RSA week
San Francisco (SFO)
The arrival path, baggage claim, and spectaculars at SFO the week security's largest conference opens.
Airport advertising for cybersecurity companies Cybersecurity airport
advertising. WhereCISOs land.
Security buyers are the most ad-skeptical audience in B2B, and the hardest to reach online. Twice a year a large share of them land at the same airport in the same week: San Francisco for RSA, Las Vegas for Black Hat. In between, they connect through the same business hubs. This page covers the airports and weeks that reach security buyers, the formats that work, what a program costs, and the cybersecurity campaigns EAM Advertising has run, from EAM Advertising, an airport advertising media agency that plans and buys across 125+ airports and 40+ media vendors.
- 125+Airports worldwide
- 40+Media vendors
- 5Continents served
You’re in good company
The short answer
Does airport advertising work for
cybersecurity companies?
Yes, and the category's calendar makes it unusually efficient. Security buyers gather at a few conferences, above all RSA Conference at San Francisco (SFO) and Black Hat and DEF CON at Las Vegas (LAS), and the arrival path at the host airport in those weeks is seen by most of the market. Around the shows, they connect through the major business hubs and sit in the airline club lounges. Fortinet ran a nationwide campaign across the U.S. and Canada on that logic.
Black Hat and DEF CON
Las Vegas (LAS)
The researchers and practitioners, arriving at LAS in the same few days; sold by the week.
All year
The hubs and club lounges
CISOs and security leaders connecting through LAX, JFK, ORD, ATL, DFW, and IAD.
The one thing to get right
Book the show weeks early. The strongest units at SFO for RSA and at LAS for Black Hat commit four to six months ahead, and competitors in your category are buying the same walls.
Start your plan
Selling to security buyers? Start with the weeks they gather.
Pick the path that matches where you are. Every path ends with current availability and a recommended mix.
Still sizing itGet our media kitFormats, planning ranges, and booking windows across 125+ airports. We follow up to learn who you need to reach and when.Get the kit Have airports and datesSend a briefTell us the audience, the airports or the event, the dates, and the range. We come back with availability and a recommended mix.Send it Want to talk it throughBook a 15-minute callA short call on which airports and weeks fit your buyers.Book it
Why airports
Why do airports
work for cybersecurity brands?
Because the buyers are hard to reach everywhere else and easy to find in a few airports. Security leaders filter vendor email, block trackers, and distrust ads they can click; they don't filter a spectacular on the arrivals path. The category is crowded and trust-driven, so looking established in front of the whole market in the week it gathers is the kind of presence that shortens the first conversation.
Hard to reach online
Filtered, blocked, skeptical
The audience least likely to click is the one most likely to notice a brand at scale in the terminal.
Concentrated calendar
Two weeks, two airports
RSA and Black Hat put a large share of the market through SFO and LAS.
Trust-driven category
Presence signals scale
A brand that owns the arrival path looks like a company that will be around.
Airports and weeks
Which airports and weeks
reach security buyers?
The show weeks first, then the hubs. Most cybersecurity programs put their heaviest spend on the host airport in RSA and Black Hat weeks and keep an always-on presence at the hubs and in the club lounges where security leaders travel the rest of the year.
| Airport or week | Why | What to buy |
|---|---|---|
| SFO in RSA Conference week | Security's largest gathering arrives in one week | Arrival-path spectaculars, baggage claim, digital networks |
| LAS in Black Hat and DEF CON weeks | Researchers and practitioners in a few days | Arrival path and baggage claim; sold by the week |
| The DC area (DCA, IAD) | Government and federal security buyers, and conferences near Washington | Networks and club lounges |
| LAX, JFK, ORD, ATL, DFW | Security leaders connecting all year | Digital networks, club lounges, security trays |
| London (LHR, LGW) | Infosecurity Europe and the European market | Terminal programs in the show week |
Examples, not a complete list. Event dates and venues change year to year; the strongest show-week units commit four to six months ahead.
Formats
Which airport formats work
for cybersecurity companies?
Arrival-path units for the show weeks, where the whole market lands; networks and lounges for the year; and security trays, which put a security brand in the hands of every departing passenger at the checkpoint, a placement the category understands instinctively.
Spectaculars
The show-week wall
The arrival-path unit at SFO or LAS that the market walks past on day one.
Baggage claim
Every attendee, waiting
Conference arrivals stand at the carousel facing the screens.
Security trays
At the checkpoint
A security brand in the tray where the laptop goes; frequency all year.
Digital networks
Reach at the hubs
The concourses security leaders connect through between shows.
Airline club lounges
CISOs, seated
The executive audience with time to read.
Wi-Fi sponsorship
Book the meeting
A call to action on the phone in their hand during show week.
Budget
What does a cybersecurity airport
program cost?
A show-week presence at SFO or LAS starts around $50,000 and rises fast for the strongest arrival-path units; a national program across five hubs built for impact starts around $250,000 for four weeks; a year-round program with both show weeks, the hubs, and lounges runs $500,000 and up. Media only, for medium to large airports.
| Plan | Airports | Formats | Planning range, media only |
|---|---|---|---|
| One show week | SFO for RSA or LAS for Black Hat | Arrival path, baggage claim, networks | From about $50,000 for the week |
| Both show weeks | SFO and LAS | Spectaculars and arrival path at each | From about $150,000 |
| National program | 5 major hubs built for impact | Networks, spectaculars, club lounges | From about $250,000 for four weeks |
| Year-round | Both shows plus hubs and lounges | Every format | $500,000 and up a year |
Planning figures for medium to large airports, from Phoenix (PHX) up to JFK, Las Vegas (LAS), and San Francisco (SFO); smaller airports such as San Antonio (SAT) run 25 to 40% less. Ranges from the cost and budget pages.
A sample plan
What does an RSA-week plan
actually look like?
A security vendor's show-week presence at SFO, bought by the week, with the arrival path first, plus the Black Hat week at LAS later in the year. Media only; the strongest units commit four to six months ahead.
| Airport | Units | Weeks | Planning range, media only |
|---|---|---|---|
| SFO, RSA week | Arrivals-corridor digital spectacular | 1 week | $15,000–$100,000 |
| SFO, RSA week | Baggage-claim carousel network | 1 week | $5,000–$50,000 |
| SFO, RSA week | Terminal digital network, larger share of the loop | 1 week | $25,000–$100,000 |
| LAS, Black Hat week | Arrival-path digital and baggage claim | 1 week | $30,000–$150,000 |
| ORD and DFW | Security tray programs, always on | 4 weeks each | $30,000–$100,000+ per airport |
A worked example, not a quote. Ranges from the format and cost pages for medium to large airports, from Phoenix (PHX) up to JFK, Las Vegas (LAS), and San Francisco (SFO); production and installation are on top.
What goes wrong
What goes wrong on
cybersecurity airport campaigns?
The category's calendar is its advantage and its trap: the weeks that matter sell out, and the audience punishes the wrong tone.
Booking RSA week late
Four to six months, not six weeks
The arrival-path units at SFO commit first, to competitors in your category. Decide early or buy what's left.
Fear-selling
The audience knows better
Alarm and breach imagery read as desperate to practitioners. A calm, specific claim reads as competence.
The wrong week at the right airport
LAS outside Black Hat
Las Vegas in a quiet week reaches tourists; the same units in Black Hat week reach the market. Buy the week, not the airport.
Creative
What works creatively
for security brands in an airport?
Restraint and one strong claim. The audience is expert and allergic to hype, so the creative that lands is plain, confident, and specific to the category, with the brand at scale and no fear-selling. In a show week, a line that speaks to the attendee and points to the booth does more than a product list.
Plain and confident
No hype, no fear
Expert buyers trust a calm, specific claim more than an alarming one.
Speak to the show
RSA or Black Hat week
The attendee version: the city, the show, the booth number.
The tray moment
Where the laptop goes
A line that plays on the checkpoint reads instantly to this audience.
Measurement
How do security brands
measure airport advertising?
On delivery and the show-week signals: proof of posting before the first arrival wave, photos, passenger figures for the show days, booth traffic and meeting requests that mention the airport, and the branded-search curve around the week. For year-round programs, recall among target accounts and the sales team's log of prospects who mention it.
Why EAM
What has EAM Advertising run
for cybersecurity companies?
Fortinet's nationwide campaign across the U.S. and Canada, bought from multiple media owners as one coordinated buy across Las Vegas, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Toronto, Washington, D.C., Dallas, and more, plus programs for data and infrastructure brands including Rubrik and Dynatrace. We know which units at SFO and LAS commit first in show weeks, secure them from every media owner under one contract, and confirm posting before the first arrival wave.
- National, several media ownersFortinetU.S. and Canada: Las Vegas, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Toronto, Washington, D.C., Dallas, and more. Bought from multiple media owners as one coordinated buy, under one plan and one contract.40 million impressionsSee the campaign
Global, five continentsDynatraceParis, London, São Paulo, Tokyo, Kuala Lumpur, Mexico City, and more. Digital large format and screen networks across five continents, under one contract.60 million people reachedSee the campaign 
One airport, dominatedFabricSan Jose (SJC). A full airport takeover for one flight: 82 digital faces covering 5,252 square feet, plus all 760 security trays.Every network and checkpoint at one airportSee the campaign
See every campaign on the case studies page.
Send the show week or the account list. We come back with what's still open at SFO and LAS and a recommended mix.
Ready to plan?
Selling to security buyers?
Send a brief.
Tell us the audience, the airports or the event, the dates, and the budget range. We come back with current availability at every airport in the plan and a recommended mix.
125+ airports · 40+ media vendors · Since 2015
“EAM made a nationwide airport campaign feel much easier to manage. The team was responsive, organized, and always on top of the details. They helped us make smart decisions with the budget, kept everything moving, and ultimately delivered exactly what we were looking for.”
Chief Marketing OfficerFortinet · nationwide airport campaignFor agencies and consultants
Your client. Your plan.
We handle the airports.
Agencies and consultants bring EAM Advertising in as the airport specialist behind a client’s plan. The client relationship stays with you. We plan, buy, and report under NDA, and can work white-label.
Get our media kit- Your client stays yours.We work behind your team, not around it.
- White-label and NDA.Plans and reporting can go out under your name.
- One contract, one invoice.Every airport and media owner in the plan, under one set of terms.
- Numbers before the client commits.Current availability and planning ranges at the proposal stage.
Airports
Thinking of a specific airport?
Start with its page.
EAM Advertising plans and buys at 125+ airports across North America, Europe, Latin America, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, India, and Africa, and any combination runs under one contract. The most-requested airports are below; every airport, with search by city or code, is on the airport advertising hub.
Questions
Questions buyers ask
about cybersecurity airport advertising
Does airport advertising work for cybersecurity companies?
Yes; security buyers are hard to reach online and concentrated in a few airports in a few weeks. RSA week at SFO and Black Hat week at LAS put a large share of the market through one airport, and Fortinet ran a nationwide airport campaign across the U.S. and Canada.
Which airports should a cybersecurity company advertise in?
San Francisco (SFO) in RSA Conference week, Las Vegas (LAS) in Black Hat and DEF CON weeks, the DC-area airports for federal buyers, and the major hubs (LAX, JFK, ORD, ATL, DFW) and their club lounges the rest of the year.
How far ahead do you book airport advertising for RSA or Black Hat?
Four to six months for the strongest arrival-path units, which commit first; the rest of the show-week inventory books eight to twelve weeks out. Files are due 14 to 18 business days before start.
How much does airport advertising at RSA cost?
A show-week presence at SFO starts around $50,000 and rises with the strongest arrival-path units; both show weeks run from about $150,000, media only.
What airport formats work for security brands?
Arrival-path spectaculars and baggage claim in show weeks, security trays at the checkpoint, digital networks at the hubs, airline club lounges for CISOs, and Wi-Fi sponsorship for meeting requests.
Do security trays make sense for a cybersecurity brand?
Often; every departing passenger puts a laptop on the brand at the checkpoint, the placement the category understands instinctively, and tray programs run long enough for frequency all year.
Which cybersecurity companies advertise in airports?
Large security vendors are among the most visible airport advertisers in RSA and Black Hat weeks; EAM Advertising's campaigns include Fortinet's nationwide program across the U.S. and Canada.
What should cybersecurity airport creative say?
One plain, confident claim with the brand at scale, no fear-selling, and in show week a line that speaks to the attendee and points to the booth.
How do you measure airport advertising at a security conference?
Proof of posting before the first arrival wave, photos, passenger figures for the show days, booth traffic and meetings that mention it, and the branded-search curve around the week.
What does EAM Advertising handle on an airport campaign?
Everything after the objective. We check what's open for the week, which loops are crowded and which units will sell out, and where on the arrival path your audience actually walks. We recommend the mix, secure the units, traffic the creative through airport approval, confirm posting on day one, and deliver proof of posting and play logs after. If the airport is one market in a larger plan, the same relationship covers the others.
Airport advertising media agency. 125+ airports. Est. 2015.
Planning RSA or Black Hat?
Start with the media kit.
Send your work email for the media kit: formats, planning ranges, and booking windows across 125+ airports. We’ll follow up to learn who you need to reach and when, then come back with current availability and a recommended mix.
125+ airports · 40+ media vendors · Since 2015
Sources
Sources
and methodology
- Airports, weeks, and formats: EAM Advertising planning and buying records across 125+ airports, 2015–2026. Event dates change year to year; check the current calendar.
- Planning ranges: the airport advertising cost and budget pages.
- Campaigns named: past work described on the case studies page, without spend.
Updated October 5, 2026 · By EAM Advertising
EAM Advertising plans, secures, and buys airport and in-flight media across 125+ airports and 45+ airlines worldwide. Founded in 2015; collective operator experience in airport media buying spans two decades. Recommendations are based on what performs for the advertiser, not on inventory we have to sell. Clients include Dynatrace, Fortinet, Rubrik, McGraw-Hill, and Wharton.