The online world has grown by leaps and bounds over the past 5 years, transforming into a home away from home with the mainstreaming of social networks. No one has picked up on this trend more quickly than children and young adults.
A Brave (and Scary) New World
To be sure, there are benefits to “living” online but there are also wide and often unrecognized and under-reported risks spanning the gamut from child pornography to cyber stalking, child identity theft to cyber bullying.
Four years ago, Trend Micro’s Lynette Owens found herself standing at the crossroads of innovation and protection as she started the company’s Internet Safety for Kids and Families Initiative.
For the billion-dollar global company, the initiative started as a purely philanthropic effort based on a need they were uniquely positioned to meet via blocking and monitoring software as well as education. Lynette quickly identified the nonprofit leaders in the industry and supported them in their efforts to educate parents and children about internet safety.
From Philanthropy to New Market Development
One of Trend’s most successful internet safety initiatives is a cause marketing campaign called What’s Your Story?. Historically, 70% of Trend Micro’s revenue has been generated from business-to-business sales. Five years ago, they made a strategic decision to expand into the consumer space, a highly competitive and crowded market.
To target new consumer prospects and further their internet safety cause-focus, Lynette worked with marketing staff to leverage the What’s Your Story? campaign to introduce Trend Micro to both youth and their parents. Participants were asked to create a video to educate people about staying safe and secure online and using the Internet responsibly. Winners took home cash prizes. With the help of an impressive panel of judges, the campaign was hugely successful. Check out this winning video:
Content Powers Further Cause Efforts
The winning videos from the What’s Your Story campaign also became an educational peer-to-peer tool when Trend Micro partnered up with PTO Today to sponsor an Internet Safety Night at almost 5,000, K-12 schools. Not only did this partnership allow Lynette to effectively spread the message about Internet Safety, it also gave an important introduction of Trend Micro’s products to two key client groups: parents and school administrators.
Cause Power Product Development
Trend Micro’s cause efforts have evolved over the years to the point where their Internet Safety initiative has even informed product design, resulting in a unique and unforeseen competitive advantage.
When Lynette realized engineers were deciding which sites should be blocked from which age groups in a vacuum, she stepped in and lobbied Trend Micro’s product design team to incorporate standards from the NCMEC URL Project, a collaborative effort between the FBI, Interpol and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) to track known child pornography sites. Although Trend’s lawyers initially raised questions about free speech violations, they were quickly resolved and Trend Micro is currently the only company able to offer this service to its business and consumer customers.
Lynette pushed because it was the right thing to do. But as compliance standards have risen both in corporations and school settings, incorporating the NCMEC URL project into Trend Micro’s products has won significant business contracts for the company. Sales staff have begun incorporating this once cause-focused benefit into their list of sales strengths.
To Create A Meaningful Impact, Collaborate
Lynette is a firm believer that being sincere about a cause means that you can’t do it alone. Her focus is on collaborative efforts, realizing that no single entity can be an expert in all aspects of internet safety. Lynette’s zeal for her role within Trend Micro, combined with smart campaigns and product offerings certainly help this company’s cyber cause marketing create an online legacy.
What’s Your Take on Trend Micro’s Online Legacy? Does Your Organization Have Similar Experiences in Product Development or Opening New Markets Leading with Cause? Add your thoughts to the comments below.
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