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Work

529 College Savings Plans – Ounce of Prevention


Tackling Student Debt One Ounce at a Time

With student loan debt reaching $1.5 trillion in the U.S., many politicians and businesses have offered up suggestions on how to cure this affliction. Saving proactively with a 529 college savings plan is one solution that already exists. The problem is, nearly 70% of the country doesn’t even know this option exists. With the holidays fast approaching, we wanted to figure out a way to both boost awareness and position 529s as a great holiday gift.

Ounce of Prevention Influencer Kit with Bottle, Package and Literature

Execution

Inside the media kit was an actual, physical one-ounce bottle of prevention. Inside the bottle was a rolled-up 529 gift card (the “prevention”), courtesy of our friends at GiftOfCollege.com. Along with the bottle was a booklet insert that shared information including what a 529 college savings plan is, how much you could save by investing in education with a 529 plan, and how they could get their own “Ounce of Prevention” and become involved in our campaign.

Ounce of Prevention Literature

The booklet led people to a campaign microsite where they could find helpful information like why it makes sense to save with one, how much money could be saved by choosing to invest in a child’s education, links to contributing partners’ websites for more information, a contest to win one of four $500 529 gift cards from GiftofCollege.com, and testimonials from real parents.

We sent out 100 media kits in total. We identified social media influencers (both paid and organic) who had strong followings of our target audience: millennial-aged parents of young children. We also sent out kits to a number of selected media outlets across the nation, focusing on those that have large audiences both in and out of the financial world, while also utilizing existing relationships we’ve built during the campaign. And with media outreach already connecting us to our existing audience, we sent kits to gift-guide curators in an effort to grow our audience, positioning 529s as the holiday gift of 2019.

Ounce of Prevention Social Media Graphics

Earned Ounce of Prevention Social Coverage

Ounce of Prevention Article on Real Simple Website on a Laptop

Results

In total, the Ounce of Prevention efforts resulted in a potential audience of more than seven million people. Nine unpaid influencers shared content on their social channels and websites, resulting in 1.4 million potential impressions, while three paid influencers shared content across all their social channels, resulting in 31,094 actual impressions.

In terms of media attention, we were mentioned in many articles, including a 2,000-word+ article on RealSimple.com, which was also shared on their Facebook page. This resulted in an estimated 1.8 million impressions from their website and an estimated 3.8 million impressions from their Facebook page. We also secured a podcast opportunity with KSL to talk about 529 gifting, and 529 gifting was included in a CNBC article about cash being the most-wanted present.