Empower Retirement expands social media strategy to reach Gen Z and more millennials

10-second videos packed with ideas about saving for retirement.

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.

About Empower Institute

Utilizing resources from within Empower Retirement and the academic and policymaking communities, Empower

Institute critically examines investment theories, retirement strategies and assumptions, and suggests changes that can help achieve better outcomes for companies, institutions, retirement plan sponsors, investment advisors and individual investors. Research from Empower Institute is available at www.empower-institute.org.

About Empower

Headquartered in metro Denver, Empower Retirement administers $570 billion² in assets for more than 8.7 million participants.³  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. 

⁵ As of Sept. 30, 2018. Information refers to the business of Great-West Life & Annuity Insurance Company and its subsidiaries, including Great-West Life & Annuity Insurance Company of New York. Of the total assets under administration (AUA), $570 represents the AUA of GWL&A of NY. AUA do not reflect the financial stability or strength of a company. GWL&A assets total $60.9B and liabilities total $58.9B. GWL&A of NY assets total $58.9B and liabilities total $2.2B.

⁶As of Sept. 30, 2018. 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.

Media Contact:

Stephen Gawlik — 303-737-0899 (office), 617-417-4408 (cell)

Monica Mendoza — 303.737.2626 (office), 719-373-2460 (cell)

Learn More

To learn more about how we’re empowering plan sponsors and their participants to be more engaged in their retirement plans than ever before, call us at 800-719-9914.

* Brand Content is not affiliated with Empower Retirement.