Retirement planning is tedious, so it’s easy to put off. So we made it un-tedious with The 4.01K Race for Retirement, a race and festival to inspire people who rarely think about retirement to spend a whole Saturday making it a priority.

Participants didn’t just run. They ran through RFID gates and answered questions. They played investment skee-ball, physically jumped in and out of the stock market, and calculated how much it’ll cost to live where they want in retirement. There were over 40 games, tools, films and activities, as well as a concert by Aloe Blacc, who (appropriately) sings, “I Need A Dollar.”

And instead of paying a registration fee, we asked everyone to take a pledge to save an additional 1% of their annual income for retirement.

In the end, we got everyone to finally stop ignoring retirement and spend a whole day planning for it.

The 4.01K Race for Retirement was an immersive experience in Washington, D.C. It featured a 4.01-kilometer run, a concert and ten festival tents containing over 40 activities to teach runners about the Retirement Challenge and help them understand how to prepare.

Recruitment began on July 13 and continued until race day on November 7. We raised awareness through print, OOH, influencers and radio, then doubled down on registration-focused tactics in paid digital and social, mobile display geo-targeted to gyms and direct outreach to jogging groups.

After the event, we invited Americans everywhere to join in and run their own 4.01K races via a partnership with the popular running app, MapMyFitness. We then amplified the story of race day from November to the present through television, cinema, print, OOH and paid digital and social media.

The Race for Retirement was a huge success. The campaign inspired people to finally stop ignoring retirement and start making it a priority. Tens of thousands of Americans took the 1% More Pledge, then took to the streets to take on the Retirement Challenge.

29,911 pledges were taken, which could collectively grow to an incredible $1.3 billion in additional retirement savings

18,115 runners registered for the race in D.C., 94% of whom took the 1% More Pledge

80,000 MapMyFitness participants from over 10,000 cities nationwide signed up to run their own 4.01Ks virtually

These efforts helped to build the Prudential brand in the strategically important D.C. market:

Total ad awareness: +12%

Total brand impressions: +9%

Total brand consideration: +5%

Having greatly exceeded expectations for the campaign, we’re already making plans for the next 4.01K Race for Retirement in California this fall.