Intel Security CMO: Why marketers need to think more about crisis management

Marketing leader also shares why she thinks cybersecurity awareness across brands is still a major issue

One of the first causalities of any cyber-attack is brand reputation. But when you are the chief marketing officer of one of the world’s largest cybersecurity companies, the stakes are so much higher again.

Allison Cerra took on the role of vice-president of marketing at US-based Intel Security Group in late 2015, following marketing roles with Hewlett-Packard, Alcatel-Lucent and other technology companies. Her group incorporates the assets of the former McAfee security software company, which Intel acquired in 2010.

As previously reported in CMO, marketers generally have shown little eagerness to engage in discussions around cybersecurity, despite their function having much to lose through a successful cyberattack in terms of brand reputation, and often being responsible for communications in the inevitable clean-up that follows.

According to Cerra, the lack of engagement may be due in part to the messages put out by the cybersecurity community itself.

“One of the things that we suffer here in cybersecurity is the complexity of it,” she says. “And we don’t do ourselves any favours. We talk to one another in our own echo chamber and it is hard for us to simplify that.

Allison Cerra
Allison Cerra


“I think that the industry has a responsibility to simplify this for the average lay person, who doesn’t spend their time in technology and doesn’t realise that they should care.”

While numerous brands including Target, Sony and Ashley Madison have recently provided proof of the huge impact cyber breaches have on brand and financial performance, Cerra says often these ‘canaries in the coalmine’ are not heeded.

“Truthfully, marketers are just trying to look through the windshield of what we can see in the immediate terrain and we’re not thinking about what is around the corner,” Cerra says. “Like any good crisis management, you don’t know you need it until it happens.

“But that goes to what your brand is. Because if you have a very transparent, authentic brand in the marketplace but you do suffer a breach and all of a sudden become very clandestine in how you respond to that, that could be completely counter to what your brand position is publicly, which will undermine your brand value proposition.”

As the CMO of a technology security company, Cerra is eminently aware of the added pressure she faces in terms of safeguarding her own company’s reputation in an environment where it represents a high value target. As a result, she remains in close contact with her technical peers.

“I’ve made it a practice of surrounding myself with our CTO, who has given me a crash course in the last eight months or so around how dangerous the adversary is and what we need to be thinking about,” she says.

“I don’t think CMOs understand that their role is to be at that table and engaged in those conversations, if not leading it from a brand promise perspective as to what the company should do in those cases.”

Cerra says Intel Security also has an advisory group of its most senior 25 customers that discusses engagement between marketing and cybersecurity, among other things.

“We talk to board members and CEOs on a regular basis, because cybersecurity has now moved from the back-office reality of IT into the boardroom, and even into the Oval Office,” Cerra says. “So we will elevate the discourse directly with those CMOs and try to educate them and expose them to why they should care and make it as plain and simple as we can.”

But she acknowledges that to drive engagement around such a complex topic, the message coming out of the industry itself needs to be easier to digest and rise above technologies and products.

“We are working now on how do we simplify the message,” Cerra says. “We believe there is an opportunity to raise the altitude of the message, so that c-level executives and CMOs can better understand the fight that is happening around them on a daily basis. Many of us don’t even realise the expanse of what is happening and how real it is.”

Follow CMO on Twitter: @CMOAustralia, take part in the CMO conversation on LinkedIn: CMO ANZ, join us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CMOAustralia, or check us out on Google+: google.com/+CmoAu

Join the newsletter!

Or

Sign up to gain exclusive access to email subscriptions, event invitations, competitions, giveaways, and much more.

Membership is free, and your security and privacy remain protected. View our privacy policy before signing up.

Error: Please check your email address.
Show Comments

Latest Videos

More Videos

More Brand Posts

Enterprisetalk

Mark

CMO's top 10 martech stories for the week - 9 June

Read more

Great e-commerce article!

Vadim Frost

CMO’s State of CX Leadership 2022 report finds the CX striving to align to business outcomes

Read more

Are you searching something related to Lottery and Lottery App then Agnito Technologies can be a help for you Agnito comes out as a true ...

jackson13

The Lottery Office CEO details journey into next-gen cross-channel campaign orchestration

Read more

Thorough testing and quality assurance are required for a bug-free Lottery Platform. I'm looking forward to dependability.

Ella Hall

The Lottery Office CEO details journey into next-gen cross-channel campaign orchestration

Read more

Great Sharing thoughts.It is really helps to define marketing strategies. After all good digital marketing plan leads to brand awareness...

Paul F

Driving digital marketing effectiveness

Read more

Blog Posts

Marketing prowess versus the enigma of the metaverse

Flash back to the classic film, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Television-obsessed Mike insists on becoming the first person to be ‘sent by Wonkavision’, dematerialising on one end, pixel by pixel, and materialising in another space. His cinematic dreams are realised thanks to rash decisions as he is shrunken down to fit the digital universe, followed by a trip to the taffy puller to return to normal size.

Liz Miller

VP, Constellation Research

Why Excellent Leadership Begins with Vertical Growth

Why is it there is no shortage of leadership development materials, yet outstanding leadership is so rare? Despite having access to so many leadership principles, tools, systems and processes, why is it so hard to develop and improve as a leader?

Michael Bunting

Author, leadership expert

More than money talks in sports sponsorship

As a nation united by sport, brands are beginning to learn money alone won’t talk without aligned values and action. If recent events with major leagues and their players have shown us anything, it’s the next generation of athletes are standing by what they believe in – and they won’t let their values be superseded by money.

Simone Waugh

Managing Director, Publicis Queensland

Sign in