At the Globes MAD conference, Roy Katz, director of brand @Wiz, presented the story of the brand of the company that was sold to Google for $32 billion – Israel’s biggest-ever exit. “This happened because of our amazing teams and technology, but also because we were able to build a brand that stood out in a conservative, competitive and saturated market,” Katz said.
During his presentation, Katz described how Wiz challenged the conventional wisdom in the cloud security market. “In the security market, everyone speaks the language of fear. Fear moves companies, makes them move budgets quickly, but fear doesn’t always create the desired action,” he explained. “We realized that if we want to stand out, we can’t shout louder, we needed to speak in completely different words.”
Katz shared an analogy used by the company’s CEO, Assaf Rapaport. “Wiz is like a seatbelt – a security solution that allows companies to travel fast in the cloud and develop, without thinking about the dangers along the way. This analogy helps my team focus on the ‘driver’ and their peace of mind, not the danger.”
The company chose a unique visual language based on illustrations. “An illustration allows us to talk about a problem without causing panic, to warn without scaring like using a delicate bell instead of a scary horn,” Katz explained. “It’s also the best tool to simplify complex concepts and tell a story.”
“When customers saw our product for the first time, they felt like it was magic – we touched their pain point and solved it in a simple and swift way,” Katz said. “We realized we didn’t need to invent the magic – it was already there. Our job is to translate it into a brand experience.”
As part of the marketing strategy, Wiz created rotating concepts for conferences, including “Wiz Mart,” a supermarket full of cloud security products disguised as regular consumer products. “It all started with my window cleaning spray that became Cloud Visibility Spray – a real-world translation of our technology solution,” he explained.
Three principles for growth
Katz presented three key principles: uniqueness, connection, and added value. “Every project must be unique and make people feel like it’s the first time they’ve seen something like this,” he said.
As an example of a deep connection with the audience, Katz presented a children’s book about cloud security. “A chief information security officer (CISO) comes home after a long, stressful day, and their children don’t know what they do at work. The book helps bridge the gap and explains in language that any child can understand.”
“If there’s one thing I think you should take away from this talk,” Katz concluded, “It’s that a good brand isn’t measured by how it looks, it’s measured by how much it impacts. And to have an impact, you have to be unique and you have to break a few rules along the way. The brand has to be connected to the product at the deepest level, because when they tell the same story, that’s where it starts to build trust. And it’s not a matter of budgets, but first and foremost of courage and creativity.”
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Full disclosure: The conference was sponsored by Bank Hapoalim, El Al, Playtika, CAL Israel Credit Cards, Ifat Publication Control, and Nur, and with the participation of Mekorot Group
Published by Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – on July 31, 2025.
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