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SonicWall
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As a spin-out from Dell Computing, the SonicWall name was primarily associated with firewall hardware, with limited awareness of its highly sophisticated, enterprise-grade software—capable of competing with far more expensive providers like Barracuda and Cisco. Our challenge was to reintroduce SonicWall as a bold, progressive cybersecurity leader for the SMB market.
To stand out in a highly competitive category, we deliberately moved away from the industry’s fear-based messaging and instead positioned the brand around the absence of fear. While competitors focused on depicting hackers and malicious actors as threats to fear, we framed SonicWall as the force that instilled fear in them. This reframing allowed us to leverage familiar industry tropes while delivering a clear, confident counterpoint—enabling SonicWall to stand apart and compete head-to-head with every major player at once.
SonicWall
As a spin-out from Dell Computing, the SonicWall name was primarily associated with firewall hardware, with limited awareness of its highly sophisticated, enterprise-grade software—capable of competing with far more expensive providers like Barracuda and Cisco. Our challenge was to reintroduce SonicWall as a bold, progressive cybersecurity leader for the SMB market.
To stand out in a highly competitive category, we deliberately moved away from the industry’s fear-based messaging and instead positioned the brand around the absence of fear. While competitors focused on depicting hackers and malicious actors as threats to fear, we framed SonicWall as the force that instilled fear in them. This reframing allowed us to leverage familiar industry tropes while delivering a clear, confident counterpoint—enabling SonicWall to stand apart and compete head-to-head with every major player at once.
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Along with the core messaging of “Fear Less,” we built a visually dynamic family of animals that put teeth into into our messaging, but also allowed us the opportunity to use animal traits to communicate what our products provide, whether it be catching and capturing threats to protecting and securing your data.
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Because SonicWall’s markets were international, we translated the “Fear Less” messaging into seven languages, including Japanese and Simplified Chinese. Respecting cultural sensibilities, we avoided using certain animals in specific markets and instead selected alternatives with greater cultural relevance and impact.
