Cabinet Office pensions campaign is Bell-shaped

The Cabinet Office has launched a pensions awareness campaign, branded by Bell Design & Communications, aimed at helping civil servants make the right decisions about their pensions.

The Pension Choices campaign was launched last week by Civil Service Pensions, a division of the Cabinet Office.

It rolls out to the country’s 500 000 civil servants and is the prelude to the introduction of new pensions options, which become effective from 1 October 2002.

The identity’s creation is the first phase of a three-year contract won by Bell in October. The identity has been applied to campaign literature, pack folders, posters and stationery, which has all been designed by the consultancy.

Bell has also created a set of brand guidelines, which will be used in the design of a CD-ROM, video and website.

The consultancy has begun working on the design of literature for the new pension schemes on offer, which will launch in time for the introduction of the schemes.

‘As this is an awareness campaign we have created an identity with bright colours. We favoured the cartoon character option, because research shows people respond to this sort of thing. It’s eye-catching and light-hearted with clean typography,’ says Bell managing director Alan Bell.

‘It was important that the identity we developed raised awareness about pensions issues in general and also aided the reader to make the right choices for their future,’ he adds.

The consultancy, which is on the Cabinet Office roster, won the work via a three-way pitch.

The initiative is part of the Civil Service Reform programme, a modernisation programme that attempts to make the civil service more attractive to public and private sector workers. It was launched in 1999.