McAfee Unveils H*Commerce Web Film Series to Wake up Consumers to the High Price of Ignoring Cybercrime

Web Film Series, Directed by Seth Gordon, Tells Victims’ True Life Stories to Expose the Real and Immediate Problems

SANTA CLARA, Calif., May 20, 2009 - McAfee, Inc. (NYSE:MFE) today launched a new Web film series, entitled “H*Commerce: The Business of Hacking You.” The film series was created to expose cybercrime as a serious and universal threat that can no longer be ignored. This is the first project developed by Tribal DDB San Francisco and DDB West since being retained by McAfee in September 2008.

The term H*Commerce (or Hacker Commerce) is defined as the business of making money through the illegal use of technology to compromise personal and business data. Starting today, a new episode will be posted every two weeks at www.StopHCommerce.com until all six episodes have aired.

“The days when hackers were a small group of thrill-seekers breaking into computers to gain fame and notoriety are behind us,” said David Milam, chief marketing officer at McAfee. “Now, hacking for profit, or what we call H*Commerce, is a global industry in which Americans have lost a total of almost $8.5 billion dollars due to Internet scams and crimes in the last two years alone. Consumers must be aware of risks online, and we think that revealing real stories from victims will resonate with them."

The project was originally conceived as a series of standalone episodes, each focusing on different aspects of cybercrime – such as phishing, denial of service attacks, online scams, bank scraping, and fraudulent emails. As the film-makers dug deep into the experience of H*Commerce victims, they realized the film’s focus had to be on the complex stories of real people doing normal online things, only to be horribly violated by ruthless cybercriminals.

Seth Gordon, director of films such as the 2008 theatrical release of “Four Christmases,” and the documentary, “The King of Kong – A Fistful of Quarters,” was hired to direct “H*Commerce: The Business of Hacking You.” As Gordon began the research phase of the film, he identified a woman living in Oregon, named Janella Spears, who was a victim of one of the largest and most elaborate email scams on record.

Spears’ story of losing more than $440,000, and the dire effects it had on her family and marriage, became the central theme of the film series. Over the course of the filming, Chris Roberts, a third-party cyber forensic expert was introduced to Ms. Spears to provide advice on how to clean her system, handle the hackers, and help put an end to the cybercrime scams.

"The most compelling way to convey the severity of cybercrime was to focus on the personal story of a specific victim," said director Seth Gordon. "The elaborate scam on Ms. Spears unfolded as we were working on the Web series. We witnessed the tactics cybercriminals use to prey on their victims. I hope this Web series shines a light on what is a surprisingly prevalent and insidious industry."

About www.stopHCommerce.com

The Web series will be hosted on www.stopHCommerce.com, a site designed to educate people about the issue of H*Commerce. The site serves as a central resource for people to become savvy about online risks and avoid cybercrime. For example, visitors to H*Commerce can view the Web film series while they can also learn about online safety, best practices for safe shopping, and how to best assess an online breach by using McAfee’s Cybercrime Response Unit, a free service to help people stay protected and/or to report a cybercrime. Visitors can also share their real life cybercrime experiences, and send helpful information from the site onto friends and family.

Campaign Promotion

To promote the site, Tribal DDB San Francisco and DDB West are working with Omnicom media sibling OMD to offer out-of-home, online, and mobile channels in entertainment sites including Hulu, ABC.com, NBC.com, and CBS.com. The campaign will also target NYTimes.com, Forbes.com, Slashdot.com, and wired.com.

Adopting a strategy similar to marketing an independent film, McAfee is also targeting San Francisco and New York with a poster campaign series with artwork reminiscent of the iconic Saul Bass posters designed in the 1950s for Alfred Hitchcock movies. The out-of-home campaign will offer a mobile component where viewers who text a short code appearing on the posters can view trailers and receive personalized updates on their cell phones and mobile devices.

A broader national online campaign will combine the posters with video allowing consumers to see trailers of the film. Video content will be disseminated to bloggers and other online influencers.

Web Film Credits
   
Agencies: Tribal DDB San Francisco, DDB West, OMD (media) 
Chief Creative Officer: Lisa Bennett 
Managing Director: Geoff Gougion 
Director of Production: Frank Brooks 
Group Creative Director: Mike Andrews 
Planning Director: Mike Casey 
Art Director: Mike Andrews 
Copywriter: Daniel Mabe 
Agency Producer: Frank Brooks 
Interactive Executive Creative Director: Tony Cordero 
Interactive Creative Director: Heather Reid 
Interactive Associate Creative Director: Jon Linder 
Interactive Copywriter: Peter Wilson-Tobin 
Senior Project Manager: Colby Mancasola 
Project Manager: Katey Martin 
Group Account Director: Max Terry 
Account Manager: Mandy Whichard 
Group Director of Strategy, OMD: Casey Brathwaite 
Director of Digital, OMD: Chris Magpayo 
Production Company: Moxie Pictures 
Director: Seth Gordon 
Producer: Ed Cunningham 
Associate Producer: Mary Rohlich / Luis Lopez 
Director of Photography: Bradford Whitaker 
Editor: Luis Lopez 
Assistant Editors: J.Clay Tweel/Darrin Roberts 
Graphics: Luis Lopez/Seth Gordon/J. Clay Tweel 
Mixer: Elmo Weber 
Music: Michael Wandmacher 
Interactive Production: Firstborn 
Director of Production: Wes Adams 
Flash Developer: Ken Bak 
Back End Developer: Ryan Jafari 
Producer: Will Russell