In a world increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence, data, and automation, Absa has launched a bold new brand television commercial that redefines the intersection of technology and humanity. Titled The Story Behind the Numbers, the campaign marks the latest expression of Absa’s #WeSeeYourStory – a powerful new brand campaign that builds on the 2024 launched brand repositioning #YourStoryMatters.
This next evolution reflects a shift in Absa’s brand promise, from acknowledging customer stories to actively responding to them. Whether through product innovation, inclusive financial tools, or community engagement, #WeSeeYourStory is about real connection. And this latest campaign demonstrates exactly that.
At the heart of the TVC is an extraordinary, unscripted conversation between award-winning financial journalist Fifi Peters and her AI-generated clone, a lifelike digital twin trained to reflect her tone, thinking, and emotional intelligence. What unfolds is a surprisingly introspective dialogue that blurs the boundaries between machine and memory, code and consciousness.
“Fifi didn’t just give us facts. She gave us feelings. That’s what made the clone human enough to challenge her,” said the AI development team behind the experience.
The campaign was brought to life through a bold collaboration between Avatar Agency, 99C and innovation studio MonkeyDonkey, who partnered with Absa to conceptualise and create this never-before-seen brand experience.
Sue and Stu Stobbs, owners of MonkeyDonkey Creative AiGency, commented: “Building Fifi Clone felt like mixing code with jazz: part precision, part improvisation, and a whole lot of heart. Our aim was to engineer something that could reflect Fifi’s humanity rather than just ‘a bot’. This meant we weren’t simply feeding data into an algorithm but handcrafting a thinking brain and sculpting a believable look. It was exhilarating, mind-bending, and occasionally existential (‘Can a clone get goosebumps?’). Mostly, we felt like mad scientists in a creative lab seeing how far we could push AI to tell a very human story.”
The creative leads at Avatar added: “This wasn’t just about building a campaign, it was about breaking convention. We wanted to make people stop and think about what it means to be seen in the age of AI. Fifi’s Clone became a mirror, not just of a person, but of a powerful idea: that stories, not data, are what define us.”
The development of the AI clone spanned over two and a half months and involved:
- Verified biographical and career data
- In-depth in-person interviews to capture tone, rhythm, and emotional nuance
- Advanced AI tools to generate visual and vocal fidelity
- A custom-built orchestration engine to ensure narrative flow, self-reflection, and tone control.
Fifi’s digital twin was officially 'born' on 14 May 2025 at 1.09pm, and just one week later, conducted what would become one of the most introspective interviews of Fifi’s career.
The 95-second hero film opens with a powerful provocation: “Can data really see the human behind the numbers?” From there, the story unfolds into a deeply human exploration of identity, legacy, and the future of Africa, brought to life through a conversation only AI could enable, but only a human could make meaningful.
Sydney Mbhele, Absa’s group chief marketing and corporate affairs officer, says this is more than a campaign: “It is a bold and exciting step forward for the Absa brand. We’ve always believed that technology should serve human purpose, and this work proves exactly that. It’s emotionally resonant, deeply relevant, and unforgettably human. Our customers are more than data points – they’re people with dreams, challenges, and stories that deserve to be heard.”
Now rolling out across multiple digital and broadcast platforms, The Story Behind the Numbers is a living, breathing statement about Absa’s future-facing approach to human-centred banking, and the belief that even in the age of AI, it’s the stories behind the numbers that truly matter.
#YourStoryMatters #WeSeeYourStory
