Noma Bar's negative-space illusions made BT Security's hidden threats visible

Show that appearances are deceptive and that BT Security and its experts are always looking beneath the surface — spotting the routine weaknesses that can prevent much bigger issues, and demonstrating BT's ability to see further than anyone else.

Double-take illustrations where the threat hides in the negative space, so the audience must hunt for meaning exactly the way BT hunts for threats.

Noma Bar's key visual pairs a person at a computer with the hawk of BT's vigilance overhead; other frames hide a scared face among circling sharks, a wolf in sheep's clothing and a snake in the grass — with the creative director's clue: 'if you need a clue for the snake… look right.'

BT marketing director Antonia Barton said the campaign 'exceeded our expectations', calling the work imaginative, striking and engaging, and saying it made BT stand out against competitors.

In late 2020 BT Security launched 'See Further', a campaign built on a simple observation: appearances can be deceptive, and the security threats that matter are often hiding in plain sight — not just sophisticated attacks but patches, updates and equipment failure, the routine stuff that prevents much bigger issues.

Developed with Wunderman Thompson UK and illustrated by Noma Bar, the campaign asks people to look for the underlying meaning, demonstrating that threats aren't always easy to see. Bar is famed for telling visual stories in negative space, manipulating everyday icons into witty double-take images.

The key illustration represents the vulnerability of human error as a person at a computer, watched with the alertness of a hawk symbolising BT; other visuals include circling sharks around a hidden scared face, a wolf in sheep's clothing and a snake in the grass. Marketing director Antonia Barton said the campaign — taking customers on a journey to uncover hidden messages — exceeded expectations and made BT stand out against its competitors.

A security service's promise is seeing what customers miss, so advertising the audience must decode performs the promise itself.

Negative-space craft gives the work replay value: every double take is another engagement with the message 'threats hide in plain sight'.

Framing threats as routine — patches, updates, human error — widened the audience beyond IT buyers to anyone running a business.

An artist of Bar's pedigree made a telecom's security unit look culturally sharp rather than fear-mongering.

Form can carry the message: an illustration the audience has to solve makes them perform the brand's promise — looking twice at what is hiding in plain sight.

'See Further' ran as BT Security's latest campaign, with the illustrated system of hawk, sharks, wolf and snake carrying the 'threats hiding in plain sight' idea across the work. Bar's negative-space style — also seen around that time on covers for The Testaments, The Telegraph, Esquire, Bloomberg, Time Out London and Wallpaper — lent the campaign instant recognisability.