The Realm: Cisco Comic Book-Style Webisodes Bring Security to Life
What makes for interesting marketing in today’s web-focused, always-on world? Is it big media spend for placement? Or is it trying something different that gets word of mouth going through Facebook, Twitter, Digg, you name it? As a marketing vice president, I think we owe it to ourselves to break through barriers and try new technologies and media. One of my favorites that I’ve come across recently is Air New Zealand’s use of people’s bodies as billboards, as reported in the New York Times-it was certainly attention-getting and cost efficient.
What I often hear about the best of web 2.0 is that it starts conversations, creates communities, and generates interesting discussions. And that’s why I’m excited about this week’s roll out of The Realm, our new security campaign that features animated versions of the good, the bad, and the ugly-as we see it play out on the Internet each day.
Constructed as a webisode series, it offers a unique glimpse into how Cisco engineers and markets its products. And in developing the vignettes, we have come up with a new genre of animation - mixing a comic book medium with 2-D animation.
We’re beginning to get some attention from bloggers such as internetnews.com’s Sean Michael Kerner and Wall Street Journal’s All Things Digital blogger Kara Swisher. But we’re also interested to hear what customers and others have to say. What would you like to see in future webisodes? Check it out and let us know what you think.
Posted by Marie Hattar at 09:27AM PST
Calvin Chai Mar 6, 2009
Who would have ever thought that Cisco would be associated with comic books? To me, this is a great example of creativity and innovative thinking. It’s no secret that the comic book genre has come a long way. One only needs to look at the film industry box office to see how this has really turned into a mainstream form of entertainment. Maybe a big screen adaptation of the Realm is in the works?