Summary
In a bold move to tackle frauds in India. We introduced "Vigil Aunty," a virtual anti-fraud influencer. This campaign creatively blended humor with vital cybersecurity education, targeting both tech-savvy youth and the elderly. Through diverse digital strategies like social media, chatbots, and engaging content, Vigil Aunty became a household name, significantly enhancing public awareness about digital fraud. The campaign's massive success not only curbed fraudulent activities but also elevated HDFC Bank's brand image
Challenge
We put into place an ongoing mechanism of educating consumers, that appealed to all Indians and resonated with two key sets of audiences. The younger generation, who frequently consume digital content and are avid users of fintech services. For them, we launched on to trending social content formats and made use of local humor cues to leave an impression. The older generation, core targets of the fraudsters, are tough to reach through digital media channels, but are active on instant messaging apps. Hence, we created a chatbot on WhatsApp to push content to them. Vigil Aunty used humor to appeal to both groups, her personality was consciously crafted to educate and entertain the whole nation. Vigil Aunty was omnipresent. From social platforms, WhatsApp, ATM kiosks, to movie theatres, and national newspapers. She constantly and frequently delivered the latest updates on frauds and how to be vigilant (prevent them).
Objective
HDFC Bank is India's largest and most trusted private sector bank. Customer focus, People obsession and Product leadership are their core values. But with more than 900,000 incidents of OTP phishing in the last 2 years, the bank needed an always-on voice of caution to protect Indian customers from frauds. Fraud prevention and protection campaigns have been done a dime a dozen, but with fraudsters changing their modus operandi frequently, none are impactful as they give the generic advice of not sharing OTP, which is just not enough. Also, people don't believe that they can be conned and so they tend to fall prey to frauds. Fraudsters target the digitally adept youth, but mainly the less tech-savvy elderly population. So how do we reach out to them and share information with both these audiences to make sure that they stay safe?
Strategy
We created the first-ever anti-fraud influencer! A character with great recall and an entertainment quotient. Since aunties in India are known to be exactly that, our vigilante became Vigil Aunty! To make her a pop-culture icon, we crafted an origin story - an ordinary woman from southern India, frustrated with the growing frauds in the country, decided to become a saviors against financial frauds for the nation. She uses her superpower - uncontrollable hiccups when in the vicinity of someone getting scammed, for the greater good. Vigil Aunty is a walking encyclopedia of the latest frauds, too cool to miss out on latest trends and hijacks pop culture moments. With her quirky sense of humor, Vigil Aunty was born to appeal to everyone. No vigilante influencer is complete without a memorable signoff so… "Stay Safe. Stay Vigil!"
Data
To Educate and Entertain we introduced Vigil Aunty's always-on communication 'Stay Vigil' involved using social platforms to educate (while entertaining) audiences with various content formats. 1) A celebrity talk show, ‘What The Fraud' to showcase that even the best of the best can be conned. 2) Her 'Fraud Patrol' series dissected a new fraud incident weekly 3) Collaboration with popular influencers and latest trends 4) For ALL DAY EVERYDAY requirement realizing one may still need continuous assistance, we introduced a 24X7 Vigil Aunty WhatsApp Chatbot.
Solution
Results
Vigil Aunty became extremely popular on social media. From GenX to GenZ, she was recognized by everyone as an anti-fraud influencer. She amassed 2.2 Million followers across platforms. Her content garnered 217 Million video views, a reach of 157 Million, and an overall engagement rate of 22%. Vigil Aunty's 24x7 WhatsApp chatbot had a userbase of 146 Thousand and saw more than a million interactions. Vigil Aunty helped increase positive brand sentiment by 26% for HDFC Bank. Beyond winning the hearts of all, Vigil Aunty set the benchmark for competitor brands when it came to PSA campaigns. And, even inspired spoofs of Vigil Aunty, making her a true pop-culture icon.
