The 2025 campaign was fronted by TV’s Ross Kemp (pictured), alongside financial planning expert Bola Sol
The latest of Pensions UK’s regular columns says that a unified industry voice is the most effective tool we have to improve pension adequacy and saver confidence across the UK.
In the pensions industry, we often talk about the challenge of engagement – how to move the needle for the millions of UK savers who view their pension as a distant concern.
That's why last year the Pension Attention campaign set out with an ambitious mission – to build on past successes and create our most impactful season yet.
Drawing on the insight that many people are acutely focused on their physical fitness and mental wellbeing – using apps to track their steps, sleep patterns and daily activity – but less so on being financially fit, our primary goal was to inspire 35–55-year-olds to "Strengthen Your Pension" by prompting simple, meaningful interactions.
Fronted by TV's Ross Kemp, alongside financial planning expert Bola Sol, the 2025 campaign delivered extraordinary results that demonstrate the power of a unified industry voice.
Headline successes from the 2025 campaign
The scale of this year's achievement is perhaps best captured by our campaign highlights:
- Driving high recall: Nearly a third of our target audience (32%) recalled seeing the #PensionAttention campaign or Ross Kemp's involvement.
- Exceptional conversion to action: Of those who saw the campaign, 94% took action. Whether it was checking a statement, logging into an online portal, or using a planning tool, the campaign didn't just raise awareness – it changed behaviour.
- Wide PR reach: We earned coverage across the national, regional and trade press as well as on the radio, significantly outperforming our results in previous years.
- Digital visibility: Our paid media strategy delivered over 132 million impressions, keeping pensions front-of-mind across digital and social platforms and the campaign website saw tens of thousands of unique visitors.
A multi-channel approach that works
The success of 2025 was rooted in a streamlined, multi-channel approach. By combining high-impact PR with paid social on Meta and LinkedIn, we were able to target our core demographic effectively.
The launch was supplemented through the campaign season with additional bursts of activity.
Our ‘employer burst', where we highlighted that close to four in 10 (39%) Brits say higher pension contributions from employers would be more important than free snacks or duvet days, was supplemented by a paid LinkedIn campaign targeting HR executives.
We also helped fund the Pension Policy Institute's lost pots research and encouraged savers to take steps to reunite themselves with £31bn languishing in forgotten pension accounts. Further research we commissioned showed this takes far less time than the average gym session and helped make the association once more between financial and physical fitness.
For the first time we also partnered with influencers made famous by their appearances in some of the nation's most-loved TV shows and known for their fitness and mental health content, to help us reach new audiences in the target age range on Instagram. Dr Alex George (Love Island), Oti Mabuse (Strictly Come Dancing), and Gemma Atkinson (Hollyoaks), produced unique content espousing the importance of pensions.
The feedback we've received has been overwhelmingly positive, with many praising the "Strengthen Your Pension" messaging for its relatability and cut-through, noting that the campaign is now firmly embedded as an annual fixture in the pensions calendar.
Join us for 2026
While we celebrate these milestones, our work is far from over. The Pension Engagement Season is proven to work, but its strength lies in the breadth of its support. A unified industry voice is the most effective tool we have to improve pension adequacy and saver confidence across the UK.
We are now looking for more sponsors to join us in making next year's campaign even bigger success. If you want to be part of this industry-wide movement and help more people secure their financial future, we want to hear from you.
Mark Smith is part of the Pension Attention campaign team at Pensions UK
To find out how your organisation can support the campaign in 2026, e-mail: [email protected]
