A giant fluffy multi-coloured monster’s ability to stop employers ignoring the workplace pension via a TV campaign has been called into doubt at a Pensions Regulator board meeting.

The purple, green and blue creature – named Workie – last year became the centerpiece for a Government campaign on workplace pensions.

The ads, described as “humorous…with a serious message” by the Department for Work and Pensions, have attracted criticism due to the £8.5m cost.

The DWP and The Pensions Regulator are jointly coordinating the campaign.

The latest published minutes of the TPR’s most recent board meeting suggested the television element of the campaign had fallen below expectations. It stated: “The call to action from the TV campaign was not currently as effective as it could be and work is underway to tweak this; the board would be updated with progress at the next meeting.”

Despite, this the minutes stated that “research findings on the ‘Workie’ campaign suggested this was successful overall.”

The vast majority of employers recalled one or other of the 3 types of adverts (TV, Radio, Digital) and spontaneous recall of the message “Don’t ignore the Workplace Pensions” was excellent, it said.

The latter comments were more in line with the latest announcement on the progress of the campaign at the end of March.

According to TPR, the latest research into employers’ and intermediaries’ awareness of automatic enrolment showed that 79% of employers remember seeing or hearing at least one of the campaign adverts while intermediaries who have seen the adverts found them relevant and memorable.

It stated: “The eye-catching creature Workie first appeared in the campaign launched in October last year and the majority of employers surveyed found the TV advertising a fun way to get across a serious message.”

Other key findings concerning the impact of The Pension Regulator's (TPR’s) advertising campaign were:

Around a quarter of employers (24%) spontaneously recalled the key message that “all employers need to comply”.

Campaign recall levels amongst intermediaries were between 90-94% and 91% of bookkeepers recalled the advert, an increase from 82% the year before, TPR said.

Charles Counsell, executive director for automatic enrolment, said at the end of last month: “Workie is working, but the ad campaign is just one of the tools we have used to ensure employers and intermediaries are ready for workplace pension.

“We have been updating our communications and working with professional bodies to ensure that advisers across the country are ready for their clients’ questions.

“Hundreds of thousands of small and micro employers are now preparing for their new workplace pension duties so it is no surprise that more advisers are seeing their clients turn to them for help.”