TIAA #RetireInequality

TIAA needed to raise awareness of the retirement savings gap and rebuild brand awareness after losing 10% market share among its key audience in 2022. A system of inequities means the people who most need retirement savings are least served by it: 30% of working American women and 54% of Black Americans do not have enough saved to retire. Retirement is a low-salience category for young audiences, and most people are unaware of the scale of the gap, so the first job was making the statistics unavoidable in the feeds young audiences already watch, rather than in finance media.

Influential assembled a dream team of 50 women's college basketball players, including Dontavia Waggoner, Caroline Ducharme and the Cavinder twins, to front the #RetireInequality message through in-feed posts, video and livestreams on Instagram and TikTok, with The Martin Agency as partner. Matching female athletes to a campaign about women's financial inequality gave the work credibility finance-brand content rarely has, and a 50-player squad created volume and repetition rather than relying on a single hero partnership.

The activation sat inside a wider TIAA platform that also spanned TV, streaming, a Wyclef Jean single and an Essence Festival presence. Influential reports Instagram engagement 939% above benchmark, video 91% above the finance and insurance benchmark, 99% positive or neutral sentiment, and Cavinder twins livestreams drawing 15K viewers and 40K likes. All figures are self-reported, the benchmarks are undefined, and independent coverage documents the wider platform but not Influential's activation.