City firms bank on ‘savvy’ advertising campaign to push Brits towards investing

City firms are pinning their hopes on a government-endorsed advertising blitz fronted by a finance “savvy” CGI squirrel to encourage cautious British savers to shift out of cash and start investing.

The long-awaited retail investment campaign, which will cost up to £50m, is part of the chancellor Rachel Reeves’ nationwide push to encourage more financial risk taking, amid fears risk-averse consumers are losing out and ultimately stymying UK growth.

Chris Cummings, the chief executive of the Investment Association lobby group, which is steering the campaign, said: “Every year since the global financial crisis, we’ve had more well-intentioned regulation that has come in that has been designed to offer consumer protection.

“But where we’ve ended up is protecting people out of capital markets, and that’s why we’ve got this.”

The campaign, originally announced in Reeves’ Mansion House speech last summer, will run for between three and five years at an annual cost of about £8m to £10m. That sum will be covered by 20 City backers including Barclays, Aviva, Schroders, Robinhood UK, L&G and JP Morgan.

So far that has led to the creation of an animated squirrel named “Savvy” which – through a series of online, TV and billboard adverts launching from Thursday – campaigners hope will compel animal-loving Britons to dip their toes into the financial markets.

‘Savvy’ the squirrel in a Hawaiian shirt. Several firms have reportedly withdrawn from the project over the design and cost. Photograph: Instagram

“We didn’t want an Einstein to lead the campaign for investing. That could have put people off,” Cummings said. “And so we were looking for a character that people would relate to and enjoy spending time with, and Savvy the Squirrel came through … [as] somebody who they felt they could have a conversation with.

“Obviously it’s a British red squirrel,” Cummings added. The campaign slogans include “squirrelling away your money?” and “Saved a bit? Why not invest a bit?”

The advertising design has been led by media agencies M+C Saatchi and the7stars.

It comes after reports in February of rows over the design and costs of the advertising campaign,, which obtained AI-generated draft designs of a different red squirrel, one in a hot tub and another lounging with a drink by a pool in a Hawaiian shirt. It said investment platforms AJ Bell, Interactive Investor, Trading 212, Freetrade and Octopus Money also withdrew from the project, primarily on the grounds of costs.