One theme that rears its head regularly in The Dubs Financial Marketer content is the challenge of creating engaging financial services content. Here we present three case studies where superannuation and pension content has made a mark without stepping on any regulatory toes – one each from the UK, the US and Australia.
UK pension content: Aviva
The challenge
To help customers engage with their future selves and start saving for their retirement.
The strategy
Launch a multi-channel, multi-audience finance content marketing campaign and give people a glimpse of what their retirement might look like, to bring about behavioural change.
The results
Aviva delivered a number of innovative tools and content series under the ‘Save Smarter’ banner.
The Shape My Future interactive quiz/calculator shows you how you’re tracking towards your retirement lifestyle goals with a colourful graphic interface.
A hero video shows two young people being aged artificially with prosthetics to become older versions of themselves and then living on their projected retirement income for a week. Two families go head-to-head in The Aviva Savings Challenge to see who can become the smartest savers. Life coach and author John-Paul Flintoff is the star of another video that examines why we view our future selves as strangers. Overall the videos have attracted more than 400,000 views on YouTube.
Content partner Vice created a digital source for young people – An Idiot’s Guide to Pensions, including videos telling the stories of people who are benefiting from their pension savings. Buzzfeed did a four-week campaign of social posts and blogs that positioned pensions as ‘future money’ in an entertaining way.
Meanwhile, AOL and the Huffington Post created a 12-part bespoke content series and the Aviva Time Traveller tool, which used face-ageing technology to allow users to meet their future selves.
While not every superannuation or pension fund has the budget for a campaign of this scale, each of the elements can serve as inspiration for thinking outside of the usual.
US pension content: Good financial Cents
The challenge
To help American people who suffer from a disconnect with their finances (including their retirement savings).
The strategy
Have a purpose, start a movement. And create a website, blog, YouTube channel and podcasts to support your cause. Excite your audience, galvanise them into action and hopefully, inspire them to seek out your professional advice.
The results
A certified financial planner and owner of a wealth management business, Jeff Rose likes to start movements. From The Money Uprising MovementTM and the Roth IRA Movement to the Life Insurance movement and more, all have one aim: getting people to step up and take control of their money.
Jeff has toolkits and clear lists of rules for people to follow. Rule number one is getting your retirement savings started by signing up to your company’s 401k and opening a Roth IRA.
In his Good Financial Cents website, this Iraqi combat veteran isn’t trying to make himself sound important with weighty industry terms. He’s happy to talk about how he inherited his grandmother’s car or the financial mistakes he’s made. He uses silly memes, he talks to people in their own language, he is vulnerable and transparent.
Like the Australian personal finance evangelist Scott Pape (The Barefoot Investor) Rose has a mission, a purpose, or as Simon Sinek would say – a WHY for his financial content marketing. His readers/viewers/customers identify with it and buy into it. Here, finally, is a straight-talking expert you can trust.
My mission, should you choose to accept it, is to help you gain full control of your money situation so that one day you can experience what financial independence truly tastes like.
And my friends, it tastes delicious!
However big your superannuation fund or pension house is, however many billions you manage, you still need a WHY. What is your purpose?
“ However big your superannuation fund or pension house is, however many billions you manage, you still need a WHY. What is your purpose?”
Remember also: there’s nothing in the regulations that says you have to use confusing industry terms and murky language.
AUS superannuation content: Australian Ethical
The challenge
To stand out in a crowded superannuation market when you’re a small fund with a limited marketing budget.
The strategy
Focus on social media with a strategy of influencer marketing and a social partnership program that pairs you with like-minded, influential organisations.
Develop original content and share curated content relating to issues such as climate change, the environment and fast fashion.
Focus your social conversation on divestment and ethical investment, i.e., on content and cause, rather than your superannuation products, service, fees, returns and investment commentary.
The results
According to the Meltwater Insights: The Australian Superannuation Industry report, Ethical Super made it into the top 10 voices on social in 2016, a list which was otherwise dominated by larger super funds.
Australian Ethical also managed to achieve the highest following on Facebook of all Australian super funds at the time, and rank second on X. This was boosted by the activities of its partners, including 1 Million Women, a not-for-profit whose purpose is to build a movement of women taking on climate change. 1 Million Women regularly shared Australian Ethical’s content with its (then) more than 272,000 Facebook followers and provided information about the fund in its blog – when it was truly useful and a genuine recommendation from a real person.
Australian Ethical super is punching above its weight. It has maintained a level of interest around its stated values and connected with people already aligned with its purpose, which is to help people invest responsibly in well-managed, ethical companies.
The Dubs works with superannuation and pension houses globally to create content that connects and drives measurable ROI. If you’re struggling to stand out, get in touch.
