HONE's Creative and Production Strategy Powers QuickBooks’ Rebranding Effort

Intuit QuickBooks, known for its innovative end-to-end platform that powers growth for small businesses, is in the midst of elevating the brand to encapsulate recent product innovation. Their goal was clear: communicate the value of their products in a way that resonates with small-business owners—many of whom find traditional financial tools complex and unintuitive. In partnership with Intuit’s creative and strategic teams, HONE developed an overarching brand platform and continued to partner with the brand to bring the creative concept to life in a campaign that would truly resonate with their target audiences. 

“The success of our previous work with Intuit Mailchimp opened the door for us to step in and provide a solution,” he tells me. “QuickBooks had a smart strategic path, but the creative idea wasn’t landing, and time was running out.”

HONE stepped in with a strong top-of-funnel concept that would drive the campaign forward, providing a complete end-to-end production solution. Within a tight 12-week window, the team was tasked with conceptualizing the campaign and executing it at  scale to meet QuickBooks needs. 

What set HONE apart was their renowned ability to quickly assemble a team of creative and production experts with deep experience in the tech and financial services categories.

HONE’s approach is rooted in a deep understanding of production needs from the very start. “We always start with the production’s end goal in mind—understanding budget constraints, immovable deadlines, and implementing flexible plans as the final deliverables take shape in real-time,” says Matt. This production-first mindset has been crucial in helping HONE navigate complex projects like the QuickBooks campaign, where collaboration between internal teams, external vendors, and cross-functional partners is key.

But QuickBooks’ rebranding campaign wasn’t just another advertising project—it marked the first time the brand had worked with a hybrid approach, where HONE embedded with the company’s in-house teams to oversee the production and creative execution on behalf of the brand. This shift required deep collaboration between HONE and QuickBooks’ internal teams, from creative to product to media.

HONE lived up to their reputation, demonstrating an innate ability to seamlessly integrate with QuickBooks’ global market leads and their network of agencies, including media, social, and influencer partners. This proved to be invaluable. “Leveraging our experience with other in-house brand teams in the tech space, we quickly integrated into the QuickBooks workflow,” Matt explains. “It was critical to understand their needs, their constraints, and their culture. We focused on building plans that met those needs and did so in real-time.”

One of the most essential elements of HONE’s involvement was their ability to serve as an extension of QuickBooks’ internal team, meeting the campaign's ambitious timeline without sacrificing creative quality. This collaborative approach was integral to ensuring that the final product aligned with QuickBooks' vision while addressing all the practical demands of a high-stakes global campaign.

HONE’s integrated model also facilitated creative development by allowing the production team to work hand-in-hand with QuickBooks’ internal teams. 

“One benefit of our model is that we share creative ownership and avoid silos,” Matt notes. “For the QuickBooks campaign, we worked closely with their internal creative and design teams to handle parts of the creative process, such as overseeing the development of the product UI and animation assets.”

This division of labour allowed HONE’s creative talent to focus on key aspects of the campaign, such as developing compelling narratives and highlighting the unique product features of QuickBooks. As Matt explains, this strategic collaboration freed up the production team to focus on executing the campaign efficiently and creatively.

The creative development process was also supported by HONE’s experience working with outside production companies. For the QuickBooks campaign, HONE partnered with the production company Smuggler and renowned director Björn Rühmann. Given HONE’s established relationships across the industry, they were able to bring together the right talent and resources, ensuring that all production elements were of the highest quality.

Managing a global brand campaign often involves working with multiple partners and stakeholders, making the production process inherently complex. HONE’s solution to this challenge was to keep all stakeholders closely engaged throughout the process, fostering constant communication and addressing any issues in real-time.

“Rather than stepping away to ‘work in isolation’ and then coming back with last-minute approvals, we embedded ourselves in the day-to-day operations,” Matt explains. “This allowed us to foster constant communication through daily stand-ups, ensuring everyone remained aligned.” 

HONE made use of both their own operational tools and QuickBooks' existing systems to track timelines, responsibilities, and progress, allowing for full visibility and transparency throughout the process.

In addition to keeping everyone on the same page, HONE’s proactive approach allowed them to anticipate potential challenges and address them before they could impact the campaign. This proactive mindset was key in ensuring that the campaign remained on schedule, even with a looming deadline tied to a critical NFL media buy.

As the campaign moved into execution, the collaborative effort of HONE and QuickBooks paid off. Despite facing an immovable delivery date and limited time to produce a fully integrated global campaign, the project was a success. 

“We are proud that our unique model was ideally equipped to rise to the occasion and deliver for our client,” says Matt. “We couldn’t be prouder of the tight-knit group of talent we assembled to deliver on the demands of this ambitious project.”

While Matt jokes that his favourite part of the project was the many taco places they visited in Mexico City and Los Angeles during the shoot, it’s clear the true victory came from the team’s ability to come together, integrate seamlessly with the QuickBooks internal team, and overcome the many challenges posed by a fast-paced, high-pressure production schedule.

HONE’s work on this QuickBooks rebranding campaign stands as a prime example of how an integrated production strategy—one that blends creative and operational expertise—can help brands meet ambitious goals and deadlines. By emphasizing collaboration, transparency, and a production-first mindset, HONE helped reposition QuickBooks as a leader in the small-business financial tools space, ensuring the campaign resonated with its target audience and exceeded expectations.

For brands and agencies facing similar challenges in today’s fast-moving advertising landscape, HONE’s unique approach to production offers a valuable blueprint for success.