Good Things Happen When You Don’t Have to Profit From Your Members
Mr Wolf, Australia’s leading Challenger Brand Agency, helped REST turn the Royal Commission into a trust-building opportunity – one that saw REST outperform its closest comparable fund on member retention through COVID-19, and grow FUM 19% the following year, 29% ahead of the industry average.
The Situation
The Royal Commission put ethical behaviour in the finance sector under a spotlight, and public trust in financial institutions fell across the board – not just for the banks under direct scrutiny. For REST, this was a once-in-a-generation opportunity: home territory for a fund that exists purely for its members. The challenge was to harness that reasonable decline in trust into something that would motivate members to stay with REST, without over-reacting to short-term brand score dips. It also needed to be a platform built to outlast the news cycle – something that would stay relevant once the Commission faded from public memory. And because REST’s growth had always been carried by mandated new-member inflows, the primary objective wasn’t acquisition – it was retention.
The Strategy
Trust can’t be claimed, only earned – and no brand was ever going to claim it couldn’t be trusted, so a direct trust message would have rung hollow. REST needed something structural: a reason members could believe, not just be told.
That reason was sitting in REST’s model. As a fund run to benefit its members rather than shareholders, REST doesn’t have to profit from the people who trust it with their money. That became the core thought: “Good things happen when you don’t have to profit from your customers” – a platform that sat naturally under REST’s existing “Hello Progress” brand idea, sharpening it to capitalise on this opportunity.
Rather than rely on one “silver bullet” message, the strategy was built as an accumulation of proof points:
- Social proof — the super fund of almost 2 million Australians, chosen by 160,000 employers including Woolworths, Coles and Apple
- Endorsement — recommendations from trusted voices like Ross Greenwood and Barefoot Investor, and regular industry awards
- Commitments — a guarantee to keep fees below the average of all super funds
The Creative
The campaign rolled out in three phases, each building on the last:
- Phase 1 (Apr–Jun 2018) — emotional brand building, establishing REST’s point of view before the Commission’s findings dominated headlines
- Phase 2 (Sep–Nov 2018) — introducing more proof points, giving the emotional platform substance as public attention peaked
- Phase 3 (Feb 2019 onwards) — expanding the offering, broadening the story beyond the initial trust message
Throughout, the work stayed anchored to REST’s inherent difference – because REST answers to members, not shareholders, it doesn’t pay sales commissions, keeps fees low, and returns more to members’ accounts. That difference is what let “good things happen” feel earned, rather than claimed.
The Results
- The campaign contributed to a $9.8B increase in FUM in the two years following launch (FY19 to FY21)
- In FY21 alone, FUM growth accelerated to 19%, outpacing the super industry’s average growth of 14.7% by 29%
- Despite retail workers facing some of the heaviest COVID-19 job losses of any sector, only 18% of REST members accessed the early release scheme — 25% below Hostplus, the closest comparable fund
- 92% of members took away from the campaign that REST “has its members’ best interest at heart”
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