Ditch the draw: exposing Britain's £4.25bn blind spot

How do you jolt a financially apathetic population to care about their pension, in a country where half retire without enough money to live on? The answer, according to strategic agency Headland, is to dispel some investment myths and reveal the true value of the nation’s favourite savings product: the Premium Bond.

Its client Octopus Money launched in 2023 with a simple mission: to make investing and high-quality advice available to more people at a fair price. But financial apathy is rife in the UK. Just half those retiring have enough to live on, while only 8% have access to personal advice.

It needed to get on the map as a trusted adviser for money in the same way that Octopus Energy is for energy, while its chief executive Ruth Handcock and head of personal finance Tom Francis needed to raise their profiles to be viewed as go-to spokespeople on personal finance.

At the time Premium Bonds were in the headlines. Paying no interest, each bond is entered into a monthly draw, with odds of 22,000-to-one of winning. A Freedom of Information request to National Savings & Investments revealed that £4.25 billion was sitting, earning zero interest, in Premium Bonds.

The information also showed that Premium Bond holders wait an average of 3.5 years to win anything, while £97 million of prizes had yet to be claimed.

Research revealed that, had that £4.25 billion been invested in stocks and shares ISAs over the past ten years, it would now be worth £10.69 billion – representing more than £6 billion in missed returns.

This was followed by an omnibus survey of 2,000 UK adults, which revealed that they chose Premium Bonds because of a perceived lack of risk, the tax free status of any win, and the likelihood of a big return.

The reality, Octopus Money revealed, was that 94 per cent of Premium Bond winners over the past five years held more than £10,000 of bonds while 75 per cent held in excess of £25,000. And last year, 88 per cent of Premium Bond winners took home less than £2,000. The story was also humanised by the story of Premium Bond holder Holly, who had earned just £100 in 20 years. She was now closing her account, and turning to Octopus Money for advice.

The revelations generated more than 300 pieces of coverage over three months, including a double page spread in The Times on launch day, sparking a debate about Premium Bonds.

An accompanying podcast by Octopus Money was listened to three times more than the average episode, while campaign social posts across Facebook and Instagram generated more than 144,000 engagements, and 86 bookings for Octopus Money’s services.

The judges described it as ‘an excellent campaign on an important topic’, adding: ‘It was  a smart move to use FOI information. Great to bring this to life through real people's case studies.’ And, importantly, ‘the campaign generated desired business outcomes’.

Agency: Headland