H&R Block is the largest tax preparer in the world. Our objective for this spot was two-fold. First, we needed to let people know that the company provides online services for people who want to file their own taxes. Secondly, we needed to highlight the fact that H&R Block’s tax software is the best available online and will help people get a bigger tax return. Most people who file their own taxes don’t do a good job of it.

In this spot we show how not having the best tools makes it harder to do a job well. We show a crew of construction workers attempting to demolish a derelict building by swinging a giant toy bunny rabbit (rather than a wrecking ball) at it from a crane. We set this up in a New York street and filmed the reactions of real members of the public who were passing by and who were able to witness the wrong tool doing a bad job. The outtake of the spot is that to do a job well, you need the right tools and that H&R Block provides the best tools for people filing their own taxes online.

Rather than telling our target we had the best tax preparers, we opted to prove it. We picked a small town in Tennessee and offered to redo the income taxes of everyone living there. If, after re-examining their taxes, this “Second Look” found them more money, we would have proven we were better than the other tax preparers, and worth the investment. So, we called the mayor, rented the high-school gym, packed up forty-five of our finest tax experts and made the journey to Greenback, Tennessee to provide our target with an opportunity for real-life engagement with our brand. Ten days and over a thousand man-hours later, we brought an extra $14,687 back to the hardworking people there. Then, culling from the 17 hours of footage we shot, we created a web documentary and television spots to bring the experience to life for the rest of our target.

After our success in Greenback, we packed up and travelled across the country to the Nickel Diner in LA to see what money we could find people there. Between these locations, we brought back close to $25,000—all money that was previously left on the table. The millions of Americans who saw our web documentaries and televisions spots started to see the value of H&R Block. After our launch, appointments at H&R Block offices skyrocketed +350% over last year, online starts jumped +250%, and appointments for first-time H&R Block clients doubled. Needless to say, we far exceeded with client acquisition.