One year we’re creating a rap about pensions with Big Zuu, the next we’re bringing back Mallett’s Mallet! It’s never quiet for long at TS towers and last month saw us come back for year two of the industry-led Pension Attention campaign alongside the ABI and PLSA. After months of planning and tireless work across our integrated team, it was brilliant to see our work with Timmy Mallett, an iconic and much-loved 80s and 90s TV presenter, all come together and land with a splash across press, digital, social and out-of-home as we called on the UK to take an Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny look at their pension with ‘The Pensions Playback’. 

Working with Timmy Mallett was a joy and while I’m a tad young to have watched his primetime shows in my childhood, I certainly understand how our target audience for this campaign are so taken by him. 

On our shoot day he enlisted Mallett’s Mallet and Pinky Punky to take contestants back to the 80s and 90s so they didn’t feel so “Bleugh” about their pensions. With this nostalgic take, we were able to encourage people to look back to yesterday and uncover their ‘lost’ pensions to maximise their future. It sounds simple, and it really is, but so many people just aren’t claiming them. In fact, the DWP estimates there will be 50 million dormant and lost pension pots by 2050. And with the average person having 11 jobs in their lifetime, it’s never too soon to get on top of it. 

In the run up to launch, the team worked to build the assets for launch day. This included the Pension Attention landing page, the out-of-home advertising, the social clips and all the assets for PR. This meant when it came to launch day we had a wealth of content to amplify the PR as we hit go on our media day with Timmy to get the nation talking and taking action. We had pitched away in the week running up to launch and landed a packed-out schedule with Timmy conducting interviews across many major national publications and radio stations (we also quickly learnt we have a lot of Timmy fan boys and girls in the media!). 

These articles have all since been landing and we’ve already reached over 52 million people with the coverage. Hits have been secured in core nationals such as the Mail Online, The Express, The Sun, Evening Standard and This is Money and we still having a bunch of articles in the pipeline! We’ve also heard Timmy across the airwaves and TV and been so heartened to hear him bring his own personal experience to the campaign, talking about all the jobs he’s had and the importance of tracking down those pensions. He was a real pro and so seamlessly mixed our messaging with titbits of local knowledge for radio stations, 80s trivia and chats about his own passions including biking and painting. 

While the pitching certainly doesn’t stop here, it’s been a great start to year two of Pension Attention and we look forward to continuing to bang the drum over the coming weeks and months.

Your attention please! Senior Account Director Kathryn Cleaver reflects on the launch of the 2023 Pension Attention campaign and what it was like working with the legendary Timmy Mallett. 

It’s Mental Health Awareness Day this week. While I am not always a fan of awareness days and weeks, anything that gets us talking about mental health has to be a positive. No one needs me to tell them that the last few years have been stressful. And triggers are different for everyone. But from Covid lockdowns to cost of living crises – there has been a lot going on that can add to day-to-day pressures of life.

Keeping the conversation channels open, and letting people know that talking about mental health is not taboo, are the first and most important roles I think an employer can play. Mental Health Awareness Day might be your starting point. But it’s just one day. We all need to be ‘aware’ for the other 365 days as well. 
It’s the reason we have trained Mental Health First Aiders from all around our business, and we regularly encourage people to seek support should they need it. It’s also why we make sure the private healthcare package we offer includes mental health support. And why we work closely with NABS, a brilliant charity that offers a host of free resources to improve the wellbeing of everyone in the advertising and media industries. 

None of us know when, or why, we might need help. It’s much easier sometimes to open up about physical ailments. But the increasing recognition that mental and physical health are intrinsically linked, and that we must look after and recognise both, is a huge step forward and something I wholeheartedly believe in. 


Why it’s important to have structures in place for mental health support and encourage conversation surrounding it

Phew. What a year 2022 has been. And when we take a moment to reflect on the past twelve months, we’re certainly struck by the intensity of the highs and the lows of world, political and sporting events. 

But as we approach the festive break, let’s get ready for a visit from the Team Spirits of past, present and future. 

__FIRST, LET’S SPIRIT BACK TO THE PAST __

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United in our mission to transform the world of finance for the better, we couldn’t be prouder of our creativity and proving that financial services is anything but boring. Working on behalf of the pension industry with the ABI and PLSA, our *Pay your pension some attention* campaign, fronted by rapper Big Zuu, was not only a world first in combining pensions and Grime but, crucially, has managed to reach audiences historically impossible to engage. And we delivered powerful thought leadership, making the complex compelling for Alliance Trust’s *Profit with Patience* and M&G/Prudential's *Family Wealth Unlocked*.

Following all the fabulous work this year, we’ve been delighted to receive a clutch of awards for our effectiveness too. For the first time, we entered the British Bank Awards and literally leapt for joy at being made their Marketing and PR Partner of the Year.

It's also been our pleasure to support First Enterprise, our For the Better Award winner this year. They provide finance for underserved businesses, with a particular focus on BAME and female founder businesses in the East Midlands. Closer to home, we’ve been cycling to raise money for Nabs, the advertising and media industry’s wellbeing charity. We’ve also been volunteering our time with local charity The Passage, helping the homeless to transform their lives. 

__RAISING THE SPIRIT OF THE PRESENT__

Teamspirit in name and nature, we are of course only as good as our people. Our dedicated DE&I Board is continuing to inspire us and hold us accountable. We’re receiving recognition for our inclusionary efforts – by winning the Financial Services Forum Innovation Awards, Diversity and Inclusion Award. Being highly commended in the Engage Awards for Best Diversity and Inclusion Strategy has only strengthened our resolve. 

As the year draws to a close, we’re incredibly grateful to all our clients for the trust they continue to put in us, and for the amazing briefs we’ve been working on.

__AND FINALLY... SPIRITING UP THE FUTURE __

2023 shows no signs of being any less fast-moving or eye-opening. In fact, in this world where anything is possible, agility in thinking and delivery has never been more vital. Nor more exciting. 

We’ll be continuing to focus on supporting our wonderful people and delivering top-notch work for old clients and new. You can also look out for our Signals report, our annual prediction of ten areas that we believe will impact our clients and their marketing needs in 2023.

But for now, we’d like to wish everyone a much-welcomed break from the day to day. A time to switch off the alarm, appreciate friends and family, and gain some clarity on the difference we’d each like to make.  


I joined Teamspirit on the 21st of November 2022 as an Account Executive, working within the PR team, and have now completed my first month as a fully-fledged teamspiriter. My first four weeks has absolutely flown by and I felt compelled to mention just a couple of the things that have made my transition into the company such a comfortable one. 

To provide some context I am not only a newcomer to Teamspirit but am in fact new to both PR and the world of Financial Services more broadly. I finished University in July, gaining a degree in Politics and Economics from the Bournemouth University, whereafter I spent a few months at a fellow PR firm in Westminster which specialised in Political Communications before making the jump to Teamspirit. 

During the application and interview stages the team made it very clear that training and development are key priorities at Teamspirit, something that really appealed to me as a relative newbie in this industry. On this front, the team have more than exceeded my expectations. Upon joining I was given the opportunity to meet people from teams across not just the agency but from the wider VCCP group itself. In my first two weeks I attended nineteen such meetings, listening and learning how each individual team operates, from digital and comms to PR and IT, and discovering how all these pieces fit together to deliver clients a true integrated approach. 

At Teamspirit we take our status as a fully integrated agency seriously and these meetings really highlighted this fact. Team leaders spoke passionately throughout, not just about how their department operates day-to-day but telling stories of their career paths and sharing details on various campaigns they cherished running in the past. I have to say, out of the many things the team has done to make my introductory period so smooth, these meetings have definitely taken the cake as being the most impactful in terms of helping me understand not just how the company functions but in shedding light on the culture that underpins all the work we do. 

Speaking of culture, the atmosphere that has been cultivated at Teamspirit is one of real comradery and is something that was evident right from my first day. This is no accident, rather it’s something we really pride ourselves on. The Social and Culture team work very hard to craft a range of excellent social events that are held on a weekly basis. These range from seasonal events, such as last week’s Christmas party held at Piano Works and company staples such as the book club to more niche workshops such as one held a fortnight ago on eco-friendly gift wrapping. 

PR can be a chaotic industry to work in at the calmest of times, full of tight deadlines and packed schedules but despite this everyone on the team has found time to lend me a hand when needed, whether it be something simple like providing me a login to a database to something more time-intensive like teaching me how to issue a press release to the media. It has been a thoroughly enjoyable first month and at the risk of sounding too cliche, there really is an excellent team spirit at Teamspirit! 


In our best year ever at the MarComs we recently carried off no less than seven awards for creative and branding work for clients. Three Platinum and Four Gold.

The MarComs are long-established creative awards that recognise the best in marketing and communication worldwide.  Great to win one, so seven was a fantastic and hard-won achievement.

For M&G Wealth we won two Golds, one for our creative approach to trade advertising and the second for digital display advertising

For Shawbrook Bank, we were awarded Gold for our integrated b2c campaign that gave UK savings ‘a kick up the AERs’.  Our design and branding work for specialist international insurer NorthStandard also carried off Gold.

We won Platinum for the ABI/PLSA, for our multi-award winning pensions engagement campaign ‘Pay Your Pension Some Attention’ which featured grime rapper and TV chef Big Zuu.

Our rebranding of Smart Money People also hit the heights and won Platinum.  As did our design and branding work for digital communications platform, Orbyt.

Big shout out to our clients for collaborating closely with us and enabling us to create distinctive work that has led to better outcomes for their businesses.

In our best year ever at the MarComs we recently carried off no less than seven awards for creative and branding work for clients. Three Platinum and Four Gold!

We win seven at the international MarCom awards

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