Empower Retirement Expands Social Media Strategy to Reach Gen Z and More Millennials
January 31, 2019
10-second videos packed with ideas about saving for retirement
GREENWOOD VILLAGE, Colo.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–lt;a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/401k?src=hash” target=”_blank”gt;#401klt;/agt;–Empower Retirement, the nation’s second largest retirement services
provider,1 has expanded its social media strategy to reach
Generation Z and more millennials.
The firm has launched video campaigns on Snapchat, a mobile messaging
application widely used by young adults, as well as Instagram Stories.
Both campaigns speak directly to young adults ages 18 to 34 about the
idea that it’s never too early to start saving for their future
financial freedom.
Empower Retirement is among the first retirement services firms in the
nation to take its message to Snapchat, which reported 186 million daily
active users in Q3 2018.2 Pew Research Center reports that 78
percent of 18 to 24-year-olds use Snapchat and 71 percent visit the
platform multiple times per day.3
“Empower wants to be in the spaces where young employees congregate and
discover new ideas,” said Stephen Jenks, Empower Retirement senior vice
president, chief marketing officer. “Snapchat is a terrific platform to
start a conversation with young adults about planning for their future
financial success.”
The first campaign features five new animated videos, developed by
Empower, that have some fun with a “rare artifact” theme. The videos
will run nationwide now through the end of February. The second campaign
provides financial “pro tips,” and allows users to “swipe up” for
additional educational content. Both campaigns, designed vertically,
specifically for Snapchat and Instagram Stories, are part of Empower
Retirement’s expansive social media effort to continue an on-going
conversation with millennial savers and start one with Generation Z –
those born from the mid 1990s to the early 2000s – about the importance
of saving early. Longer videos will be featured on Facebook, Twitter and
Instagram.
“Empower’s strategic use of the right social channel to engage a new
audience is spot on,” said Doug Gladstone, Chief Executive and Creative
Officer of Brand Content,* an integrated digital media and advertising
agency in Boston. “The principle of being in front of the right audience
and delivering the right message at the right cadence is the best
utilization of what social media can do for business. Empower’s
insightful use of social media this way is clearly a smart approach.”
Empower has had previous success in connection with younger generations
on social media. In its last Snapchat campaign the number of users in
the 18 to 34-year-age range watching the entire video was nearly double
the completion rate of other social media platforms.
The message about saving for financial freedom appears to be resonating
with young adults. Millennials – those who were born between 1981 and
1994 – are on track to replace 75 percent of their income in retirement
compared to Generation X workers who are on track to replace 61 percent
and baby boomers that are on track to replace 58 percent, according to
an Empower
Institute survey of 4,000 working Americans ages 18 to 65.4
“Our research tells us that young adults are embracing the concept of
saving today for their future financial freedom,” Jenks said.
* Brand Content is not affiliated with Empower Retirement.
1 Information refers to all retirement business of
Great-West Life & Annuity Insurance Company and its subsidiaries and
affiliates, including Great-West Life & Annuity Insurance Company of New
York, marketed under the Empower Retirement brand. Ranking based on
total participant accounts as of April 2018. Source: Pensions &
Investments, April 2018.
2 Snapchat daily
active users in Q3 2018 as reported by marketwatch.com, www.marketwatch.com
Oct.28, 2018.
3 Pew Research Center
“Social Media Use in 2018” report March 1, 2018, http://www.pewinternet.org/2018/03/01/social-media-use-in-2018/
4
The Empower Institute survey findings are available in a
white paper called “Scoring
the Progress of Retirement Savers.” The research was
organized by Empower Institute, in collaboration with Brightwork
Partners, LLC, which is not affiliated with Empower Retirement.
About Empower
Headquartered in metro Denver, Empower Retirement administers $570
billion in assets for more than 8.7 million participants. It
is the nation’s second-largest retirement plan record keeper by total
participants (Pensions & Investments, April 2018).
Empower serves all segments of the employer-sponsored retirement plan
market: government 457 plans, small, midsize, and large corporate 401(k)
clients, non-profit 403(b) entities, private-label recordkeeping clients
and Individual Retirement Account customers. For more information,
please visit www.Empower-retirement.com.
Great-West Financial®, Empower Retirement and Great-West
Investments™ are the marketing names of Great-West Life &
Annuity Insurance Company, Corporate Headquarters: Greenwood Village,
CO; Great-West Life & Annuity Insurance Company of New York, Home
Office: New York, NY, and their subsidiaries and affiliates, including
registered investment advisers Advised Assets Group, LLC and Great-West
Capital Management, LLC. AM-681358-1118
Contacts
Empower Retirement
Stephen Gawlik
303-737-0899 (office)
617-417-4408
(cell)
Monica Mendoza
303-737-2626 (office)
719-373-2460
(cell)