEO adventure as “Richard Branson light.”

Clients followed his exploits till the end with daily publicity updates. Overall, the media blitz generated many, large features in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, BusinessWeek, Fortune, Forbes, Wired, CNBC, CNN and many international cybersecurity trades including CSO, SC, and Government Security News.

Subsequently, we supported Vanguard’s Dakar marketing efforts at  trade shows,  and cause-related marketing events in Europe, Asia as well as the U.S.