In August 2022, Anu Menon, better known as VJ Lola Kutty, donned another avatar—Vigil Aunty. She served as the face for HDFC Bank’s campaign to raise awareness against online scams and fraudsters. Their efforts were rewarded at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity yesterday—a prestigious global event for people working in advertising, public relations and creative communications—earning them a Silver Lion for the campaign.

“I am a product of advertising parents,” Menon wrote in the caption of the post acknowledging the win. “When they first went to the Cannes lions festival in 1995 they sent me a postcard to say ‘even the poodles here have better haircuts than us!’ So they are thrilled! About my hairstyle as well.”

Conceptualised by digital marketing agency FCB Kinnect, the campaign focused on the fake brand ‘Lulumelon’—a play on the athleisure brand Lululemon. Vigil Aunty teamed up with Bollywood star Nora Fatehi to announce massive discounts for the made-up brand’s end of season sale. When users clicked on those links, they were redirected to a page where Menon’s persona informed them about the rampant online scams and ad frauds. Various other TV personalities and content creators including Anup Soni, Shivaji Satam, Viraj Ghelani and Khushaal Pawar were part of the campaign.