TurboTax's new campaign promotes live online help, with Super Bowl ad to come

The push comes as users seek more personal advice during the pandemic

Published On
Jan 05, 2021

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The empty desks left behind by the pandemic take on a whole new life in new ads from tax software company TurboTax. The spots are part of a wider brand campaign for 2021 called “Straight To You” that is meant to showcase TurboTax Live, which gives users online access to the company’s network of tax experts.

“People want the confidence that comes with an expert,” says Cathleen Ryan, VP of marketing at TurboTax parent Intuit. Tax filers now want more options and more ways to talk with experts, says Ryan, citing in particular the financial uncertainty that 2020 brought about. “The importance of delivering a personal service is increasing,” says Ryan.

The 30-second TV ads from creative agency Wieden+Kennedy feature the “desks” of TurboTax live experts rolling, floating, and in one version of the spot rotating around like a wooden mobile—all as experts dish out tax expertise and advice through a laptop.

The “Straight To You” campaign, which launched Jan. 1, is part of TurboTax’s leadup to the 2021 tax season and to the upcoming Super Bowl, which remains a tentpole in the company’s marketing strategy.

TurboTax is working on a new spot exclusively for the upcoming Super Bowl that “will be of the same DNA as this campaign,” says Ryan. In 2020, Intuit renewed its deal with the National Football League as the official sponsor for financial and accounting software through 2022, with TurboTax serving as the presenting sponsor of both the AFC and NFC Divisional and Championship games for the 2020 season.