In financial communications, true engagement rarely emerges from a carefully orchestrated boardroom strategy. More often than not, the most powerful stakeholder campaigns begin with genuine human connection — or in the case of Border to Coast Pensions Partnership, a joke made on a conference stage.
When the Border Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) pool expanded its footprint through the Fit for the Future initiative — bringing seven new partner funds from Access alongside its original 11 — it created a contiguous geographical footprint across England. At Border to Coast’s annual conference, a member of the Customer Relationships team, stood up and announced that Chief Stakeholder Officer Ewan McCulloch had volunteered to cycle across the entirety of the newly connected partnership.
The crowd cheered, expectations were set, and what began as a tongue-in-cheek moment quickly evolved into an ambitious, nationwide stakeholder engagement tour.
“Officers began to ask me when this bike ride was happening,” McCulloch reflects. “I decided to prove it was impossible, but then I worked out that if I did it over two weeks, the individual daily distances were manageable for anyone with training. So, in theory, it was possible.”
Beyond brand awareness: rooted in community
While the physical challenge — spanning 1,200 kilometres in 10 consecutive days — was formidable for a self-described “middle-aged, sedentary office worker,” the strategic focus of the tour quickly shifted from personal endurance to broader organisational purpose.
Border to Coast recognised early on that the initiative needed to deliver tangible value to the local communities served by the LGPS. Headquartered in Leeds, the pool rallied support for Leeds Children’s Hospital, while participating partner funds designated local regional charities to benefit from the effort. To date, the ride has raised around £30,000 — and counting.
“We agreed it needed to be more than just celebrating expansion, because we recognise that the LGPS is deeply rooted in local communities,” McCulloch explains. “The ride was about the strengthening and expansion of the partnership, but it also recognised our role in society and supporting local charities. Physically, if I was just doing this for a bike ride, I would have given up after day two. But meeting our partner funds across the country kept me going.”
Creative stakeholder touchpoints
From a communications and stakeholder engagement perspective, the tour flipped conventional roadshows on their head. Rather than holding static corporate town halls, the team asked each partner fund to choose a local, iconic landmark to stage their reception.
The resulting itinerary spanned landmarks like Carlisle Castle in Cumbria, the Angel of the North in Tyne & Wear, to Worthing Pier in West Sussex, where McCulloch was met by local pension teams, committee chairs, and elected officers. The informal, energetic nature of the arrivals fostered an unscripted, organic level of engagement that traditional media campaigns struggle to replicate.
“The original idea was to meet at council town halls, but 19 pictures of town halls all look the same,” McCulloch says. “Turning up hot, sweaty, and smelly for half an hour at iconic locations created an environment where officers and chairs were incredibly flexible and ferociously supportive. The celebrations got bigger, madder, and more wonderful the further into the journey we went.”
Crucially, the campaign achieved organic digital reach without relying on heavy external PR spend. As photos and updates spread across institutional networks, the tour took on a life of its own on social media, sparking active conversations among industry peers and vendors alike.
Communicating real impact
Behind the headline-grabbing bike ride lies a broader communications imperative: changing how the sector articulates the real-world impact of the LGPS. For McCulloch, effective marketing and stakeholder messaging must move beyond yield metrics and asset allocation to highlight the humans at the end of the chain — particularly working women.
In a sector where public awareness remains remarkably low, communicating the social value of defined benefit schemes like the LGPS is critical. While defined contribution (DC) savers often face small pots and financial vulnerability, the LGPS delivers crucial psychological and financial stability to millions of public service workers.
“I genuinely believe that LGPS is one of the jewels in the crown of the public sector,” McCulloch says. “The typical member is a 47-year-old woman earning £18,000; in retirement she will get about £5,000. We’ve just had the Pension Commission — we know what happens with low-income DC savers: small pots, behaviourally they spend quickly, end up with state benefits. Beyond the saving we deliver to the public purse, we give individuals psychological confidence — they have earned their income in retirement. They are resilient.”
Articulating this purpose-led narrative is central to elevating the LGPS in public discourse. As the UK’s largest pre-funded public pension scheme, investing roughly 25% of its assets directly into UK infrastructure and economic growth, the scheme is actively “walking the walk” — a story that financial communicators need to tell more forcefully.
Authenticity over repeatable PR formulas
As asset owners and managers increasingly seek to articulate their value proposition, McCulloch cautions marketers against trying to manufacture corporate viral moments or endlessly repeat successful campaigns without clear intent.
“To me, it’s all about purpose — doing the right things for the right reason. Then everything else flows from that. You don’t have to try to be authentic; you are operating in an authentic manner,” he notes. “The reason this was special was because it was a one-off and slightly mad. If we do something next year, it needs to be different, but still rooted in who we are and our purpose.”
That overarching purpose ties directly back to the mandate of the LGPS itself. Managing £120bn in assets makes Border to Coast the UK’s largest asset owner, bringing a responsibility to ensure the pool has an appropriate, respected voice across the broader financial ecosystem.
“Border to Coast isn’t a high-profile name, but we have a responsibility to make sure we have an appropriate voice,” says McCulloch. “That’s not profile for profile’s sake, but ensuring the system works well so we can make the right investments that deliver the right returns.”