‘David vs Goliaths’: One B2B challenger on why its ‘Avant-Garde’ approach is paying off

Cybersecurity is often marketed through fear. Breach statistics, hoodie-clad hackers and doomsday messaging dominate the industry’s visual and verbal language. The intent is obvious: scare buyers into action.

According to Dope Security, this approach is counterproductive. Instead of motivating companies to take preventative steps, fear-mongering often leaves them reactive — waiting until after an incident to invest in solutions. Worse, it makes cybersecurity feel opaque and inaccessible, alienating people outside the technical inner circle.

Dope’s team has set out to change that. The philosophy is that cybersecurity should feel simple, human and even joyful.

As a new startup competing against enterprise giants with massive ad budgets, Dope knows it can’t win by playing the same game.

This is a serious industry, but it doesn’t have to be communicated in a way that makes people feel powerless.

Erica Remmele, Dope Security

“We like to say that we’re bold, we’re passionate and we’re Dope,” says Erica Remmele, head of design.

“The name isn’t just a quirk. It’s something we embody. We know we’re a David going up against Goliaths, so we have to market differently. It’s not just about having a great product, it’s about making sure people actually remember your name.”

Inspired by this ethos, Dope Security decided to develop a video game to coincide with the start of the Black Hat cybersecurity conference, hosted in Las Vegas each August.

Instead of paying thousands of dollars for a booth at the conference, the team built a browser-based arcade game in house, complete with custom voiceovers and original music. Think Space Invaders reimagined for the cybersecurity world. The game spanned 16 days of cumulative gameplay, with participation from both current chief information security officers and IT leaders, as well as other cybersecurity professionals.

Stop selling creative disruption and start selling risk reduction

“We know that games are something other brands have done before [in marketing]. But every time someone does it, it’s fun, it’s cool and it creates a touchpoint beyond your product,” Remmele explains.

“People start conversations like: ‘Hey, did you see what they came up with?’ […] And that’s what we wanted, something that lives online, something people can keep coming back to for more than one day.”

The campaign was designed to do more than entertain. It was intended to spark curiosity about the brand and as a conversation starter with potential customers. 

“When you create something people want to share, you stop being another vendor pitch. You become part of their cultural reference points,” says Remmele.

Why fun works better than fear

Director of art, brand and product marketing, Ashley Wu, explains the two-week campaign successfully drove a 765% spike in website traffic at its peak, alongside significant growth in LinkedIn impressions and engagement, while also generating a number of leads for the brand.

Most importantly, the campaign created what Wu calls “sticky moments”. The game kept people coming back, replaying and sharing.

“If you think about traditional marketing, you might see an ad at an airport or online, but you close it or block it out,” says Remmele.

“We wanted to create something people would return to on their own. Something that sparks a conversation, resonates personally and keeps us top of mind.”

Since there were real prizes on the line, including a co-hosted event with DJs The Chainsmokers in Las Vegas, engagement levels were far higher than typical conference giveaways.

“You get more competitive when there’s something meaningful to win,” Remmele adds. “People told us directly that this was next level compared to anything else they saw at Black Hat.”

We consistently see that being more Avant-Garde and guerrilla in our marketing always gets us a better return.

Erica Remmele, Dope Security

At the heart of Dope’s approach is a rejection of the “cybersecurity as scary” narrative.

“Ultimately, there’s a lot of fear-mongering in cybersecurity and that’s something we want to get away from,” says Remmele.

“This is a serious industry, but it doesn’t have to be communicated in a way that makes people feel powerless. We want to humanise it, make it accessible and show that it can even be fun.”

Wu explains the intention is to position cybersecurity as a preventative measure, as opposed to a “reactionary method”.

“One of our touchpoints is we want you to be part of us from the very beginning even before anything is an issue,” she adds.

This matters in B2B just as much as B2C, says Remmele, given in B2B “you’re still B2C, you’re still talking to humans.

“We always want to humanise cybersecurity. It doesn’t have to be scary to be serious,” she adds.

The success of Dope’s game campaign suggests a future where cybersecurity marketing looks very different from today’s fear-based status quo. Conferences may still have booths, but interactive activations – whether digital or in-person – could become bigger drivers of buzz and engagement.

“We consistently see that being more Avant-Garde and guerrilla in our marketing always gets us a better return than if we went a traditional route,” says Remmele.

“We don’t need to outspend competitors. We just need to create something people actually want to be part of.”