• by Aaron Baar , October 4, 2010

Intel is taking advantage of National Cyber Security Month to promote its vPro security and manageability tools for notebooks for use in federal government systems via a new augmented reality game and informational web site.

"As government mobilizes and they take work and operations plans on the road, the idea of security is going to be front of mind for them," Nigel Ballard, director federal marketing for Intel Americas, tells Marketing Daily. "They're not going to be using desktops stuck in their building."

At the heart of the campaign is a breakout-like game in which computer users -- wearing specially designed T-shirts that make use of a computer's webcam -- direct onscreen balls to knock out blocks with the names of familiar web viruses. The campaign is designed to direct people to a special micro-site, www.dcrepresents.com, where users can download white papers and participate in dialogues about security issues, Ballard says.

"The subject of security is so deadly serious," Ballard says of choosing an augmented reality game as the promotional vehicle rather than a more traditional approach. "I thought [the game] added a nice lightness to the campaign. Obviously, I want people to read our white papers, but you can have a little bit of fun while learning how to be secure."

The company will hand out some 5,000 T-shirts with the symbol at tech security events throughout Washington, D.C., between now and the end of the year, Ballard says. Interested parties who can't get to a T-shirt can download a PDF of the black-and-white symbol and attach it to their shirts if they want to play, he says.

Ultimately, however, he hopes the game will convince the IT decision makers in Washington to consider buying computers with Intel's vPro technology. "We know there have been high-profile attempts to get into government security systems," Ballard says. "This campaign is to say, 'We're Intel and we have platforms [to heighten security]. Let's start letting people know about them.'" The game and microsite were created by integrated marketing agency Qorvis Communications.