Professional
Tax Identity

Between 2015 and 2020, Intuit's marketing strategy was evolving, moving from a “house of brands” to a “connected brand ecosystem” in support of it's new mission, “powering prosperity around the world,” and customer promise of “no work, more money, complete confidence.” 

I was hired at Intuit as a Principal Designer in Feburary 2016, when the professional tax business unit was creating a new B2B brand. At that time, work was nearly complete on a logomark, single-minded benefit, and product naming strategy to represent the multifaceted relationships we shared with tax and accounting professionals. Under the name ProConnect, the company now had a new portfolio brand dedicated to the professional tax and accounting market, equally represented and aligned with our consumer brands, TurboTax, QuickBooks, and Mint.

Introducing

joining our ecosystem of consumer and small business brands

Fit in and stand out.

I worked closely with marketing partners and an external agency for the next three months to develop a robust set of brand guidelines, assets, and go-to-market deliverables in support of a successful brand launch in late April, the beginning of the tax year.

ProConnect brand guidelines

While developing the ProConnect brand identity, I was given the unique and rewarding opportunity to form and lead the professional tax marketing design team. I was promoted to Group Design Manager and Creative Director. And over the next three years under the ProConnect brand identity, we shaped how the professional tax industry uncovered and understood who Intuit was, and shared how Intuit could help their firms and clients prosper.

Drag the slider below to see the brand transformation

In 2019, things changed again…

The marketing strategy shifted to prioritize building awareness for the Intuit brand. We set ambitious goals to attract the world's top talent to do the best work of their lives, and fully realize our “connected brand ecosystem” under the Intuit parent brand. This included narrowing our brand strategy and investment to target consumer, small-business, and self-employed audiences…and eliminate the ProConnect partner brand.

The Intuit ecosystem lockup

Now, our challenge was to transition away from ProConnect as our partner brand to best meet the needs of our customers and the company. 

We developed a principled approach to help us make decisions throughout the process: maximize durability and minimize disruption. We addressed short-term considerations with the new name and identity, but also looked forward to ensure our solutions fully align with our long-term Intuit brand strategy. This change could not disturb other business priorities or customer marketing and product experiences. With change comes the opportunity for risk. Success here meant seamlessness. 

Once our goals and principles were in place, we wrote a brief and began work. We started the design process by going broad, talking with prospects and existing customers to understand their thinking and explored how others inside and outside our industry addressed similiar situations. Moving quickly, we presented tax and accounting professionals with a variety of potential names via surveys, interviews, and design provocations. Two options rose to the top; “Intuit Professionals” and another that was our identity before ProConnect – “Intuit Accountants.”

With research in hand, we shared our data and recommendations to senior leaders and stakeholders. Our partner name and identity was changing (back) to Intuit Accountants. The next step was to bring it to life better than ever.

The path from research to rollout took several months. We audited the customer journey to identify needs; explored, created and tested assets; developed standards and guidelines; and drafted a corporate-wide communication plan. Bringing others along the journey was essential to collecting the right input and feedback, and ensuring everyone was aligned along the way.

In April 2020, Intuit (re)introduced Intuit Accountants across North America as their tax and accounting professional partner name and identity.

Built on the brand equity of Intuit, the new Intuit Accountants identity established a new direction for all of Intuit's identity design work outside their customer-product brands. And the accompanying identity design system informed, influenced, and connected Intuit professional and partner marketing and product experiences beyond tax.

Intuit Accountants identity and design guidelines

Intuit Accountants home page

With the successful launch of Intuit Accountants, Intuit now has a scalable, cohesive identity design strategy to create and grow relationships with non-consumer audiences and beyond professtional tax and accounting.

Potential and existing Intuit Accountants customers now have a direct and delightful way to identify content and experiences right for them, building trust and confidence in a company that will help them power prosperity for years to come.

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