My $1m challenge for Hostplus’, CEO, David Elia

If you’ve been following along you’ll know that David Elia , CEO at Hostplus , is trying to stifle choice for members by shutting down digital online advertising channels like Employment Hero.

Well I’ve got a challenge for you David Elia . As you well know, a trustee of a superannuation fund has a fiduciary duty to spend their member's hard earned savings in the best interests of the members. I believe you’ll find that digital advertising on Employment Hero massively outperforms the $30m+ you currently spend on sport advertising, including the $2.9m you spend with your beloved Richmond Tigers.

So here’s the challenge. Rather than asking the government to shut us down I’m offering Hostplus $1m of free advertising on Employment Hero. Once it's spent we can compare advertising attribution performance between Employment Hero and all your sports sponsorships. If Employment Hero performs best then you pay for the advertising and stop trying to shut us down. If sports advertising is proven to outperform Employment Hero then it will cost us $1 million.

Are you up for the challenge David Elia ? I think you owe it to your members.

Also, your mysterious spokesperson told The Australian yesterday that platforms like Employment Hero limit employee’s choice to advertised funds, sidestep stapling reforms and direct members into poorer performing funds. Each of these claims is false.

Our platform 100% facilitates stapling, existing fund lookup and selection as well as the ability to choose a new MySuper approved or Choice fund. These options are legally required.

What Hostplus wants is for the option of choosing a new fund via a platform like ours to be banned, so it can stifle competition in an unfair attempt to retain members. This represents a potential abuse of market power.

It's time to admit you’ve overreached and embrace the benefits that new digital advertising and engagement channels like Employment Hero offer Hostplus and its members. I look forward to hearing from you.