Giving CISOs a wake-up call with Veeam
The objective
3:07am. The phone is buzzing on the bedside table.
A CISO reaches for it, already knowing something is wrong. Files are encrypting, the incident channel is filling up, and by sunrise the board will want answers. Every decision matters, but the information is incomplete.
Every security leader knows this moment could come. Yet most organisations still prepare for it on a slide.
Veeam wanted to change that. Moving beyond the familiar language of controls, frameworks and recovery plans, the challenge was to make cyber risk feel immediate and personal. To bring business leaders closer to the reality of an incident, confront the cost of inaction and turn awareness into responsibility.
The solution
Early in the project, our strategist Chris Illman spoke with CISOs who had led their organisations through major cyber incidents. One recalled the night the phone rang at 3am. The scenario had been modelled, documented and planned for. But in that moment, all they could think about was the responsibility of what came next.
That moment became Wake Up!, a video podcast exploring the human reality of cyber incidents. Each episode brings together leaders who have lived through the pressure, uncertainty and difficult decisions that rarely make it into conventional cyber content.
Guests included Robert Wood, former CISO of the US Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, alongside experts with first-hand experience of ransomware, nation-state threats and the psychological demands of security leadership.
Season One explored resilience, accountability and the mindset of attackers. For Season Two, Wake Up! moved to RSAC, recording live conversations with senior industry voices and expanding into data, identity, AI and leadership.
Throughout, the approach remained the same: start with the human experience, uncover the pressures behind the decisions, and connect them to the bigger strategic questions.
The outcome
Wake Up! gave Veeam a distinctive voice in a category dominated by technical conversations and familiar warnings. By putting the human experience of cyber incidents at the centre, the series created space for more candid discussions about leadership, resilience and the decisions that matter when things go wrong.
The platform grew into two seasons and 13 episodes, extending from the studio to live conversations at RSAC. Across YouTube and social, it generated more than 24,000 video views and 30,000 impressions, with a 4.29% engagement rate on LinkedIn and 939 podcast downloads.
Beyond the numbers, Wake Up! established a repeatable editorial platform for Veeam, bringing credible industry voices into the conversation and giving the brand a more personal, relevant way to engage senior security leaders.
video views across YouTube and social
social impressions
engagement rate on LinkedIn
