T.J. Lowther T.J. Lowther

Level Up: DigiCert Virtual Security Summit

How do you make a global digital security company’s most important event of the year engaging when no one is allowed to attend?

DigiCert Security Summit is the company’s largest and most important event of the year. Especially in 2021, where they had planned to announce a new product and unveil a new brand identity. But COVID restrictions were still in place, which meant the three-day event would have to be experienced exclusively from home.

We had to make sure it was interesting, top to bottom. The KPI: the same level of attendance and engagement as there had been in previous, in-person years.

We knew there’s a lot of crossover between IT professionals and the gaming community. And, since we’d all probably rather be playing than watching a conference over Zoom, we turned the event into an interactive game—and a celebration of the growth of technology throughout the last several decades.

We integrated a lot of IT- and game-themed Easter eggs—like using the Konami code as background texture for conference collateral—to harken back to the nostalgic days of early gaming and bring a little surprise and delight to an audience stuck at home.
Our goal was to draw a parallel between the evolution of gaming and the evolution of digital security. As tech advances, so do threats.
We created custom 8-bit avatars for each of the attendees and presenters to use on Zoom and Slack, during—and for months after—the conference. In addition, we also produced a pre-session introduction video for each presenting in which they were featured in a scene referencing their favorite game genre.
Attendees were able to accrue digital coins by engaging with content, interacting with speakers, and networking (virtually), which they could spend on entries to win an elusive PS5, XBox Series X, a full sized pinball machine, and more. We also created an “achievement system” to award trophy badges for specific user behaviors. Some were listed. Some were hidden. Just like in games.
The end result: 2X higher registration than previous years, with 100% engagement and virtually zero drop off on days two and three.
Client
DigiCert
Creative Team
T.J. Lowther (Creative Direction, Copy), Michael Hall (Design)
Production Company
Chase a Cloud Studios