David Waraksa + Creative Director

Cyberattacks against the United States have risen 1300% in the past 10 years. To defend energy grids, nuclear facilities and other infrastructure from a new kind of enemy, the U.S. Army needs a new kind of recruit: the very few Americans with elite hacking skills. To do that, we played on the desire of those in the hacking community to prove their prowess.

Hidden in a seemingly normal TV commercial was a coded message that only the people we wanted to engage with could recognize. Those who did were challenged to hack our site and prove they have the goods.

The effort drew more than 700,000 hacking attempts in the first 3 months, and was tough enough to weed out the 99% who lack the necessary skills. Of those who were successful, 30% contacted U.S. Army Cyber Command directly; a conversion rate 15x the Army’s Average.