Operator O2 is launching a new campaign to highlight the growing threat of fraudulent phone calls. The digital character Grandma Alenka plays a central role in the campaign. The kind but stubborn AI heroine symbolises customer protection right across the O2 network. This is the first Czech telecom operator's campaign, which is prepared entirely thanks to AI and whose essence is the fight against cyber scammers.
Digital granny as a trap for scammers
"Alenka is an artificial intelligence we developed to help fight phone scammers. She mimics an elderly lady who is trusting, kind, a little forgetful. Behind Grandma Alenka is a combination of cutting-edge technologies for speech recognition, natural response generation using a large language model and realistic voice synthesis, which work together without delay," describes David Danes, O2's marketing director.
The campaign concept was developed by London-based agency VCCP, which was localised in the Czech Republic by VCCP Prague. Alenka's voice was trained over several months to sound naturally Czech, while her own identity was also created with a "family background" for consistent reactions. "The goal was to make sure that the imposters would not know they were talking to AI at all. We needed realistic materials and also a means to stall the attackers," explains Martin Mikyška, Bernadette's boss, who is behind the creative and technical concept of the main AI heroine. Grandma Alenka's portrait appears in most of the campaign's visuals, but some also feature O2's long-time main campaign face - virtual assistant Eva.
Testing in practice: dozens of calls a day
During the summer months, O2 tested Grandma Alenka through so-called number seeding, creating around ten phone numbers and "seeding" them into an environment where fraudsters could obtain them. They then actually made calls and tried to obtain sensitive data. "We were surprised at how convincing AI Grandma Alenkawas. They didn't even recognize that they were talking to an AI," Mikyška says. At the time the seeding was active, O2 recorded dozens of calls a day to Grandma Alenka's numbers.
Video: O2's new anti-cybersquatting spot; Source
Protecting customers and educating the public
The moment the cyberbullies call and reach Grandma Alenka, the AI triggers an audio-to-text conversion, allowing Grandma to answer, again thanks to the conversion, this time from text to audio. "The intention is to make the grandmother answer as long as possible and delay the call so that eventually the cybercrooks give up," outlines David Daneš. Indeed, the main goal of the campaign, besides highlighting the very problem of the existence of fraudulent calls, is also to collect material and practices of cyber scammers so that the operator can improve its own network solution to protect customers.
"Cybercriminals try trial and error and rely on catching someone. What's more, they are constantly changing their tactics, and thanks to the campaign with AI Grandma Alenka, we want to understand them better, analyse their scripts and react to them faster," adds Daneš. With the campaign, O2 wants to inform not only seniors about the danger, but also all users who may succumb to a trustworthy-sounding call in a hurry.
For O2, the perception of O2 as a network that cares about the safety of its clients is also a measure of the effectiveness of the new campaign.
O2 campaign visual; Source: O2O2 blocks up to 100,000 fraudulent calls a day, designed to trick people out of sensitive information. Although the majority of these calls do not even reach users because the operator assesses them as unwanted and does not connect them to the recipient, the number of these calls continues to grow and puts people at risk. That's why O2's new campaign highlights the dangers of these calls and their increasing sophistication. Attackers usually pose as bank representatives, police or financial experts. The call often looks trustworthy and comes from a Czech or foreign number or, more recently, via WhatsApp.
The big challenge was to find the right balance between education and a creative campaign. "We wanted to show that the fight against fraudsters can be both human and close. Alenkais not a robotic voicemail, but a character that people can imagine as their own grandmother. This gives her authenticity and also evokes sympathy," adds Mikyška. According to him, the emotional level is the key to getting the topic of safety to the general public.
Video: Excerpt of a phone call with AI grandmother Alenka, source O2
Examples of scam calls and advice
Over the next two months, people will encounter the campaign on TV, in print, outdoor, social media and in O2 stores. The campaign is timed for the months of September and October and is set up so that it may have other subsequent variations. It will appear on TV in the form of spots and sponsorship, online, outdoor, and a microsite www.o2.cz/kybersmejdi is also ready with further information about the scams, including examples of authentic scammer interviews with Alenka. The site also offers specific advice on how not to be duped and allows the public to report suspicious calls.
Source: mediaguru.cz