The Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG) and National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) led the effort to find a unified online safety message that could be adopted across public and private sectors. The continuing campaign to propagate the Stop. Think. Connect. slogan and logo will achieve for online safety awareness what "Smokey Bear" did for forest fire safety and "Click It or Ticket" did for seatbelt safety.

The Stop. Think. Connect. Messaging Convention launched its Stop. Think. Connect. public-awareness slogan and logo in October 2010. In December, 2010, the APWG and NCSA incorporated the Stop. Think. Connect. Messaging Convention as a stand alone non-profit orgnization dedicated exclusively to the mission of developing, testing and propagating online safety messaging that can be used by governmemt and industry in a public health model of deployment.

The APWG and NCSA invite retail-sector and consumer–facing companies to join this Convention, one they believe promises to deliver a messaging program that will resonate across retail sectors, media and international boundaries — providing online safety messaging as broad and as penetrating as the criminal enterprises that menace consumers worldwide.