When’s the last time you thought about cybersecurity?  If you haven’t been hacked or had your identity stolen, chances are that it’s been a while. This was a never ending challenge for leading global cybersecurity company McAfee. 

It’s hard to educate consumers about how to protect themselves if they just don’t want to think about it.  So how do you reach an audience that’s completely tuned out the expected conversation? 

You introduce a new voice. A voice that makes cybersecurity more entertaining and relevant than they ever imagined it could be.  

Welcome to “Hackable?”

We created “Hackable?” — an original Podcast from McAfee.  The show format is essentially “Mr. Robot” meets “Mythbusters”  In each episode, we take a hack straight from pop culture like a movie or TV show, and see if it can be replicated in real-life with a team of show-friendly hackers.  And our affable host, Geoff, is always the victim.

Luckily for our listeners, our co-host Bruce is a cybersecurity expert who’s always there to provide tips and tricks that help them keep their devices and data from suffering a similar fate.  

“Hackable?” has been a smash hit!

It’s trended on Google Podcast, topped the Apple Podcast charts, has an industry leading retention rate of over 85%, and has been downloaded more than 2 million times, putting it in the top 1% of all podcasts ever produced.   

Most importantly, it’s improved McAfee’s brand sentiment, as seen in the brand’s upward NPS (Net Promoter Score) climb, through our consumer research (77% say they like or love the podcast and 88% say they learned something new from the podcast) and from listeners themselves through social, email, reviews and calling our hotline, saying things like: 

“I’m addicted to this podcast!”

or our favorite,

“I feel McAfee’s Hackable? podcast is like Jackass for nerds. Please understand that this is an endorsement”  

During season 3 and 4, we got creative on how to support the podcast with less budget. 

Here’s what we achieved:

• Season 3

• Got feature placement on Apple Podcasts Canada

• Was featured in Podcast News Daily

• Tested messaging in McAfee’s mobile app, which drove so much traffic to Google Podcasts, Hackable? began trending in Google Podcasts

• Drove .5% increase in Hackable? downloads with a small in-podcast advertising budget (under $10k)

• Negotiated pickup of the entire season by SiriusXM on the “Insights” channel

• Did an episode swap with Darknet Diaries, which resulted in a 5% lift in downloads of Hackable?

• Season 4

• Submitted new artwork to Apple Podcasts for the Hackable? page, which was accepted by Apple

• Launched a toll-free number for listeners to dial and leave messages on show ideas or ask questions. 

• Got featured in publications like, Vimes, Packetlabs, Employ blog, and Security Boulevard

• Took the McAfee MMS messaging from test to an on-going executional element which resulted in a remarkable .6% increase in downloads, and drove so much traffic to Google Podcasts that Hackable? trended at both the beginning and middle of the season on Google Podcasts

• Drove over 1 million in-podcast impressions and .75% increase in Hackable? downloads with a small in-podcast advertising plan

• Overall, Season 4 has been our best yet, in terms of downloads per episode, with a 23% increase versus the prior season.