Visual Storytelling • StackHawk • 2024
HawkAI Promotional Video
Project Overview
HawkAI is StackHawk’s AI-powered API discovery feature that automatically identifies and catalogs APIs across applications, eliminating the manual work of documenting endpoints and helping security teams understand their API attack surface. The feature launch in 2024 represented a major product milestone, introducing machine learning capabilities that could detect APIs even in complex, undocumented codebases.
As the centerpiece of the marketing campaign, I created a promotional video that brought energy and personality to a highly technical feature. The video premiered across all social media channels and played a role in setting the creative tone for the launch.
My Role
As Marketing and Design Intern, I owned the promotional video from concept to delivery.
Creative Direction & Storyboarding
Developed the creative concept of a fun and dramatic movie trailer that would make a technical feature feel exciting and accessible. This direction aligned with StackHawk’s fun, approachable brand while standing out from typical enterprise security marketing.
Content Development
Worked with the design team to collect and sequence images that would visually communicate HawkAI’s capabilities. Collaborated with marketing to gather customer quotes and wrote copy that balanced technical accuracy with engaging storytelling.
Video Production
Animated images and text, timed sequences to music, and edited the final video. Made deliberate choices about pacing, transitions, and music to create a trailer-style build that kept viewers engaged while conveying the product’s value.
Marketing Collaboration
Coordinated with the marketing team to ensure the video supported broader launch messaging and could be adapted across different social media platforms.
The Challenge
API discovery is complex and technical. Most security professionals understand why it matters—you can’t secure what you don’t know exists—but explaining how AI-powered discovery works in an engaging way is difficult. Traditional product marketing for enterprise security tools tends toward dry, feature-focused content that doesn’t generate excitement.
StackHawk needed a launch asset that would make a technical feature feel exciting, stand out in crowded social media feeds, align with the company’s fun brand, and generate genuine enthusiasm internally and externally.
Approach
I took creative inspiration from movie trailers, using dramatic pacing, bold text treatments, and energetic music to build anticipation. The video followed a narrative arc: establishing the problem (APIs are everywhere and hard to track), building tension (manual discovery doesn’t scale), and delivering the solution (HawkAI does it automatically).
Working with the design team, I selected and sequenced images that would visually support this story while showcasing the product interface. Customer quotes added credibility and real-world context, while copy focused on impact rather than technical specifications. I animated everything to music, timing transitions and text reveals to create momentum.
Impact & Outcomes
Campaign Centerpiece
The video became one of the lead assets for the HawkAI launch across all social media channels, helping set the creative tone for the campaign.
Internal Enthusiasm
The team loved the creative direction. The fun approach resonated with StackHawk’s culture and brand image, proving that enterprise security marketing didn’t have to be boring.
Creative Differentiation
The movie trailer style stood out from typical product launch videos in the security space, helping StackHawk’s content cut through noise in social feeds.
Key Learnings
Choosing a dramatic tone for an enterprise security product was a risk, but it aligned perfectly with StackHawk’s brand and resonated with both internal teams and customers. I learned that creative risks pay off when you know your brand well, and that focusing on storytelling over feature lists makes technical content more accessible. Small decisions about pacing and timing animations to music made a significant difference in keeping viewers engaged.