Not every swan is black

We do “new”, not because old is wrong but because new is where the future is. So we entered the IMAIA this year at the behest of our friend and mentor Jenny Davidson, the new Reward Director at Talk Talk.

Marketing’s a dirty word in some parts of my company, it is to actuaries what acting was to puritans, a satanic diversion from the job in hand.

While the day job is to pay people’s pensions in full and on time, there will be no pensions to pay if we don’t smarten up our image and make pensions a little more palatable to those who sponsor them.

This is the blurb from IMAIA which caught our attention.

The multi-billion pound investment industry just got  its own set of marketing awards to recognise the innovation and effectiveness across the sector

The Investment Marketing and Innovation Awards (IMAIA), hosted by Investment Week and Professional Adviser, were held on Friday 4 July 2014 at the Royal Garden Hotel in London.

The awards recognise and reward innovation within the sector.

The judges looked for entrants who showed:

• The appetite to seek new solutions
• The confidence to make them happen
• The expertise and determination to turn new thinking into business success

IMAIA is a new type of awards programme. Some awards recognise only creative output; others require quasi academic papers to evidence effectiveness. IMAIA charts a new middle way.

‘The IMAIA categories are designed to embrace the entire investment community. Anyone who can demonstrate New Thinking in any of the categories is eligible to enter. This means a small firm of financial advisers can compete on the same level as global companies such as Fidelity.

‘A good idea is a good idea, irrespective of budget, and that is part of what we are looking to recognise.’

Thanks guys and thanks for the free ticket that meant that our friend Sarah Hutchinson was on hand to pick up three gongs.

Pension PlayPen is the social media organisation of the year

We beat off challenges from  Allianz Global Investors, ContractorFinancials Ltd,Finsbury Growth & Income Trust PLC,MRM and the lang cat (joint entry).

We love the furry Mark Polson of the lang cat who we are pleased to hear was highly commended

Pension PlayPen won the Inclusiveness Award

As we jolly well should have, being the only organisation that seems concerned about the quality of workplace pensions that are being purchased by the 1.2m employers still to stage auto-enrolment.

Pension PlayPen were judged overall winner for reward and innovation in the financial services sector.

This is no small feat. We are barely a year old and have only traded for six months, we employ one person and have no office, no PR and nothing but our digital footprint.

With total capitalisation of £200,000 from the back pockets of its founding directors, Pension PlayPen, is and will be making a profound difference to auto-enrolment. In our thought leadership, our capacity to bring together pension providers and out outreach beyond pension markets, we are doing what we said we would.

It is great to be recognised. I am really sorry I could not be at the awards in person as I support what IMAIA are doing and hope that this new kind of event will flourish.

Thanks to Incisive and to all at the awards- especially Brendan.

If you’d like to find out how to choose a workplace pension for your company or client – register here

http://www.pensionplaypen.com/register

If you’d like to come on Lady Lucy, tomorrow, mail

Henry.tapper@pensionplaypen.com

If you’d like to join us for lunch at the Counting House ,EC2 on Monday (July 7th) just turn up between 12 and 12.30. We will be debating whether we need Collective DC.

There were some consolatory factors that mitigated my disappointment. Thanks Masha and all who made yesterday’s trip so wonderful

The delights of Henley Royal Regatta – a Pension PlayPen annual outing!