Cisco: The Comic Book?
by Kara Swisher
Posted on March 3, 2009 at 12:09 AM PT
On the eve of the debut of the much anticipated “Watchmen” movie from Warner Bros., Cisco seems to be getting into the superhero game, with an unusual marketing effort that uses sophisticated comic book characters to highlight its line of security products.
More like Nerdmen! Except with more muscles and cooler outfits!
On a new Web site that is now up, for a series called “The Realm,” Cisco (CSCO) seems to have gotten some cool original work from well-known Marvel Comics illustrator Mike Mayhew.
The characters are all apparently linked to real-life Cisco engineers, as well as its products, but it is being pushed as entertainment.
The first “episode,” titled “Déjà Vu,” is now up, with more to come, the site promises, as freaky music plays in the background. It is done as a video version of a comic book.
The plot so far: “Botnet attacks in The Realm are on the rise, and Jux discovered they are after Synocorp employees. Trace, the defender brought to life in The Realm through solutions built by Engineer Roberts, fended off the bots in time to save the identity of the latest target. Can the defenders stop the threats from infiltrating Synocorp offices? Find out in episode 2.”
Not quite “The Dark Knight,” but not bad so far.
Comments
Thanks for the news! I can’t remember a company doing anything like that before. Cisco’s clearly surfing on Watchmen’s wave. In a way, it looks like an intereseting alternative to advergames.
Posted by Nicolas Kerebel at March 3rd, 2009 at 4:14 am