Challenge: 

 

When the government announced ‘new pension freedoms’ it created chaos in the financial market and widespread confusion with the public. For small pension providers like Friends Life, there was a risk people would consolidate their pension into bigger funds run by better-known brands.

 

Solution: 

 

Initially, Friends Life looked at building brand awareness with an ATL campaign but the cost and timings proved prohibitive. At a time when the public was looking for answers and expertise about their pensions, we looked at a different approach which laddered back to their name. We became the friend they turned to.

 

We created a website predicated by search which provided simple, jargon-free pension answers to their questions with expert and empathetic guides. ‘Talk to Friends’ was ownable and searchable, and by using a Masonry grid that served up the most relevant content to the questions asked we were able to impart additional services like step-by-step guides, newsfeeds, and configurators. With a team of experts constantly updating information and providing clear definitions of pension language and terminology, it became the default reference for National news channels and even quoted from in the House of Commons.

 

Friends Life retained a disproportionately high customer base compared to similar-sized organisations, built trust and brand awareness. Although the pension fund eventually became part of Aviva, much of the original content we created now sits on the Aviva site.

 

Writer/Concept creator: David Harris, Designer: Ben Bostock, Director: Keith Rogerson, Production company: Mighty Fine