Challenge
The Oregon Treasurer needed to ramp up a first-in-the-nation public retirement savings plan using automatic payroll deductions. The Oregon legislature had approved the plan, with substantial Republican opposition because of business concerns. The program needed a name, a key message and an outreach strategy.
Approach
CFM worked with an advertising partner to create a marketing plan. We came up with a name – OregonSaves – a logo and a tagline (Work Hard. Save Easy.) CFM organized a meeting of concerned employers that identified practical issues, which Treasury agreed to remedy. CFM conducted focus groups and in-person discussion groups to gauge potential saver concerns about automatic payroll deductions into a retirement account. We discovered savers were more concerned about being in control of their own savings.
Success
Working alongside our advertising partner, we developed and executed a branding and a marketing plan geared to the phased-in implementation of OregonSaves retirement accounts. Six years after the program was initiated, Oregonians enrolled in the program have collectively saved more than $200 million and retain control of their accounts.
