Starling Bank

Safe Phrases

The Challenge

For UK banking customers, online security is a top priority. As part of our remit for Starling Bank, we were tasked with demonstrating that Starling is a responsible bank, fully committed to the protection of its customers.

The Solution

Today AI-driven voice cloning scams are becoming increasingly sophisticated, opening millions of Brits up to extortion. In fact, our research showed that 28% of Brits believe they’ve been targeted by an AI voice cloning scam in the past year alone.

While Starling customers haven’t reported falling victim to AI voice cloning, we set out to get ahead of the curve, raise awareness of the issue and provide customers with helpful advice and resources.

To highlight the growing risk, we created a clone of one of the UK’s most recognisable voices, James Nesbitt. Next we put the AI voice likeness to the test on the man himself.

Video content of James reacting to his clone was shared across media and social, alongside fresh statistics on just how many of us have been targeted by such a scam.

The shareable video content highlighted how important it is for Brits to share a ‘Safe Phrase’ that only friends and family would know so that they can always be sure they are talking to the real person.

We even partnered with the Home Office ‘Stop! Think, Fraud’ campaign to spread the message far and wide.

The campaign dominated the headlines, with over 600 pieces of media coverage, including a 6 minute segment on ITV’s Lorraine. Crucially, the campaign coverage all directed consumers to Starling’s website to learn more about how to protect themselves and their loved ones.