TurboTax is perceived by most consumers as a do-it-yourself tax service, while its live full-service product, which enlists experts to assist users with doing their taxes, is less familiar to the public. Associating TurboTax with the latter is the brand’s primary marketing focus this year, and it’s amplifying that message through campaigns timed to tentpole events during tax season, including the Super Bowl and, most recently, the NCAA March Madness tournaments.

For new filers who are also student athletes—some of whom profited off of the NCAA’s updated “Name, Image and Likeness” policy—the brand has a new pitch. “This is the first full year that student athletes can make money off of their name, image and likeness,” Cathleen Ryan, SVP of Marketing at Intuit TurboTax, told Chief Marketer this week. “It’s a new reality for them. It just didn’t exist before.”

“Some of them are making a whole lot of money, and some of them are making a few hundred dollars here and there,” she added. “But either way, those NIL deals create tax implications. And it’s not just for the students. In many cases, the parents need to rethink their tax strategy as well.” Following is our conversation with Ryan about TurboTax’s March Madness campaign, how the brand is reaching Gen Z audiences on colleges campuses and through social media, new market opportunities, and more.

Chief Marketer: How is the messaging of the NCAA campaign different from previous years?

Cathleen Ryan, SVP of Marketing, Intuit TurboTax: We’ve been an advertiser in and around March Madness for years, but this is the first time we’re taking a collective approach to college athletes and students, inclusive of the NCAA partnership. But much beyond that, we’re going bigger with activating in new spaces, specifically where Gen Z and college students are natively, both physically and digitally.

Our entire program is rooted in education and empowering young adults who are just figuring out how to do life on their own, and providing them with the tools and resources they need to file their taxes with confidence, and know that they’re getting every possible dollar they deserve on their return. The NCAA sponsorship is a part of that, but we have college ambassador programs, a really big activation, and working with Influencer the platform that supports young student athletes.

CM: How are you incorporating the NCAA’s Name, Image, Likeness policy? That’s new for you, right?

CR: This is the first full year that student athletes can make money off of their name, image and likeness. Some of them are making a whole lot of money, and some of them are making a few hundred dollars here and there. But either way, those NIL deals create tax implications. And not just for the students, but for the parents. The big reason we’re so active in this space is that they need to be educated on what it means for their taxes and where to get help. And in many cases the parents need to rethink their tax strategy as well.

Student athletes are especially busy, given classes, practices and games. The last thing they want to talk or think about is doing their taxes. For us, it’s all about bringing help and resources directly to them, whether that’s on campus, working in partnership with the NCAA or with influencers. And then we have five or so individual university relationships where we’re reaching out through athletic departments, through student groups, et cetera, to ensure that the help and support is there. NIL is a new reality for student athletes. It just didn’t exist before. We want to make sure that they have the education and tools available to them so they’re not surprised at tax time.

 

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CM: Beyond the messaging of this campaign, what are the strategic marketing goals?

CR: We are looking to market full funnel through this effort, so everything from awareness, consideration, trial and purchase, ideally. We’ve experimented with a number of on-campus activations where students and student athletes can engage with our tax experts, ask questions and get expert answers. We’re providing a ton of content and resources for NIL athletes who need to do things like estimate their expenses, learn how to track expenses, things like that. It’s both awareness and consideration, but also engagement and education.

CM: Beyond this campaign, what are the other ways are you marketing to Gen Z?

CR: In addition to the NIL and influencer campaigns, we’re very active in the media channels and spaces with high Gen Z concentration. So, lots of TikTok, Twitter and social media in general. Media consumption has changed, so there’s streaming, OTT, Netflix. We were one of the first partners to sign on with Netflix ad-supported. We’re thinking about all the places and spaces where Gen Z spends their time, and where we can have a conversation, engage and hopefully entertain, too.

CM: In your research, have you noticed anything different about how younger consumers approach finance and taxes today?

CR: We have done some unique research around Gen Z—and they’re even less likely to want to talk about money and finances than previous generations. Unfortunately, it’s just a part of our culture. But where we can really make a difference is allowing people access to experts and tools, where they can find answers that they’re maybe not comfortable getting from friends or family.

One of the interesting things that we’ve seen with Gen Z in particular is a new way of working and living your life that is different than previous generations. You see a lot of side hustles or side jobs, and an entrepreneurial spirit. And that has tax implications. So it’s important for us, as TurboTax, to ensure that this generation understands the opportunities in and the implications of how they’re making a living, which does look materially different than previous generations.

CM: Where are you looking for growth and new markets this year?

CR: Ultimately, we want people to understand that TurboTax has a full suite of offerings. We have calcified brand perceptions of TurboTax as a DIY software product. But the reality is we are so much more than that. We have a growing full service business, where in a few easy clicks you can share your documents with a tax expert and they will prepare and file your return for you. We have an assisted product where you prepare your taxes with the help of an expert and it even includes a final review of your return, if you want that extra level of confidence before you hit the file button.

When you think about who that applies to, it applies to everyone. There is a huge opportunity, certainly for new-to-the-category filers such as student athletes, but also people that are overpaying a legacy tax pro who maybe doesn’t have the breadth of experience that TurboTax has. As an example, we prepare hundreds of thousands of returns with crypto expenses, gains and losses in them every year. Your local person down the street maybe has seen one of those. We’ve seen it all, and the expertise that comes with that ensures you get your best outcome. That’s the piece that we’re trying to get out in market this year: Come to TurboTax and don’t do your taxes. Let one of our experts do them for you. We are so much more than DIY and have been for years, but we need to get that message out there.

The post Brands on Fire: TurboTax Marketing SVP on Courting Student Athletes During March Madness appeared first on Chief Marketer.

Influencer marketing partnerships comprise a key portion of many companies’ brand awareness initiatives—and for some, they can help boost the bottom line. Event Marketer examines 10 tips for creating a killer influencer event, such as aligning expectations, personalizing touchpoints, incorporating the local community, and more.

The post 10 Ways to Ensure Influencer Events Impact the Bottom Line appeared first on Chief Marketer.

Social media influencers are frequently tapped by fashion and beauty brands to promote their products. But finance companies can experiment with influencer marketing, too. Take Kasasa, a fintech company that partners with local banks and credit unions. It capitalized on the “shop local” trend with a video campaign urging consumers to switch to or open new accounts at community-based banks. AdExchanger looks at how one brand is applying the “going local” concept to finance institutions—and the challenges that entails.

The post How Fintech Company Kasasa Tapped Influencer Marketing and the ‘Shop Local’ Trend appeared first on Chief Marketer.

Influencer marketing will likely be used to increase engagement with new digital landscapes in the metaverse. And some brands are diving in and embracing virtual influencers, or lifelike personas created and managed by digital artists and agencies. But a new subset of influencers brings with it a new set of regulations and caveats. PRNEWS looks at what brands should consider when tapping virtual influencers for their campaigns.

The post Considerations and Caveats for Marketers Tapping Virtual Influencers for the Metaverse appeared first on Chief Marketer.

A new subset of influencers taking social media by storm: “granfluencers.” Evoking nostalgia and boasting a refreshing, unapologetic attitude, this 60-plus crew is captivating audiences of all ages. Here’s a look from sister pub Event Marketer at a few A-list granfluencers defying ageist stereotypes and wielding influence within a variety of lifestyle verticals.

The post Introducing ‘Granfluencers:’ A New Subset of Senior Social Media Influencers appeared first on Chief Marketer.

A global pandemic has turned consumers’ attention toward the value of a robust, healthy immune system. And as a result, ingesting foods that support that health—like probiotics—has become increasingly important for many.

“Because of the pandemic, almost 30 percent of consumers are consuming more functional foods and beverages—and the probiotics category has benefited a lot from that tailwind,” says Kallie Goodwin, Vice President of Family & Wellness Brands at Danone NA. So when it came time to launch its new probiotic-packed product, Activia+, the brand leaned into immunity as a hook.

We spoke with Goodwin about marketing its latest product launch, and how it partnered with retailer shopper marketing programs, tapped influencers to court a younger demographic and leveraged scientific research to support its health claims.

Chief Marketer: What are Activia’s overall marketing strategy and communication objectives? And how do they connect to the new Activia+ campaign?

Kallie Goodwin, Vice President of Family & Wellness Brands at Danone NA: As we’re talking to our consumers, we know how important your gut is to your overall health and wellness. And we know that a lot of the body’s systems are connected to the gut. Our original A to Z, “Your gut is where it all begins” campaign, is anchored in that insight. It helps educate primarily our female target that how you feel on the inside impacts how you feel on the outside, “from active to zealous.” It empowers you to be your best self.

So when we developed and were looking at launching our Activia+ Multi-Benefit Probiotic product, which offers both the probiotic benefit from Activia through our superior probiotic strains as well as an immunity benefit delivered through vitamin C, D and zinc, we wanted to continue that communication strategy with the A+ Feels ad, using the same kind of creative tone and style—the sing-songy, highly-visual approach.

We know immunity is top of mind for consumers right now, obviously, with the pandemic. A lot of consumers are looking for immunity benefit in their foods, and 44 percent of consumers are interested in yogurt to help support their immune system. We wanted to launch it in a really big way, and we knew that leveraging our existing creative idea, which they’ve seen for the last 18 months, would help instantly communicate to consumers.

CM: Besides TV advertising, what channels have you used to market the new product?

KG: We looked at a variety of channels, but are focused on video, in television and online, to drive awareness so that people know about the product and to drive them to the shelf. But it’s not just television. We also have a robust conversion program driving trial and conversion at shelf with coupons, both digital and print, and in-store promotion tactics.

CM: What shopper marketing tactics are you using? How are you cutting through the clutter?

KG: It’s a two-pronged approach. The first is working specifically with every customer team to marry our trade program. So, promoting and getting the right feature and display on the product. At the same time, it’s integrating into that retailer’s shopper programming. Whether it’s Publix or Kroger, each has their own mechanics and rich shopper data for them to reach their customers, and so it’s about leveraging those programs to make sure we’re reaching the Kroger shopper the way they’re used to being reached, through their loyalty card, ads targeted specifically to them through the Kroger retail media group, etc. We have a robust program specific to each customer. That’s one tactic.

For the second, we layer on national consumer promotion tactics by working with a partner like Quotient, where we’re delivering digital coupons through a coupons.com-type platform that also can connect into specific retailers, but more at a national level. We’re trying to give consumers a reason to try us through a discount in the way in which they’re used to receiving those discounts.

CM: What are the consumer insights that this campaign is based on?

KG: We’ve seen that—because of the pandemic—almost 30 percent of consumers are consuming more functional foods and beverages and the probiotics category has benefited a lot from that tailwind. Activia, however, has been outpacing the probiotic category because of our superiority as the number one probiotic and the number one recommended probiotic by doctors. So when thinking about how to expand Activia as a brand anchored in the gut health space, immunity was just a natural place to go next. Seventy percent of your immune system actually lives in your gut. And as I mentioned before, we know that consumers are looking for foods to help support their immune system.

How do we go about doing it? The consumer we’re trying to reach, this healthy go-getter who is a younger millennial consumer, is looking for multiple benefits in their products. So rather than just a standalone immunity benefit, we wanted to bundle it with our existing Activia probiotic and then use vitamins and minerals to help deliver that immune system support.

Then there are other trends that we’re also aware of and incorporating into this, which is additional scrutiny on sugar. Sugar has replaced fat as the biggest dietary demon and a lot of consumers, particularly this younger millennial, are really mindful about sugar. Each bottle of Activia+ only has nine grams of sugar and 70 calories. So all in, when you combine the functional benefits of the product with this delicious, convenient format, it makes it a winner in our book.

CM: How are you appealing specifically to younger generations through your marketing tactics?

KG: In two ways: in tone and personality and in look and feel. We don’t want to be—and we’re not anymore—the old Activia for your mom. We know that a lot of that is just how we show up. Are we showing up in a modern, vibrant way? And that is the beauty of the A to Z campaign. It shows a variety of different women, a variety of different body styles, all living their best lives in an active way that has this very youthful energy.

The second way is in diversifying our media mix and leveraging influencers to help us tell our story to a younger audience. In 2021, we partnered with Iskra Lawrence, an outspoken influencer, model and younger, new mom. That’s going to continue to be part of our strategy moving forward. Are we partnering with the right influencers that are helping us show up to those younger demographics?

CM: What are the biggest challenges for marketers looking to cut through the clutter in the wellness space today?

KG: There are two that keep me up at night. One you’ve already highlighted: cutting through the clutter. There are so many different options in health and wellness. There’s constantly new brands coming to market with different benefits—some of them more backed in science than others, if I’m being honest. In that case, we rely on the superiority of Activia and the fact that we are the number one doctor-recommended probiotic to help us in that superiority effort. But still, it’s a very busy media landscape. We spend a lot of money on Activia as a percentage of our total yogurt marketing budget because we want to make sure that we’re cutting through that clutter with a really clear message.

The second one is more specific to a brand like Activia in the health and wellness space. You have to make sure that you have the science and are constantly reminding consumers of that superiority, but it has to be in a way that’s very subtle so that we’re not seen as medicinal. [We want to be] seen as a proactive part of people’s health and wellness and not a reactive one—like, “I take this when I don’t feel good” kind of thing. So as we’re on our journey to modernize and be our target’s ally in a proactive health and wellness way, we have to walk that line.

The post Danone NA VP Talks Activia+ Product Launch Within the Wellness Space appeared first on Chief Marketer.

Particularly over the course of the pandemic, when social media became the sole means of marketing communications for many brands, micro-influencers have become an important part of marketing programs that target Gen Z audiences, according to an article in Multichannel Merchant. In-person collaboration, brand ambassador programs and expanded verticals will play a greater role within the influencer marketing space in the year ahead.

Migration to Offline

While social media platforms remain optimal channels for micro-influencer marketing, brands will also opt for in-person collaborations, such as in-store engagement and promotion.

Brand Ambassador Programs

Macro- and mega-influencers frequently hold brand ambassador roles. But micro-influencers can also fulfill this role. In fact, for many brands, they are the preferred level of influence due to price, engagement and brand impact.

For more ways in which micro-influencers can be tapped by brands in 2022, read on in Multichannel Merchant.

The post How Micro-Influencer Programs Will Evolve in 2022 appeared first on Chief Marketer.

New developments occurred in the social commerce space this week. On Oct. 6, Pinterest announced it has added several features to make shopping on the platform easier, including a new way to create shoppable videos, opportunities for creators to tag brands they want to collaborate with and the ability to promote a brand’s values, such as adding labels like “women-owned” or “eco-friendly business,” according to reporting from AdExchanger.

For shoppable video, merchants can pull in many products from their catalog feed automatically through a tool called Slideshow for Collections. Creators can tag a brand or products and promote an ad through an Idea Ads with Paid Partnership feature. And sellers can become Verified Merchants to showcase their affiliations.

The differentiator Pinterest is going for relates to its focus on discovery and capturing intent as opposed to facilitating transactions. It hopes to a play a role in “bridging upper-funnel discovery and bottom-of-the-funnel purchases.” By emphasizing shopping rather than merely buying, the platform aims to create more of an experience. For more details on Pinterest’s new features, read on in AdExchanger.

The post Pinterest Launches New Social Commerce Features Facilitating Shoppable Video appeared first on Chief Marketer.

Legal experts are anticipating what the FTC’s forthcoming revised guidelines for influencers will entail, according to an article in PRNEWS. Throughout the pandemic, we’ve seen relaxed enforcement of influencer regulations. Nonetheless, brands should remain vigilant. For more detail, read on in PRNEWS.

The post What to Expect From the FTC’s Updated Enforcement Guidelines on Influencer Marketing appeared first on Chief Marketer.

Gap’s challenge from a marketing perspective is connecting with consumers on an emotional level season after season. So, when its vintage logo sweatshirts became a fashion trend this year on TikTok, the brand capitalized on the buzz and crowdsourced the color for its next hoodie. The brand is connecting with consumers by collaborating with culture influencers and optimizing its media mix across the entire marketing funnel, according to a piece in AdExchanger.

The crowdsourcing opportunity helped Gap acquire teen customers, a new segment for the brand, and led to the launch of its teen line in May 2020. “It’s not just about disseminating the assets that we’ve created, but also co-creating and engaging with the customer on these platforms,” Gap CMO Mary Alderete told AdExchanger. “It’s all about balancing and finding the initiatives that help you grow the brand.”

To reach consumers, the brand is also celebrating culture influencers and makers across all of its marketing platforms. For instance, on TikTok it found Nakia Smith, a Black female and activist for the deaf community who signs in a way that incorporates the Black dialect, and is collaborating with her to tell her story.

But beyond connecting with consumers on an emotional level at the top of the marketing funnel, Alderete says, the brand’s digital marketing strategy across Facebook, Instagram, programmatic and email is just as important. Read more in AdExchanger.

The post Gap CMO on Connecting With Consumers on an Emotional Level Through Content appeared first on Chief Marketer.