The Marketing Millennials | Ep. 352

Turning “Boring” Into Exciting in Marketing with Tom Orbach (Wiz - Director of Growth Marketing)
Date: September 26, 2025
Host: Daniel Murray
Guest: Tom Orbach

Episode Overview

In this episode, Daniel Murray sits down with Tom Orbach, Director of Growth Marketing at Wiz, to discuss how "boring" industries can become buzzworthy with the right marketing approach. Tom breaks down his actionable framework for generating excitement, leveraging humor, participation, and status to transform the brand image of a cloud security company. The conversation is packed with real-world examples, methods for uncovering customer insights, and tips for creating highly shareable campaigns—even in the most reserved sectors.

Main Discussion Points & Insights

Breaking the Mold in Boring Markets

• Tom emphasizes that most companies in boring industries imitate their competitors, leading to sameness and invisibility.
• His advice: “Do exactly the opposite of what everyone else does because being different is what makes you known.” (02:09)
• Tom introduces his three-pillar framework: Humor, Participation, Status—the heart of Wiz’s marketing.

1. Humor: Making the Corporate Fun (03:19)

Key Tactic:

Find an unspoken truth shared by your audience, then make it public in a funny, relatable way.

Examples from Wiz:

• CISO Toy Store (“Cisotopia”): Novelty items like “dark mode glasses” and “juggling balls” with each ball representing a CISO responsibility.
  • Blindfold for Legal Team (05:12): “Whenever you have an incident... give [the blindfold] to your legal team so they will not see the incident that just happened. Sounds silly, but people just love it.” – Tom Orbach
  • Dark Mode Glasses (05:48): Playful take on cybersecurity engineers’ preference for dark mode—literal sunglasses as “dark mode for your life.”
  • Juggling Balls (06:28): “The joke... is that CISOs have so much responsibility and so many different balls that they need to juggle.”

Finding Insights:

• Method: Deep research in online communities (Reddit, industry forums) reveals recurring pain points and jokes.
• Quote: “[On how to find insights]...just hanging around in forums and communities they’re a part of is the key to finding those insights.” – Tom Orbach (08:02)

2. Participation: Empowering People to Share (09:55)

Employees:

• Launch internal contests and maintain a “secret club” for top-engaged employees to encourage social sharing and advocacy.
• Help employees write and share online posts.

Customers:

• Move beyond case studies: create unique experiences that customers love to share (e.g.,
  • Cocktail-Making Series: Inviting CISOs to a secret bar in New York for a mix of cocktails and cloud security talk.
  • “It’s a very unique way to share their story.”

Community:

• Custom Job Board: The world’s first cloud security job board, tailored for specific skills and experiences relevant to the industry.
• Capture the Flag (CTF) Challenges: Ongoing cybersecurity games encourage broad community engagement and sharing.

Quote:
“The key is to be very creative and unique and not just like the old boring case study on a couch.” – Tom Orbach (12:04)

3. Status: Lifting Your Audience Up (15:49)

Main Idea:

By elevating and praising your audience, you encourage loyalty and sharing.

Tactics:

• Certificates:
  • Winners of CTF receive custom “Cloud Security Excellence” certificates, often shared widely online.
• Top Lists:
  • Publicly recognize top experts and tag them across social, fueling peer sharing and external validation.

The Why:

Quote:
“If we can find a way to mix participation with humor while also praising our audience, we win.” – Tom Orbach (16:40)

Daniel Murray emphasizes:
“These all have a feeling: humor entertains; participation creates belonging; status makes people feel better about themselves.” (17:43)

Notable Results (20:36)

• Attribution is tough, but Tom shares that they see direct links, e.g., CISOs sharing their stunts online, then becoming customers.
• Growth in social followership acts as “air cover” for sales—helps establish legitimacy and reduces friction in the sales process.
• Quote:
  “When I joined Wiz, no one barely knew us… Now, nobody needs to explain what Wiz is because of this huge brand.” – Tom Orbach (21:22)

Actionable Framework: The World's First “X” for Your Audience (24:31)

• Create totally novel, unexpected experiences/products for your niche.
• Past Examples from Wiz:
  • Meditation app for CISOs.
  • Musical for cybersecurity leaders.
  • Toy store and job board for cloud security.
• Instant virality: Because these are so specific and quirky, the audience can’t help but share.

Quote:
“If your listeners are looking for something to start with, I would just look into that: creating the world’s first something for your audience.” – Tom Orbach (25:34)

• Use standalone funny domain names (instead of company subpages) to build curiosity and authenticity. Example: cisotopia.com, sisomusical.com.

Memorable Quotes & Moments

• “Do exactly the opposite of what everyone else does because being different is what makes you known.” – Tom Orbach (02:09)
• “You just take one insight that everyone secretly agrees on, and you make it public.” – Tom Orbach (07:08)
• “Participation—and making employees, customers and the wider community participate in what you do—will make them share and engage. That’s the secret.” – Tom Orbach (13:31)
• “If we can increase someone’s status in front of your big audience, they will love you forever.” – Tom Orbach (16:54)
• “I always talk about this framework in my newsletter MarketingIdeas.com and people just love it.” – Tom Orbach (24:57)

Key Timestamps

• 00:53 – Tom Orbach introduction
• 02:09 – The importance of radical differentiation
• 03:19 – Three-pillar framework intro
• 05:00 – 07:08 – (Humor) Cisotopia and unspoken audience insights
• 08:02 – Finding insights via online communities
• 09:55 – (Participation) How to get employees, customers & the community involved
• 12:04 – Creative customer participation: Cocktails with CISOs
• 15:49 – (Status) Certificates, praise, and industry recognition
• 20:36 – Results, attribution, impact on sales and brand
• 24:31 – “World’s first something” framework
• 27:58 – The power of unique domain names for stand-out campaigns
• 29:54 – Where to follow Tom and get more ideas

Final Thoughts

Tom Orbach’s approach dismantles the perception that boring industries are stuck with boring marketing. By focusing on audience insight, creative activation, and public praise, marketers can build buzz, community, and even social proof that accelerates growth.

“You don’t have to be funny, but you could make it 10% weirder or 10% more distinctive than your competition by just adding a little flair to it.” – Daniel Murray (30:41)

Connect with Tom Orbach:

• LinkedIn: Tom Orbach
• Newsletter: MarketingIdeas.com

For more marketing inspiration and actionable playbooks, follow The Marketing Millennials and subscribe to Tom’s newsletter!