Check out how Norton us using video as part of a very targeted but comprehensive campaign (an ad in Newsweek last night had strong stopping power for me… a shower not working because cybercriminals had stolen my mortgage money).

It’s a paid, not owned, approach to online video, but it’s smart. Norton is shifting from the age-old “boogie, boogie” fear messages about spyware and slow computers (ironic since malware is almost less crippling than security software). It shifts our attention from the visible hacks to more fascinating undetected micro cybercrime.

The tone walks that fine line to create “fear, uncertainty and doubt” without turning on a consumer’s natural defense mechanism. Many other security software ads create a message that elicits the consumer response, “you’re trying to scare me, and whether you’re right or wrong I’m tuning you out because I don’t like feeling scared.” By contrast, Norton’s campaign is oddly inviting. A series of comedic thiefs barge into a bank to steal a few bucks so they’re “undetected.”

Why didn’t they rob the bank and keep all the cash, and isn’t it funny that they felt obliged to warn the inert old lady not to try anything heroic?

The add isn’t “in my face,” but draws me in... making me want to consider the real threat of modest cyber crime (criminals steal just enough to remain undetected) and Norton’s solution to protecting me.

This, by the way, comes from a Mac user who pretty much remembers his last PC as a Jaguar transformed to a Pinto by the default Malware that seemed to perpetually hijack the machine with annoying messages. So Norton’s campaign, by targeted messages to Newsweek, Wired, display ads (following me on my favorite sites like Cheapskate) pretty much did more to changing my opinion than other brands spending FAR more money. And as the brand survey revealed, I’m an influencer on the software choices my friends and family buy… so there’s a multiplier effect.

Not to mention the little bastards just got a free add from this blog post. Send me some cool toys and t-shirts, Norton agency. I just helped you secure your next “exceeds expectation” with your client.