New brand campaign exposes retirement industry tricks

At a time when less than 10% of the country’s population * has enough money to comfortably retire, a new brand campaign is lifting the lid on troublesome industry practices that are often not in the best interest of South African investors and which hinder them from reaching their retirement goals.

According to Steven Nathan, Chief Executive Officer of financial services provider 10X Investments, the new 10X brand campaign aims to highlight issues facing consumers, such as; too much choice, complexity of products, high investment fees and lack of transparency. “Ultimately, the purpose is to make consumers more aware of the dangers of the wrong retirement solution and highlight how simple retirement planning and investing can really be.”

The campaign, which was developed by award winning agency M&C Saatchi Abel, will feature TV, radio, print and digital adverts that focus on the 10X philosophy of offering one simple, optimal retirement solution. The new advertising campaign is set to go live on 12 May 2014.

Mark Winkler, Executive Creative Director at the advertising agency, says that it was imperative for the agency to develop a brand campaign that was clear, concise and understandable – especially taking into account the very technical nature of the retirement fund industry.

The new campaign includes headlines, such as; “What good is choice if you don’t know what you’re choosing?”, “Forty years is a long time for a rabbit not to appear.” and “Paying 2% more in fees for 40% less in returns? Now that’s mental arithmetic”.

In order to further drive home the message of proper retirement saving, the statements in each advert are accompanied by the pay-off line “Why settle for less?” and additional information on the unique investment approach taken by 10X.

Nathan explains that 10X determines a person’s investment based on their time horizon, with the company’s portfolios tracking the index, rather than the whims of a fund manager. “As a result of this, the cost savings allow us to charge less than half the industry standard in fees. What may have gone towards costs at any other institution is invested on your behalf (not ours), which then compounds over your investment period.”

He says that this approach means that over a period of forty years investors are able to look forward to returns of as much as 60% more than they might have received with another retirement investment.

In addition to this, 10X offers companies and individuals one simple, optimal retirement solution. “The simplicity in this solution allows for clarity and transparency in our reports to investors, which in turn gives them a very clear idea of how their investments are performing,” adds Nathan.

10X also provides simplified administration, investment management and benefit consulting services to companies, as well as retirement savings products to individuals.

*without having to compromise the standard of living, South African National Treasury, 2013