Aegon UK has acquired the communications and engagement firm Pension Geeks.
The company, which was founded in 2014 has become a leader in helping employers and financial service providers build bespoke events and communication programmes to engage people with their finances.
The firm was founded by Jonathan Bland and Rachel Parkinson both of whom have a background in animation and storytelling.
Aegon has been working with Pension Geeks since 2018. Under this deal Pension Geeks will continue to operate as an independent company, with its own client base, but will have access to investment and resources from Aegon to help grow the business further.
The Pension Geeks will also continue to play an important role with Aegon’s workplace clients. Aegon says they will continue to offer “accessible and engaging” activities to employers seeking to explain their workplace benefits.
They will supplement a series of recent investments in member experience by Aegon, including its award-winning video summaries, the launch of a customer app and digital hub for employers to use to launch their scheme with impact when they join Aegon.
The Pension Geeks have won a number of industry awards, and have a bank of clients, who use the company to help explain workplace pensions and increasingly broader topics like financial wellbeing. Recent initiatives by the company have included:
- Creating Pension Awareness Day, a national awareness day to which they have driven teams of ‘pension geeks’ in vibrant buses and camper vans to different locations across the UK to help 1,000s of people with their pensions.
- Worked in partnership with companies like Aegon to deliver dozens of onsite employer events, covering pension basics and engaging employees differently through innovative virtual reality headsets or caricature artists to help people picture their future selves.
- Devised the first ever pensions and wellbeing digital platform for employers — housing dynamic webinars, a 1 to 1 chat facility, a Netflix style video library, and lots of other useful content to help employees get on board with their finances.
Aeogn UK chief executive Mike Holliday-Williams adds: “We’ve been massive fans of the Pension Geeks work for a number of years and have seen first-hand how powerful and popular their communications and events are with people. Strategically, customer centricity is a significant focus for us and we’ve invested heavily in member experience and personalised communications recently, so today’s acquisition further strengthens our capability in these areas.
“We’re keen they retain the independence that has made the business the success it is today and it will therefore operate separately to the main business but with the ability to draw on the investment and resource it needs to grow. We think there’s a lot we can learn from the work the Pension Geeks have done in recent years and ultimately believe our partnership will help improve our customers’ financial wellbeing.”
Pension Geek’s co-founder Jonathan Bland says: “Today represents a major milestone for the business and I’m thrilled that our future is with a partner that has been instrumental to our growth in recent years.
“We’ve been into over 200 workplaces and spoken to thousands of people across the country about their savings and what we’ve found is that with the right approach and a bit of energy people will open up and ultimately leave conversations empowered about their savings.
“Having the investment, resource and backing from a global financial services provider like Aegon means we can do more of this fantastic work.”
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