Insight

The Middle East and North Africa Information Security Conference, MENAISC, represents the biggest Cybersecurity Conference in the MENA region. Hosted by leading cybersecurity advisory company VirtuPort for the past 8 years, the 2020 event took place virtually for the first time due to COVID-19, with the participation of 7 different countries under the theme “Resistance To Resilience In An Age Of Smart Cities, Digital Economies & IoT”.

W7Worldwide’s partnership with VirtuPort for the fourth year running in promoting MENAISC, enabled us to respond quickly to the extraordinary circumstances and communications needs, bringing over 2,800 cybersecurity and information technology industry experts to the conference and generating 412 pieces of national, regional and industry media coverage.

Building on our strong media relationships and insight into the specialized cybersecurity sector, we produced timely thought leading content around the event, securing 7 expert interviews and 40 media opportunities for event sponsors.  Our ability to adapt our communications strategy to the event’s virtual format and providing thought leadership on the significant rise in cyber threats since COVID-19 resulted in a 59% year on year growth of media exposure and brand reach for MENAISC.

Methodology

The greatest challenge for W7Worldwide’s #MENAISC2020 campaign had been to build the communications bridge for the first virtual edition of the event as a first of its kind in Saudi Arabi and the region.  Despite the challenges COVID-19 represented, W7Worldwide were able to expand the reach of the MENAISC2020 platform, building on our previous years’ efforts and experience with our sustainable and powerful communications platform for VirtuPort. Our proactive thought leadership focused approach saw MENAISC2020 featured in prominent outlets with timely content around the increased risk of cyber threats to businesses since the pandemic.

W7Worldwide deployed a dedicated project team with expertise in the technology and cybersecurity sector to work on the campaign, building on the success and learnings from previous years.  Developing a concrete plan and content cycles, we featured the event with multiple story angles to maximize engagement and audience reach.

Our creative and social media teams successfully executed a content and engagement campaign that brought over 1,900 influential, high level cybersecurity industry Professionals from Saudi Arabia and the region to the event.

W7Worldwide were able to build on the cumulative knowledge of its 4-year partnership with VirtuPort in promoting MENAISC.  Year on year we achieved a 280% increase in impressions, 38% increase in social media engagement, 100% increase in TV coverage, 14% increase in social media impressions, and 59% increase in regional media coverage.

Impact

4,240,433,781 Impressions

412 of total clippings

Clippings