Clarke Willmott: Port Talbot pension mis-selling scandal awareness campaign
The brief
Our client, national law firm Clarke Willmott, wanted to grab the attention of steelworkers in Port Talbot, South Wales, who may have been persuaded to transfer out of their “gold plated” company pension scheme and into risky external investment products.
Although Clarke Willmott had already received some media exposure for its work helping affected workers to claim thousands in compensation, it was mostly confined to financial trade magazines – so unlikely to catch the eye of your average steelworker.
Empica was therefore tasked with raising awareness in and around Port Talbot about the plight of thousands of workers who had been badly advised by IFAs while positioning Clarke Willmott as the “go to” firm of experts to help steelworkers put in a successful compensation claim.
What we did
We devised and deployed a highly targeted, three-pronged strategy in order to maximise the number of steelworkers we could reach with our messages in a short period of time:
Targeted media relations – we spoke to journalists on the South Wales Evening Post and Western Mail together with editorial teams at BBC Wales offering them press release material, case studies and interviewees leading to earned coverage. To support the editorial effort we also liaised with Reach PLC’s commercial team to strategically place advertorial copy online and off
Social media and pay per click (PPC) – we set up a bespoke Facebook page, called “Clarke Willmott Pension Claims Centre”, where we shared content and media coverage. We also created and ran a PPC campaign targeting people with a connection to Port Talbot – steelworkers, their families and friends
Physical marketing – we engaged the services of a Wales-based specialist outdoor marketing agency, Route Media, to utilise its fleet of mobile “digi-vans” which had key messages about how workers could claim back some of the money lost following the pension transfers. These were parked at strategic locations – including across the road from the steel works and at high footfall areas like supermarkets and the seafront – where they would be seen by as many eyeballs as possible.
Outcomes
As a direct result of the campaign, Clarke Willmott is now acting for 200 of Port Talbot’s steelworkers and has claimed more than £2m in compensation on their behalf (more than half of the total amount paid out by the FSCS to clients of over 60 other law firms).
Philippa Hann, Lead Litigation Partner at Clarke Willmott, said: “The Port Talbot campaign was a perfect example of how creativity, collaboration and hard work generates superb results.
“Empica was involved from the very start, helping us to crystalize ideas into practical and effective activity while advising on key tone of voice messaging and ensuring we received best possible value and ROI for our financial commitment to the project.”
Following the campaign, Clarke Willmott’s legal team together with a group of steel workers, attended Westminster on 28 January 2020 to lobby MPs and persuade the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) to increase the level of compensation being proposed.
Clarke Willmott Partner Philippa Hann asked MPs to act quickly on the Pension Ombudsman’s latest ruling on the British Steel Pension Scheme which had been announced the previous week. We liaised closely with the Welsh and national media, generating widespread coverage of the event and ensuring that Philippa Hann was extensively quoted and that Clarke Willmott was positioned as the ‘go to’ firm handling these claims. We also created a short video clip which we promoted heavily on social media that same day.