Creating a cyber security culture through creative engagement

Client: Bauer Media
Agency: COSYN
Role: Strategist
Industry: Media
Size: More than 12,000 employees across Europe

Can you imagine if cybersecurity was fun, engaging, and something employees actually cared about? Bauer Media Group managed to make that a reality, turning a dry IT concern into a company-wide mission. This is how “Cyber Ninja” transformed employee mindsets and built a lasting security culture.

The Challenge
Despite investing heavily in cybersecurity infrastructure and having a dedicated team, Bauer Media Group continued to face incidents across its 12,000-employee European workforce. The root problem? Employees just didn’t see cybersecurity as their responsibility. Without a unified security culture, technology alone couldn’t protect the organisation.

The Goal
The goal was to transform cybersecurity from a dry, technical concern into a shared responsibility embedded in employees’ daily behaviour. This meant creating a culture where people felt confident and compelled to report incidents, understood the importance of security in their roles, and viewed cybersecurity not as an IT mandate but as a critical business function. They needed to shift the perception of security from reactive enforcement to proactive ownership across all levels of the organisation.

The Solution

Create a character, not a campaign: We created “Cyber Ninja,” a friendly, comic-style persona to become the ‘face’ of security at Bauer. This approachable character made the topic less intimidating and more relatable by telling stories about security incidents and near-misses in a non-threatening way, removing the stigma around admitting to security failures.  

Make it accessible and ongoing: Rather than a one-off initiative, we embedded Cyber Ninja into internal comms, leadership messages, training, and events to maintain an ongoing presence. By inviting employees to "become a Cyber Ninja," we transformed security from an IT mandate into a collective mission.

Encourage open, honest conversations: We used storytelling and leadership testimonials featuring Cyber Ninja to normalise discussions around security incidents, creating a safe environment for honest conversations about security risks and responses, reinforcing that reporting incidents was valued rather than punished.

The Result
Our creative approach delivered measurable improvements to Bauer Media Group's security posture:

• Significant increase in reported incidents and near-misses, enabling proactive response and continuous improvement
• Reduction in costly security breaches across the organisation
• Greater internal visibility and recognition for the cybersecurity team as not just a technical necessity, but a valued business partner
• Increased engagement with security training programs
• Shift in ownership from IT/HQ to business leaders and teams
• Development of a unified security culture spanning all locations
• Cyber Ninja is still in active use, showing how a creative, human-centered approach can turn a technical challenge into a cultural transformation.

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