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Intuit’s QuickBooks has concluded a global review of its creative agencies, consolidating its account into one shop: FCB New York.
FCB will be tasked with creating a new global platform for QuickBooks targeting small businesses to explain that QuickBooks is an entire suite of products that can help run their operations rather than just accounting software. FCB New York will lead the account, but other offices including FCB London, FCB Canada and R/GA Australia will be tapped to execute the global campaign in local markets.
“[FCB] had really strong strategic insights and truly a broad range of creative thinking,” said Javier Martin, QuickBooks’ global brand development director, in an exclusive interview with Adweek, adding FCB also had a strong “hunger and desire” to become the software company’s agency of record.
The brand formerly worked with TBWAChiatDay for five years globally, except in the U.K. where Wieden+Kennedy London held the account. Martin declined to disclose who made the final round of the review, but two sources told Adweek that TBWA defended the account, while Dentsu Creative also participated and made the final round.
“We had a very good working relationship with TBWA,” Martin said. “I still believe TBWA is one of the best agencies in the world, but when it came down to the model that we are trying to implement for QuickBooks moving forward, FCB seemed to be the better fit.”
Intuit’s TurboTax account is also up for review. Wieden+Kennedy is the incumbent on that account; the review is being run through MediaLink.
New global platform
Martin’s brief to the competing agencies explained that QuickBooks wants to make it clear to small business owners that its software can “run the entirety of your business, from managing your accounting to managing your money to managing your workforce.”
The new platform that FCB pitched to answer that brief won’t immediately go into production, which bucks trends Adweek has observed over the past year of reviews increasingly ending with agencies headed straight into production. QuickBooks is going to spend the rest of 2023 evaluating multiple ideas that FCB has brought forth, testing them and optimizing them, with the work coming out next year.
Martin said the brand is close to nailing down the core insight or human truth that will drive the communication platform it will build in each market to reach small business owners.
