The challenge we set to overcome was to defend our stake in the Free tax filing space. We needed to cement the base by increasing our share in Free. Communicating that TurboTax Free is free needed to be loud and clear - leaving no doubt in consumers’ minds. Simply put, free alone is not enough; top of mind free is the objective and the key to winning the tax season. To do this we crafted a delivery method that was as straightforward as the ask - demonstrate “The Power of Free”. We made sure that the only thing people ever heard or saw when exposed to TurboTax was “free,” including in our print execution.

The objective of our print placement was pretty straightforward: clearly communicate that TurboTax has a free product. What better way to hit on the message than a crossword puzzle?

The beloved New York Times crossword puzzle is a puzzle that is held near and dear to a puzzler’s heart. Puzzlers look forward to taking on the challenge that is this puzzle, and in an effort to ensure everyone knew that TurboTax Free is…well, free, we strategically bought two placements adjacent to the New York Times Magazine’s weekly crossword puzzle.

To do this, we created 132 clues, including TurboTax product clues. All of which had an answer of “Free”. We felt this was a great way for consumers to not only be exposed to our message, but do so in a way that actually provides some level of engagement with arguably the easiest crossword puzzle ever.

We needed to connect with millennial simple filers who heavily rely on free tax filing services. They know they have a straight-forward tax situation and consequently, they know they’re going to file for free, their only question is who to use. In a year of product rebrand from “TurboTax Absolute Zero” to “TurboTax Free,” we made sure our target knew that TurboTax Free is...well, free.

The New York Times crossword puzzle felt like the perfect method to connect with the target audience. So we made sure our creative placement was directly adjacent to the puzzle to engage the audience and communicate our key message.

We created 132 clues, including TurboTax product clues. All of which had an answer of “Free”. We felt this was a great way for consumers to not only be exposed to our message, but do so in a way that actually provides some level of engagement with arguably the easiest crossword puzzle ever.

The print ad was placed in the January 27, 2019 and February 3, 2019 issues of the New York Times Magazine. Knowing that the New York Times has a dedicated following to its crosswords, the placements were strategically bought to be adjacent to the NYT crossword puzzle and engage the avid followers of the puzzle.

The campaign proved to be so successful at securing customer growth that the client made a decision to pivot the media investment towards this campaign vs. the other running in parallel and made the decision to invest an incremental 14% of the media overall budget to amplify this campaign across various mediums.

Our crossword specifically was so well received, an avid puzzler sent an email to the editor about how much they enjoyed our execution.