SoHo grand opening
Challenge
TurboTax was opening its SoHo flagship at the start of tax season. For a brand expanding into physical retail nationwide, this was the moment to reset the tax-season narrative and drive broad awareness that TurboTax now exists in real life. The opening needed to earn media coverage, generate influencer amplification, and create the kind of cultural signal that travels beyond one block in SoHo.
Solution
Spring designed a grand opening that launched TurboTax into culture and into SoHo. A cinematic streetscape, a flagship experience built around expert confidence, a fireside chat with Issa Rae, a community event with New York Yankees Aaron Judge, and a concert three doors down added up to a single city-scale moment that announced TurboTax is in your neighborhood and shows up like this.
An identity built for the moment
A grand opening only happens once. Spring developed a unique event identity through a custom typographic treatment that was distinct enough to feel like a cultural moment, while connected enough to feel unmistakably TurboTax. Brand colors and typefaces held the system together. The IRL script overlay pushed it somewhere new, raw, energetic. The result traveled across every surface including outdoor banners, transit placements, event badges, tote bags, and digital invites. One identity, built to show up anywhere the night did.
From storefront to stage
Three doors away from the TurboTax flagship, Spring directed the brand into a three-story SoHo loft in night mode. Material, light, color, and brand signatures translated the space into a concert and interactive experiences. A walkway of illuminated arches connected the two environments, turning a logistical gap into a deliberate transition.
Spring leveraged high-impact partnerships that not only brought buzz-worthy attention, but also intentionally positioned TurboTax as a dynamic disruptor.
“Now that was f*cking cool.”
Mark Notarainni, GM Assisted TurboTax
Impact
Full overview
TurboTax had never shown up like this. The SoHo flagship was the brand's first permanent physical address and the grand opening was its first chance to prove it could occupy real space with the same authority it delivers digitally. SoHo is skeptical territory with a radar for anything that tries too hard. The risk was that people would come, look around, and leave feeling like they'd been marketed to.
Spring had the context others didn't. How the product works, where users hesitate, how much trust is required to engage with taxes at all. That informed every decision about how the brand needed to behave in a physical environment and led to the central insight. Confidence is the product. We built that confidence through environment, conversation, and access to experts.
Spring designed six environments as one coherent system. The streetscape drew attention from the block and made the store feel active before anyone stepped inside. The flagship interior was designed with deliberate restraint. Rather than layering additional brand elements, Spring let the store's architecture carry the weight. Forum graphics and a giant check were the signature moments. Large enough to anchor the space, specific enough to feel intentional.
A fireside chat with Issa Rae made the expert-led model tangible in a room full of press and tastemakers. Selecting her was both about reach and resonance. Her trajectory from digital creator to multi-platform entrepreneur mirrors exactly where TurboTax is headed.
Three doors down, the SoHo Lofts ran in night mode. The same brand in a darker, more immersive register. Spring directed the space through material, light, color, and brand signatures. Anderson .Paak and the Free Nationals headlined. DJ Mick held the room between sets. Interactive experiences gave guests a reason to stay and participate rather than observe. Yankees captain Aaron Judge appeared as Celebrity Concierge, grounding the evening's cultural energy in genuine community purpose through Intuit for Education.
The walkway connecting the two venues featured illuminated arches and planters, turning a three-door transition into part of the experience.
Spring also authored the narrative, not just the experience. Site tours for 42 media attendees and 8 influencers were written and directed as editorial, a structured point of view on what the space meant and what the brand was saying by being there. 136 million earned impressions don't happen by accident.
The result was 223 million total impressions, 306 media stories, and a brand that entered culture on its own terms.
Spring role
- Brand identity
- Concept and creative direction
- Experience and environmental design
- Event programming
- Narrative and editorial direction
- Forum graphics and signature moments
Collaborators
- All Terrain Collective - Field marketing, event planning, and design
- Project Art Collective - Creative production, fabrication, and installation
Next Project
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