Beware the Artificial Impostor

Client: McAfee

Two years after selling its Enterprise business, online protection company McAfee tasked us with repositioning McAfee amongst the public as a brand with consumers at its heart, shifting perceptions of the company from safeguarding devices to protecting individuals.

Our strategy was to carve out a true area of ownership for McAfee in the consumer affairs space by identifying and exposing an emerging scam early. AI voice scams, where cybercriminals use AI to clone people’s voices and dupe their loved ones out of money, were starting to be discussed on social media. We proactively tested the prevalence of these scams through initial consumer research, finding that 1 in 12 people had already experienced the scam. Seizing the opportunity to uncover this emerging scam amongst consumers, we worked with McAfee to develop an in-depth ‘Artificial Impostor’ report, combining global consumer research with unique insights from McAfee’s security researchers. We built a robust suite of earned media assets, curating data, insights, advice and real-life stories, to target media with a broad consumer reach and strong consumer affairs segments. We even helped reporters clone their own voices, to prove the scam’s impact. Our campaign successfully repositioned McAfee as a consumer champion through demonstrable leadership in protecting consumers from this growing threat. As well as achieving 46% of AI share of voice globally and over 70 consumer stories in the UK, our report is now considered such an authority on the topic that it was referenced in a UK Parliamentary debate on AI-powered scams.