O2 - Daisy vs Scammers (case study)
Creative Idea
An AI granny, Daisy, wasted scammers' time with endless, frustrating conversations.
O2 created Daisy, an AI-powered granny, to waste scammers' time with long, humorous conversations, effectively protecting customers by tying up fraudsters' lines and preventing them from preying on real people, turning frustration into a weapon against fraud.
The AI Granny Who Taught Scammers a Lesson
Breadcrumbing the Digital Underworld
To ensure Daisy reached her targets, the team engaged in number seeding or breadcrumbing, intentionally entering her phone number into suspicious online forms and databases used by criminal call centers. The technical backbone was a real - time AI pipeline featuring Vapi for call routing, Deepgram for speech - to - text, and ElevenLabs to replicate the specific cadence of June, the real - life grandmother of a VCCP employee. By using GPT-4o Mini, the team created a persona that could ramble about her cat, Fluffy, or her late husband, Norman, for over 40 minutes at a time.
Masking Latency with Elderly Logic
A brilliant production detail involved turning a technical limitation into a character trait. The natural processing delays of the AI were framed as the slow, confused pauses of an elderly woman, making the tech indistinguishable from a human to frustrated scammers. This "art of the wind up" was so effective that one scammer was heard screaming in frustration after being passed between four different supervisors to try and close the "easy" target.
Massive Reach on a Shoestring
Despite a tiny paid media budget of just £20,000, the campaign generated an estimated £36 million in Advertising Value Equivalent (AVE). It reached 1.7 billion earned impressions and was discussed globally on platforms like *The View* by Whoopi Goldberg. Beyond the PR buzz, it drove a 44% increase in awareness for the 7726 scam - reporting number and saved the public an estimated £3 million in potential fraud losses by keeping criminals occupied for over 1,000 hours.
Creative Strategy Deconstructed
Company
O2 could credibly leverage advanced AI and telecommunications infrastructure to develop an innovative, proactive defense against phone fraud.
Category
The telecommunications category typically relies on educational warnings or passive security measures to address scam threats.
Customer
Customers felt vulnerable and frustrated by the pervasive threat of phone scams, desiring active protection and peace of mind.
Culture
The widespread concern over online fraud and the growing public fascination with AI technology created a relevant cultural backdrop.
Company
O2 could credibly leverage advanced AI and telecommunications infrastructure to develop an innovative, proactive defense against phone fraud.
Category
The telecommunications category typically relies on educational warnings or passive security measures to address scam threats.
Strategy:
Leverage innovative technology to actively combat a pervasive societal threat, fostering trust and protection.
Customer
Customers felt vulnerable and frustrated by the pervasive threat of phone scams, desiring active protection and peace of mind.
Culture
The widespread concern over online fraud and the growing public fascination with AI technology created a relevant cultural backdrop.
Strategy:
Leverage innovative technology to actively combat a pervasive societal threat, fostering trust and protection.
Results
The campaign generated 1.7 BILLION EARNED IMPRESSIONS. It received 2000+ PIECES OF COVERAGE across various media outlets including ITV, Sky News, BBC, CBS News, The Guardian, The Independent, Metro, The Times of India, Hindustan Times, and more. The campaign achieved £36M ADVERTISING VALUE. It resulted in 1000s OF SCAMMERS' TIME WASTED. The video also states that 7 in 10 Brits were targeted by scammers last year, providing context for the problem Daisy addresses.
1.7 Billion
Earned Impressions
£36M
Advertising Value
1000s
Scammers' Time Wasted
Strategy Technique
Find an Enemy
O2 identified phone scammers as a clear and pervasive enemy targeting its customers. The campaign directly positioned the brand as actively fighting this threat, rallying support by taking a stand against a common foe.
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Creative Technique
Character
Daisy was developed as a fully-fledged AI character, complete with a unique personality, backstory, and voice. This allowed her to engage scammers authentically and humorously, making the interactions believable and frustrating.
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Craft Breakdown
This campaign's craft is exceptional in its innovative application of AI to create a compelling and effective character, combined with clever scripting and strategic media placement to combat a pervasive social issue.
The sophisticated integration of speech recognition, large language models, and voice generation to create a believable and responsive AI character is the core innovation.
The meticulously crafted dialogue for Daisy, designed to be both endearing and frustrating, is crucial for engaging scammers and wasting their time.
The authentic and nuanced voice performance for Daisy brings the AI character to life, making her interactions with scammers highly effective.
The strategic seeding of Daisy's number into scam call center databases demonstrates a clever and targeted approach to campaign distribution.
The campaign's success stems from the seamless synergy between cutting-edge AI technology and human-centric creative elements like character development and dialogue.
