H&R Block's Jill Cress Discusses How to Give Brand Purpose "A Fair Shot"

Mike Kaufman Your brand purpose quotTo provide help and inspire confidence in our clients and communities everywherequot notably does not include the word quottaxquot And that in turn inspired a new brand strategy leading to the quotA Fair Shotquot campaign Was there ever a risk that you might go the other way be more explicit in your purpose and put the word in Was there a debate within the organization over this and any consideration to rethink the brand purpose insteadJill Cress Many years ago the word tax was in our mission statement When our CEO joined in 2017 he wanted to inspire our associates to create a brand that was about much more than tax We changed from a mission statement what we do to a purpose statement the societal value we create For many Americans their tax refund is their largest and most significant financial transaction of the year It allows them to buy new tires for their car get ahead on bills or put a little aside for a rainy day That39s what drives us amp8211 to help them with their money in ways that extend far beyond taxKaufman Yet quotA Fair Shotquot does have a straightline connection to your company39s benefit namely helping folks navigate the complexities of our tax system How important was that connection in developing the campaign and were there other campaign ideas that did not pass musterCress When we developed quotA Fair Shotquot it was in the first year of the NCAA39s rule change allowing student athletes to earn income from their Name Image and Likeness NIL We knew there would be thousands of athletes who would not understand the tax consequences of their new income source As we dove deeper into how we could help student athletes we uncovered a disparity in the number of sponsorships female student athletes were earning in comparison to their male counterparts It was the perfect blend of our putting our purpose into action helping people navigate tax complexities while also helping solve a societal inequityKaufman In these tough times for brands and marketers with the financial downturn and lingering effects of the pandemic many companies are feeling the pressure to focus on shortterm goals rather than longterm brand building effectively putting brand purpose on the backburner Yet HampampR Block has done the opposite and leaned in Was that a tough sell What would your advice be to other marketers that are feeling that pressureCress My advice would be that nothing lasting can be built without a strong foundation of brand purpose For us there was never a distinct choice between driving business results or brand purpose They are always interwoven quotA Fair Shotquot helped us gain favorability and trust with Gen Z and that39s a key target for all our servicesKaufman There39s also a growing wariness among marketers to step into social causes for fear of alienating a part of their customer base Was that a discussion and a calculated riskCress Every brand must determine what it stands for and this commitment doesn39t have to mean being exclusionary As I shared earlier the premise of quotA Fair Shotquot is rooted in our purpose and every customer we serve across all our brands At HampampR Block we will always stand for causes that give everyone equal footing and support those trying to get aheadKaufman Of course we need to talk about results Can you speak to the campaign KPIs Were there long and shortterm goals How did it perform in the marketplaceCress The results in the first year exceeded our expectations We gained favorability and trust with Gen Z as well as college students39 parents At the time there were several other brands focused on female college athletes and our earned media results exceeded those of top household brandsKaufman And finally can you speak to the future of the campaign Is quotA Fair Shotquot an evergreen effort or are there other similar ideas in the queue That brand purpose statement would seem to be a great platform for other related and relevant efforts that can quotamp8230 provide help and inspire confidence amp8230quotCress We are launching year two of quotA Fair Shotquot soon in ways that are even more inclusive and promote equity for all In fact we recently took quotA Fair Shotquot from an HampampR Block marketing moment to a movement This is just the beginning There are so many ways HampampR Block impacts people39s lives throughout the year We know living out your purpose resonates with all Americans People want to work with brands whose values match their own There are many ways we39ll be bringing our purpose to life in the futureClick the social buttons to share this story with colleagues and friendsThe opinions expressed here are the author39s views and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet

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H&R Block's Jill Cress Discusses How to Give Brand Purpose "A Fair Shot"

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Mike Kaufman

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H&R Block's Jill Cress Discusses How to Give Brand Purpose "A Fair Shot"

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