Expert asset library
Challenge
TurboTax had spent decades being known as software. For years, it started to make a fundamental shift toward expert-led, human-first tax help. That shift only works if customers can see it. The challenge was building a visual system that could prove the human presence of TurboTax at scale: from a local store opening in Culver City to a Super Bowl spot, from a search ad to a product page. How do you create a standard that feels professional without feeling corporate, letting the humanity of each expert come through?
Solution
Spring built an expert visual system designed to hold at every scale while keeping the person at the center. A consistent wardrobe palette with deliberate variations that feel both branded and authentic to the individual. Expert credentials supported these portraits, building trust in the person, not just the platform. A system flexible enough to activate locally, perform in paid media, and show up on national television. Human at every touchpoint.
Human at every touchpoint
The system was built to activate locally without losing its standard. We had to scale all the way up without losing humanity. Store opening assets in Culver City, expert-specific social formats, local offer extensions. The same visual framework running in a Super Bowl spot featuring Adrién Brody, where the expert-led model reached its largest audience yet. One system, one standard.
Where the brand becomes real
Spring translated the expert studio look and feel directly into the retail environment. Same wardrobe system, same visual language, now set against the warm wood and soft curves of the stores themselves. The in-store library balanced two jobs. It had to hero the beauty of the new spaces while keeping the focus on what actually matters to customers, which was a warm, confident expert making someone feel calm and in control. The space is the backdrop while the human connection is always the point.
Built to be noticed, trusted and optimized
The core library was built for performance as much as presence. Branded wardrobe in rich blueberry and watermelon with subtle variations gives the system cohesion without uniformity. Experts look like themselves, and like TurboTax. Expert credentials layered into the visual system with years of experience, signature, and expert designation. This translated the brand's research-backed trust story into something a customer can see and believe at a glance.
Impact
Full overview
TurboTax had spent decades telling people they could do their taxes themselves. Now the brand was evolving it’s bet that what customers really wanted was a real person who knew what they were doing. That shift only works if it's visible. Spring's job was to build the visual system that proved it.
The central challenge was holding a human standard at scale. A consistent look that felt professional without feeling corporate. Wardrobe in rich blueberry and watermelon with deliberate variations. We needed to ensure enough consistency to signal the brand and enough range to let each expert feel like themselves. Expert credentials baked into the visual system: signature, years of experience, expert designation. Research showed customers needed to see proof before they trusted and Spring made that proof visible.
The core library was built around real experts selected through a casting process designed to reflect the full range of TurboTax's customer base by experience level, service type, and demographic. Spring refined the roster each season in close partnership with the strategy team, accounting for new experts, retirements, and the evolving needs of the business.
For TY25, the system had to grow. The launch of physical retail required a dedicated library built around trust made visible. The imagery conveyed the credibility and connection of being in the same room as an expert. Community shoots brought experts into local settings, chosen for meaning rather than recognition. And the system had to hold from those local activations all the way to a Super Bowl spot. The same standard and human presence at every scale.
The data validated the approach. A 34% lift in consideration from diversity in OOH placements. A 3.9% CTR lift on Local Services Ads from branded expert headshots. Expert imagery with stronger branded elements outperforming in CLP testing. Customers put it plainly: seeing a real person paints the picture and communicates how they'd actually work with an expert. Spring built the system that made that possible and built it to scale.
Spring role
- Strategy and creative direction
- Wardrobe toolkit design
- Casting
- Production
Collaborators
- Jeff Thomas: Photography
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