• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, Yesterday

McAfee has launched its first major advertising campaign under newly appointed CMO Stephanie Fried. The campaign, Keep It Real, focuses on how artificial intelligence (AI) has become one of the biggest technologies that helps scammers to mislead consumers.

McAfee, which has become a consumer-first brand, focused the campaign on contextual targeting and messages, moving from blocking threats to helping people understand how to navigate the new world.

“We created the ads in an over-the-top way,” Fried said, as she described how her team used AI in the campaign to increase awareness and performance. “Scams today are more sophisticated, and you cannot always tell they are scams.”

Fried suggests being honest in the ads, which was likely easy to do with AI when the message revolved around online scams.

Through 20 creative spots created by VSA Partners, McAfee wanted to blur the lines between what is real and what's fake. Each ad focuses on different categories including package delivery, romance, tolls, and banking.

Media buys typically include programmatic online video, display ads, social media, and search. This series is scheduled to run through the second quarter and possibly the third quarter.

The ads use deepfakes. The message for each is: “If there’s an AI scam behind it, we’ll help you stay ahead of it.” Links to some include travel, weight loss, and tolls.

One digital ad shows a woman on the beach that looks real -- until her head starts spinning a full 360 degrees. Conversations were sparked and people in the comments were confused, wondering if the marketing team made a mistake.

Fried said McAfee is tracking new sign-ups for its products through a marketing-mix model (MMM) to improve performance, as well as asking consumers where they heard about the ads.

The ads are one part of the fully integrated campaign. The other is called Scam Stories, a movement that is intended to help others stay alert through influencer-led content and real people sharing their experiences with tags like #KeepItReal and #MyScamStory.

Chris Carmack, one of the influencers, posts on Instagram and TikTok, sharing his and other peoples' experiences being scammed.