PC Tools: From Down Under to Top of Mind

Bospar co-founder Curtis Sparrer, who helped make it happen for PC Tools, can tell you how.

PC Tools was a business based in Australia. It had offices in Ireland, Luxembourg, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, and the United States. And it offered anti-malware, anti-virus, backup, file recovery, internet security, performance, privacy, registry, and threat analysis software.

Still, the company was considered a niche cybersecurity software player.

Objective

PC Tools wanted to change that by increasing its profile in the U.S.

Curtis and his team set out to help PC Tools realize that dream by defining – and then educating the market and the media about – the company’s secret sauce: behavioral protection.

To do that, he aimed to secure coverage in traditional tech publications as well as with lifestyle media outlets. He created a strategy to develop recognition for PC Tools products among influencers and key demographics. Curtis also built and staged high-impact in-person events for journalists and consumers for its launch at gatherings such as South by Southwest (SXSW).

To break through the noise, he connected the messaging with two hot topics: music and sex.

To tie into the theme of SXSW 2011, Curtis created a press release, which he put on the wire the week of SXSW, talking about how festival music fans were at risk of malicious online scams.

He also coined the phrases “constantly connected” and “digitally active” in describing PC Tools’ users. Such users, PC Tools’ said, need to protect themselves from digitally transmitted diseases (DTDs). This language made PC Tools unique and memorable in a crowded security market.