How do you get young people thinking about pensions?

How do you get young people thinking about pensions?

Investment & Pensions Europe reports on a Swedish company’s efforts to address this perennial question.  They ran a multi-media ad campaign that was creative enough to win an international advertising award.  (An explanation of the campaign that was prepared for the competition was posted on YouTube and can be viewed here.)

The advertising bureau behind a novel advertising campaign for Sweden’s largest fund company AMF Pension has won a prestigious prize lauding the campaign’s success in making young people think about pensions.

… Interactivity with its audience was the key to the campaign which invited young Swedes to upload photographs of themselves on a website or send them via MMS and have them reworked to show what they might look like aged 70.

The portrait could then be downloaded and shared with friends – an approach intended to encourage young people to think what it might be like to be old one day, encouraging them to think about investing in a pension.

Additionally, there were television commercials featuring famous young Swedes, visiting their future, elderly-self, all of which were designed to make young people think about pensions and whether they had enough saved for a comfortable retirement.

What are some innovative ways to get the younger generation concerned about their retirement security – while they’re young and have more time to save?