From event-led to digital-led: how Trend Micro reached 32 cities efficiently.
70% of field budget went to events with limited measurable reach. CISOs were hard to reach at scale. We built a digital strategy that did what events couldn't, and proved it.
Field-led marketing was hitting a wall.
Trend Micro's APAC marketing was anchored in field events. 70% of the field budget went to dinners, briefings, and trade shows, high-touch but hard to measure, and limited in reach.
Messaging varied widely across markets. Buyer journey was fragmented: digital touchpoints didn't connect to product demonstrations or sales conversations. CISOs and security leaders are notoriously hard to reach. And the existing approach wasn't scaling beyond the rooms they were physically in.
Activity was high. Reach was low. Cost per impression was unsustainable.
Video-led full-funnel. CISO-targeted. Premium placements only.
We rebuilt the demand strategy around digital. Not as a replacement for field, but as the engine that fed it.
Built a video-first creative library covering the buyer journey from problem-awareness to product comparison. Designed for both YouTube pre-roll and programmatic display.
TechCrunch, leading cybersecurity publications, and industry-trusted media. Where CISOs actually spend time, not where the cheapest impressions live.
Multi-stage sequencing: awareness → category education → product consideration → demo request. Each stage had its own creative and trigger built around the buyer's actual question.
Connected digital intent signals to field team activation. So the team showed up at the right account, at the right time, with the right context. Demand made measurable for the first time.
Reach, efficiency, and measurability, all at once.
From a regionally-confined CISO audience to broad APAC enterprise security coverage. The same brand, reaching 12× more decision-makers per quarter.
Total impressions across the campaign rose nearly 4×. Frequency stayed within healthy bounds, growth came from breadth, not bombardment.
Despite running on premium publishers, effective CPM dropped 85% as creative quality compounded the platforms' learning. Better hooks → higher engagement → lower cost.
