"We need to convince kinetic-minded leadership to invest in securing non-weapon infrastructure, like printers and air conditioners. And we have less than five minutes to get their attention."
Undisclosed Government Customer: Changing the perspective of defense leadership
The United States invests trillions in developing, maintaining, and securing its military systems. But support infrastructure — like heating and cooling, communications, and networking systems — also present attack surfaces for compromise.
When one client needed to help commanders understand the importance of investing in critical infrastructure protection, we proposed a video presentation instead of a typical “threat brief.” The result was a short documentary film called Invisible Surfaces.
When you’re delivering technical overviews or critical intelligence, many organizations default to the tried-and-true slide presentation. But we challenged ourselves to find a way to engage the audience without making them sit through a briefing of technical slides. We knew a compelling video would entertain, engage, and inform stakeholders without burdening their minds or putting them to sleep.
For Invisible Surfaces, we ditched the clichéd “cyber” styling in favor of documentary visuals, narration, and sound design. We also avoided any technical jargon and unfamiliar terms — opting for appropriate battlefield references and consequences more familiar to a kinetic audience. In doing so, we ensured that the presentation felt relevant to their experiences and needs while telling the cyber-impact story.
Armed with this video to show at the beginning of their internal leadership briefings, the client’s customer is now able to circumvent a 20-minute pre-brief and gain leadership’s buy-in and trust. In three-and-a-half minutes, they have an audience on the edge of their seats asking “what do I need to do next?” instead of one asking “why are you here and why should I care?”
That’s the power of compelling video briefs.