Apex Awards is proof 10X is waking SA to pensions time bomb

Declan Hollywood, Director of Digital and Marketing at 10X.

10X Investments on Tuesday welcomed its naming at the Apex Awards for communications professionals as evidence that the company was breaking through and getting South Africans to engage with what is essentially a very low interest category: retirement saving.

Declan Hollywood, the company’s Director of Digital and Marketing, said the bronze award, given in the Change Category at the awards ceremony in Sandton on Monday night, showed the importance of partnerships to effect change. He pointed to 10X’s partners in the #StopDayLightRobbery campaign: comedians Nik Rabinowitz and Siv Ngesi, and advertising agency M&C Saatchi Abel.

“We are lucky to have partners who believe as passionately as we do about what we are doing, which is trying to help more South Africans retire with dignity,’” said Hollywood. “That results in great synergy and great creative output.”

Hollywood singled out Mark Winkler, Creative Director at M&C Saatchi Abel, whose “creative genius” was behind the campaign.

The bronze award was given for a series of videos that humorously show how much the average South African investor is losing to fees. The industry charges on average 3% in fees, which is 2% more than the 10X Investments average fee . The additional 2% might sound innocuous but, added up over the average savings term, it robs people of as much as 60% of their retirement savings.

Hollywood added: “We are delighted to win an award that recognises the impact of our campaign over a 12-month period. Retirement is a low interest category and we are very proud that we have managed to get South Africans engaged in a conversation about their long-term savings and the corrosive impact of high fees.”

The Candid Camera-style series of videos, which showed everyday scenarios of people being ripped off, created a tangible association for consumers to understand the impact high fees were having on their investments.

The videos, which were made with a limited budget, were shared to Facebook and recorded almost 4 million views and more than 13 million impressions. 10X’s brand awareness levels increased from 7% to 23%, and the company saw a 99% increase in digital leads year-on-year and a decrease in cost per lead of 44%.

This all goes to show that, as Jason Goliath, the MC on the night, said, “You don’t need millions of rands to disrupt a category and make an impact”.