Vol. 36. TIAA: Rapping for Retirement 🎤

These days, ad jingles are a lost art. They had a good run, though: from the slightly creepy Alka-Seltzer plop plop fizz fizz to the goofy McDonald’s filet-o-fish song, there were some iconic tunes made. 

Even though they’ve mostly been replaced by pop music in commercials, some companies have taken the idea behind an ad jingle and evolved it for today’s audiences. 

This week, Case Studied explores how TIAA partnered with Black hip-hop artists to drive awareness of the racial retirement gap.

The Brief:

TIAA, aka the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association, is a financial institution that provides pension, insurance, and investment services. Led by CEO Thasunda Brown Duckett, the organization partnered with The Martin Agency to launch the #retireinequality campaign. The goal was to draw attention to retirement and savings gaps experienced by Black Americans. 

The campaign brings the retirement crisis in America into focus, spotlighting key facts, such as:

• 54% of Black Americans do not have enough money saved to maintain their standard of living in retirement 

• 41% of young American adults between ages 24 - 35 don’t take advantage of or contribute to their employer sponsored retirement plan

• 40% of U.S. households currently risk running out of money in retirement, according to the TIAA Institute. 

The first iteration, aka “Chapter 1”, launched in June 2022 on the 50th anniversary of Title IX. TIAA continued to release new chapters since then, with the latest one being Chapter 7: Paper Right. 

To get people talking and listening, TIAA partnered some of hip hop’s biggest names to create a song about savings and retirement gaps—and every stream helps them monetarily combat it.

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The Execution:

This chapter of the #retireinequality campaign called for multiple agency partners. In addition to The Martin Agency, TIAA worked with Hero Collective and JSharpe Agency PR on Chapter 7. Together, they collaborated with Wyclef Jean, a founding member of the Fugees, to create a track called “Paper Right” featuring Pusha T, Lola Brooke, Capella Grey, and Flau’jae. 

The song was meant to inspire younger generations to take time to consider their financial legacy and their ability to retire. 100% of the song’s sales are donated to First Generation Investors (FGI), a non-for-profit focused on providing underserved high school students with investing literacy. 

With hip hop having a long history of shining light on the challenges that disproportionately impact Black Americans, music was a fitting medium to deliver this message. Jean, who helped recruit the other artists, pointed out the importance in having a range of voices across different generations. 

“The only way this is believable is if everyone on the record is spitting their truth,” Jean said. “I know the message has to start with the Gen Zs and then on to my generation. So [I] reached out to Flau’jae, who is Gen Z and an amazing human, as well as the first millionaire in her family. So she’s explaining her point of view, then we have Lola Brooke who is a young rap sensation, talking about Section 8, which is another approach. And we have Capella Grey, who adds his perspective. Then you have two OGs in Pusha T and me.”

Here’s a peek at each artists’ verse:

• Lola Brooke: I’m just comin’ off Section 8, it cut deeper than a razor blade, They let me hang for days, you know it’s up ’cause I saved the date, Financial freedom is so fulfilling’, Generational wealth is what you show the children

• Pusha T: Street lords said, “Join us”, You could turn a brick to a Bimmer, here’s some pointers, Nowadays I’m ignorin’ ’em, Rather build a legacy for my son, that’s important for him

• Flau’jae: Inspired by the ones that’s younger, was tired of bein’ under, Yeah, shifts at the graveyard, spend, but I save hard, Porsche is my play car, all of it paid off

• Capella Grey: Everything is up, movin’ for us, And my business in order, money stackin’ taller, Now Forbes wanna report us

To promote the song, Pusha, Brooke, Wyclef, and Grey performed it on The Tonight Show. On social, TIAA launched an augmented reality ad on Instagram with the hashtag #StreamToStack. When users pointed their phone camera at a U.S. dollar bill, it turned the money into a trigger to listen to the track and donate to FGI. 

TIAA’s Chief Brand Officer Zara Mirza plays “Paper Right” as intro music for all her meetings. She recognized this medium as a powerful tool to reach audiences across generations. 

“Music possesses an extraordinary ability to elevate awareness, inspire, and drive conversation among key audiences—including younger generations. While retirement may feel far away for young Americans, the reality is that having these conversations now can help them achieve a financially secure future,” Mirza said. 

Reiterating the importance of the song’s mission, a Brookings Institute report came out just a few days before the song dropped and revealed that the gap in wealth between white and Black American increased. 

The report analyzed data from the Federal Reserve’s Survey of Consumer Finances and found that the median wealth level increased by about $52,000 from 2019 to 2022 but the wealth gap also increased by $50,000, pushing it to over $240,000. 

The Results:

Since “Paper Right” dropped, TIAA saw a 63% increase in awareness among Black Americans according to YouGov—an all-time high. The song racked up over 1 billion impressions and site traffic to the #retireinequality website increased 440%. 

“Paper Right” has seen 750,000 streams and counting. In the first week, it hit its streaming target thanks to an Amazon Music partnership and racked up $100,000 in donations for FGI.

The Takeaways:

There’s a lot to learn about from this campaign and its use of a unique medium. Here are a few takeaways:

1. Purposeful marketing cuts through

While most organizations focus on profit as the primary KPI for their marketing campaigns, purpose-driven marketing continues to help brands move the needle and align themselves with causes that are important to the company.

In the case of TIAA, targeting the challenges in retirement and savings gaps experienced by Black Americans felt like a natural extension of the companies brand, which is why the response to their efforts went viral.

Incorporating various causes or social messages into your marketing can be a great tool for any brand, but ensure that the topic you are aligning yourself with is one that organically fits within the brands’ mission to avoid coming off inauthentic.

2. Repetition fuels recall

Could TIAA have released Chapter 1 and decided to move onto to their next marketing idea? Sure. However, the commitment to this message and repeated investment into the campaign is what helped it be so impactful.

More often than not, marketing executions won’t land in their first iteration. That’s why it’s important for brands to have conviction behind their ideas, so they find unique ways to rework them, with the end goal of the concept finally landing.

Great ideas are hard to come by, so when you find a good one, brainstorm ways to keep them going and hopefully that will only further your consumers recall of the campaign.

3. It takes a village

A campaign of this magnitude doesn’t happen without a ton of different stakeholders pitching in. In this case, input from a wide variety of musicians and agencies allowed TIAA to reach a different level of exposure for their project.

When considering the resources needed to execute your teams marketing goals, make sure to allocate budget and time for identifying and hiring the right partners to bring your vision to life.

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