Symantec

Symantec Corporation is an American software company headquartered in California, United States.

The company provides cyber-security software and services including Norton. Symantec is a Fortune 500 company and a member of the S&P 500 stock-market index.

The Challenge

Symantec wanted to learn about women’s experiences of online harassment in Australia. This would then be used to generate thought leadership that demonstrates its understanding of the problems and can be used to support the promotion of Norton tools, services and general advice to help women guard against such experiences.

Savanta were brought in to generate the insight on which this thought leadership would be based.

Our approach

As always, we started by defining the research objectives, working back from Symantec’s business-need: powerful thought leadership that would demonstrate its understanding of women’s issues online.

To do so, we would need to measure women’s perceptions and experiences of different forms of online harassment, helping us understand exactly what it is they experience. Then, we wanted to find out the steps they have taken to guard against such problems – this would allow us to propose a solution rather than simply outlining their problems.

The sample consisted of 1,053 women of various ages, vocations and background across Australia, whom we connected with via online interviews.

The outcome

The research helped Symantec fully understand the trials and tribulations women face online. It is now used extensively in Norton’s business marketing communications in Australia, during press events and media campaigns, as well as on the website. The project has become firmly embedded in the Norton strategy as a result of Symantec commissioning the research.