Why fear-led cybersecurity marketing stops working with Karl Van den Bergh, Chief Market Officer at Illumio

B2B Marketing: The Provocative Truth · Oct 29, 2026 · 38m

Fear gets attention. But what happens when every vendor in your category uses it, all at once, all the time? In cybersecurity, the answer is a market that sounds identical, feels ominous and gets tuned out by the very people it is trying to reach.

In episode 83, Benedict Buckland tests the provocative claim that fear as a device in marketing doesn't work. Karl's answer is nuanced: it can work in the short term, but decisions made out of fear tend to be reactive, and when everyone says the same thing all the time, audiences switch off.

In this episode:

– Why fear earns attention but loses…