Prudential Drives Action with Race for Retirement

An earnest call-to-action, the push encourages consumers to start saving an additional one percent of their annual income for retirement

Prudential has unveiled a new national campaign titled, Race for Retirement, with the aim to promote retirement readiness. An earnest call-to-action, the push encourages consumers to start saving an additional one percent of their annual income for retirement.

It premiered today with the first of two television commercials featuring Harvard University psychology professor and best-selling author, Dan Gilbert. Scenes from the spots namely The Prudential Race for Retirement and The Gates Experiment were filmed at the 7 November 2015 race in Washington, D.C.

At the event, more than 5,400 people took the pledge and ran 4.01 kilometres on a course containing retirement readiness questions they could answer by running through specific gates. A recent study from Prudential revealed that one in three people isn’t saving enough for retirement.

With 10,000 Americans expected to retire daily for the next two decades, it is an issue that affects everyone, right from the baby boomers to the millennials. The insurance carrier has also unveiled a digital hub where consumers can take the pledge and see the impact that saving an extra one percent can have on their retirement savings.

The site tracks pledges and aggregates the collective impact that saving an additional one percent more can have on retirement savings in the United States over 30 years. The effort also features a partnership with MapMyFitness, where people can chart their own runs and share their participation across their social media channels.

The aforementioned executions are a continuation of the Bring Your Challenges series featuring The Magnets Experiment, The Dominoes Experiment as well as Gilbert. In the commercials, he highlights the behavioural hardships that often get in the way of retirement planning, such as procrastination and optimism bias.

“Retirement readiness is an important issue that affects us all. The purpose of Race for Retirement is more than just education. It’s an empowerment campaign created to inspire people to start thinking differently about how they plan for retirement,” said Colin McConnell, Chief Brand Officer at Prudential.