SUCCESS STORY: TURNING AMATEURS INTO INVESTORS

How do you make everyday working people feel confident enough about investing that they’re willing to put more of their hard-earned dollars into your mutual funds?

General American Insurance knew that companies have two reasons to encourage 401(k) plan participation: financially secure employees are happy employees, and larger employee contributions mean managers can park a bigger share of their own earnings in the company’s plan.

Scott Flood Writing and Bockelman/Holden Group created a series of nine brochures that explained basic and intermediate investment concepts to a broad audience. Each was written at a level that would be understood by novices; yet the copy didn’t talk down to more experienced investors.

Broken into short segments, the brochures made frequent use of sidebars, examples and analogies to simplify the concepts being presented. Content was chosen to reflect General American’s many fund offerings. The success of the brochures led to their subsequent adaptation into an enrollment guide.