Case study: Trustwave
Evolving with Excellence: The Decade-Long Journey of Trustwave's Transformation in the UK Cybersecurity Landscape
With almost three decades of cybersecurity experience, Trustwave has expanded from being seen as solely as a PCI DSS Compliance company to positioning itself as a leading Managed Detection and Response (MDR) and Managed Security Services (MSS) provider. For 12 of those years – the Trustwave team partnered with Code Red (under sister brand éclat Marketing) to revamp its brand and media presence, reflecting its evolving corporate vision.
Through this more than decade-long collaboration, 2023 pieces of coverage were secured for Trustwave, including 99 pieces in national media, as well as 311 press briefings and 184 thought leadership articles drafted by our content team.
Laying the Foundations for a Decade of Transformation
At the start of the relationship in February 2012, Trustwave’s corporate focus was to solidify its standing in the compliance space and expand and gain recognition in the broader cybersecurity landscape. As a company with a similar 25-year heritage in the industry, Code Red brought unparalleled knowledge, contacts, and experience to the table, so was the only logical choice to facilitate the transformation. The team played a crucial role in this journey by shaping and executing narratives that resonated within the UK market.
Synergizing Acquisitions: Integrating M86 and Beyond
Within days of the teams starting to work together, Trustwave announced the acquisition of M86: the first of many corporate announcements and evolutions of the Trustwave messaging over the course of the partnership. Code Red created a comprehensive and evolving media strategy to integrate each new element into the Trustwave brand seamlessly. This involved navigating the challenge of ensuring that its elite penetration testing and research division, SpiderLabs, was seen in the media as part of the team rather than a separate entity, while also leveraging its expertise to secure high-impact coverage.
Innovative Campaigns and Strategic Media Engagement
Code Red conceptualised and spearheaded countless high-profile campaigns like the annual Global Security Report, which involved running successful press events with expert panels and earning coverage in SC Magazine, Infosecurity, Computer Weekly through to the Financial Times. The team’s ingenuity was evident in their unique ideas, like developing custom research with the BBC, ethically hacking a journalist at The Telegraph and using Freedom of Information (FOI) requests to add a localised twist to complement global PR and marketing goals.
By driving the media agenda, the team was able to ensure that Trustwave’s spokespeoples expert voices were being heard by its target audience. This creative flair cemented strong relationships with key UK media, and Code Red’s ability to develop dynamic campaigns aligned with Trustwave’s business goals only grew over time.
Consistency in Change: The Agency’s Role
The Code Red team provided stability and expertise throughout Trustwave’s progression, sometimes even using their deep knowledge and understanding of the company to assist in getting new Trustwave team members up to speed.
Kim Smith, Client Services Director at Code Red, comments: “So often the phrase ‘becoming an extension of your team’ is used to describe the intention for a relationship between PR agency and a client, and in this case, it was the true reality of the partnership. For more than a decade, we remained a constant in Trustwave’s corporate communications strategy, helping to navigate both the smooth and trickier waters that emerged during this time, support changes in personnel and the development of strategies on a local and global level.
“Working hand-in-hand with the internal Trustwave team, and with the other PR partners across the different timezones, we were able to provide a steady hand and support the company in getting in front of the right media, at the right time and with the right stories to consistently generate media coverage that made a difference to their position in the market.”
A Model of Enduring Success
Reflecting on the decade-long partnership, the seamless integration of Code Red Comms into Trustwave’s operations is remarkable. This journey with Trustwave exemplifies the power of strategic PR in guiding a company through the dynamic landscape of cybersecurity.
If you’d like to speak to our CEO, Robin Campbell-Burt to discover how strategic PR can transform your cybersecurity business, you can book a call with him through Calendly.
