Case Study
Demisto with (now Palo Alto Networks)
Demisto Electrifies Black Hat Audience with Custom Game
Demisto is a leading Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response (SOAR) platform that helps security teams accelerate incident response, standardize and scale processes, and learn from each incident while working together.
Erin Swanson, Sr Director of Marketing with Demisto, is known for her innovation and willingness to take risks—traits that are highly valued in the fast-growing cybersecurity space.
Erin markets to an exceedingly technical audience—developers and CTO-level decision makers. And it’s a crowded space where every company is working to outshine the others. So the promotional gifts Erin selects for strategic events must make an impact.
“Susan sourced the game, got all the specs and the templates we needed to customize it, and then managed the deadlines so we’d have it in time for Black Hat. We ended up with a unique, innovative gift that kept our booth hopping. You often hear the expression, ‘wow factor.’ Our custom Circuit Maze game truly had the wow factor!”
Developing Novel Ideas for the Event Circuit Is Not Child’s Play
In preparation for two of the company’s most important events—RSA and Black Hat—Erin met with Susan of Silicon Valley Specialties to brainstorm ideas. One of the company’s founders thought the game Circuit Maze would appeal to show attendees they wanted to reach.
To really make an impact, Erin tasked Susan with creating a custom Demisto-branded version of the game.
Susan took on the challenge, contacting the game manufacturer, ThinkFun, to first find out if there was a way to directly source the game. Working with the ThinkFun VP of Sales, she negotiated with the company to enable Demisto to create a new, customized box lid and add company marketing materials inside the box. ThinkFun loved the idea so much they even provided design specs and the template for the box lid so Demisto could create a custom version that replicated the original.
Once given the green light, Susan sourced the third party vendors needed to create the final gift, including a manufacturer to produce a perfectly fitted lid. She also found the right printer to produce and apply the Demisto artwork to the lid, print the custom inserts, and assemble all the components for 1,000 games. Always paying attention to the smallest of details, Susan made sure to have the boxes shrink wrapped, creating a final product that looked as if it was straight off the retail shelf.
And she made it happen for less than the cost of buying the retail game. “While there’s always a budget, let’s be honest—when you’re creating a custom game, budget isn’t necessarily the top priority. But value is,” explains Erin. “Not only was Susan able to source and customize the game in a cost-effective manner, she added a tremendous amount of value to the entire process.”
Part of the value Susan adds is her deep knowledge of fulfillment and shipping. For Demisto, she sourced the custom box lid and the fulfillment from two local companies. That meant that everything could be couriered from the printer to the fulfillment house and then to Demisto—saving time and money. Doing so also eliminated the risk of crushing the box components—particularly the lids—every step of the way.
Demisto’s Custom Gift Electrifies at Black Hat
Once the finished games were delivered, 400 shipped to the Black Hat event, 200 to a strategic partner, and the rest were sent to Demisto to await the RSA show. Visitors to the booth couldn’t get enough. “We ended up giving away all 400 games with attendees asking for more!” Adds Erin, “Everyone was thrilled with the results. Our founder was blown away—not just that Susan was able to pull this off in time, but with the level of customization she was able to negotiate with the game manufacturer.”
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