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Long-time observers of the largest cybersecurity conference – now called RSAC (previously just RSA) and held this past week – would have recognized many things. San Francisco was full of badges. Tote bags chock full of chotchkes paraded around a crowded trade show floor. The familiar signs of a “big industry moment” spilled out beyond the convention center and into the city itself. Wrapped cars moved through the streets like mobile billboards. Hotels and restaurants became extensions of the show floor. The W Hotel was rebranded. Companies took over venues for the week. Forget finding a restaurant for lunch; each looked like a retail store for a given vendor.
Brands are getting smarter about stretching physical tactics beyond the exhibition hall and into the wider event ecosystem, with many forgoing a booth presence on the tradeshow floor in favor of 360° branding outside. The battle is no longer just share of voice on the floor but rather share of mind across the full conference experience.
COVID forced a reckoning among cyber marketers as they shifted to all-digital marketing and constantly reconsidered investment in physical events. If RSAC 2026 proved one thing, it showed that physical events still matter (or, at least, companies are still investing heavily in them). However, the chatter among attendees was more amorphous when it came to digital marketing. Among the PR, comms and marketing leaders we spoke to, there was a clear sense that while digital marketing is more vital than it ever has been, the digital rules are shifting dramatically, creating a sense of unease.
First and foremost, a dramatic drop in website traffic across vendors has created panic. Lead attribution is becoming harder. The neat revenue-marketing path from awareness to click to measurable conversion is breaking down, particularly as AI-driven discovery and GEO/AEO begin to reshape how people find information. Sales may still be happening, influence may still be building, but the digital signals are becoming harder to see and harder to prove.
That matters because it changes what communications is for. If clicks are less reliable as evidence, then credibility becomes more valuable. Earned media, for all its imperfections, starts to look more important rather than less – not simply as a reputational tool, but as one of the few forms of authority that these emerging discovery engines appear to gravitate towards. In other words, while digital measurement is becoming less certain, the strategic value of trusted visibility is rising.
Second, AI discussions revealed tension as well. AI was everywhere, with one of the better t-shirts reading simply: “AI blah, blah, blah.” Agentic was clearly one of the words of the week, but the theme did not feel as bullish or as bluntly branded as AI did last year. Everyone noted pressure to use AI more efficiently, but with no shared sense yet that the market has settled on a single model for how. And being a security show, vendors called out alarming security concerns for AI users rushing to experiment under pressure.
Third, marketing and PR professionals are feeling the pressure to adopt AI, and they too are struggling to figure out the best ways to use it and are wondering if they are behind in their AI journeys. There is universal acceptance that AI can be used for research and to help with writing, but its use is clearly still experimental.
The case for a physical presence is settled. The new twists are in the execution questions – whether a physical trade show booth is really needed, or whether to try a new twist for a meeting location such as a restaurant takeover. However, RSAC 2026 revealed growing questions about digital tactics. Digital is vital and crucial, but the rules are being edited in real-time by changing discovery habits, weaker traffic signals and a growing measurement gap.
No doubt both physical and digital tactics will remain important to cybersecurity marketing. Right now, the digital tactics are shifting as marketers consider the impact GEO is having on website traffic. The brands that win understand that no matter what the tactical shifts are, the fundamentals of a strong story, well written and consistently told and presented will never change.
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