Deposit Limit Campaign: Strategic Creative and Outcomes

Four led the creative strategy for the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) campaign communicating the increase in the deposit protection limit from £85,000 to £120,000. The central strategic challenge was behaviour change: moving financially secure savers aged 55+ with significant savings from unawareness of the new limit to active engagement with what it meant for them.

The creative strategy was rooted in COM-B thinking, addressing capability (landing the £120,000 figure clearly), opportunity (normalising the act of checking) and motivation (engaging both rational self-interest and emotional peace of mind). The single-minded proposition - FSCS now protects even more of your savings - positioned FSCS as a trusted guardian while framing the limit increase as news worth acting on. Three creative routes were developed and tested before the final campaign launched across The Times print partnership, digital display, and radio, with consistent messaging anchored by the lock icon and the headline Your savings and current accounts are now protected up to £120,000. 

The results demonstrate meaningful progress against the campaign's core objective. Awareness of the £120,000 limit among the primary target audience (Men, 55+, ABC1) rose from 1% at baseline to 37% by May 2026 - broadly matching the pre-campaign awareness of the old £85,000 limit among the same group. Among the broader adult population, unprompted correct identification of the new limit reached 21%. Ad perceptions were strong across all measures: 86% found the advertising informative, 85% said they understood the message, and 78% said it made them trust FSCS. Half of the primary target audience indicated they planned to take some form of action following exposure.