The Best Performing TV Ads for Tax Prep Began Airing the Day After Christmas; TurboTax and H&R Block Dominate the List of Top Tax Ads
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – Ace Metrix™, the new standard in television analytics, revealed the most effective TV ads for tax preparation services this year and found that TurboTax and H&R Block tied for both the most effective and largest number of ads on the top 10 list. The two first-place ads touted the companies’ respective arsenals of tax experts available for consumers over the Internet. The two ads achieved an Ace Score of 569, nearly 20 percent higher than the average financial service ad. TurboTax’s ad broke the day after Christmas, as did three other ads in the Top 10. Eight of the top 10 ads, including H&R Block’s #1-ranked ad, broke before the end of January.
“It’s interesting—and probably not terribly surprising given the dread most of us associate with tax time– that the most effective tax ads break closer to the beginning of the year—we saw this last year as well,” said Peter Daboll, CEO of Ace Metrix. “The theme of real-time personal service really resonated with consumers this year, as did messages regarding free tax prep and money back from the prior year.”
Case in point, H&R Block’s ads touting a second look at last year’s taxes performed quite well, with two ads in the top 10. One 36-49 year old woman commented, “Who wouldn’t love to find out that they have more money coming from last year’s return?” Another 21-35 year old male living in the Midwest said, “This commercial really related to me and my family.”
“Very informative” was the most common phrase used by consumers to describe the top-ranked ad from TurboTax. One white male between 36-49 living in the West commented, “It’s good to know TurboTax is advertising their support team. I always assumed that TurboTax didn’t offer support.”
“Informative” and “service” were two common words used by consumers to describe the top-ranked H&R Block ad. One female 50+ from the South said, “Very unique way to show how you can do your taxes at home.”
Most Effective Tax (TV) Ads of Q1 2012*
| Rank | Brand | Ad Title | Ace Score | ||||||
| 1 | H&R Block | Video Chat And Get Taxes Done | 569 | ||||||
| 1 | Turbotax.com | Lisa Skelly: Working Year Round | 569 | ||||||
| 2 | H&R Block | Get The Best For Free | 564 | ||||||
| 4 | H&R Block | Second Look In Detroit | 558 | ||||||
| 5 | TaxACT | Don’t Spend Money To Get Your Own Money | 548 | ||||||
| 6 | Turbotax.com | Making It Easy: Alan Tifford | 546 | ||||||
| 7 | Turbotax.com | Free Simple Returns | 543 | ||||||
| 8 | H&R Block | Detroit Second Look | 539 | ||||||
| 9 | Jackson Hewitt | Steve’s Happy Dance | 536 | ||||||
| 10 | Turbotax.com | Woman Gets Free Gas & Does Taxes | 535 |
*Definition: Ace Score is the measure of ad creative effectiveness based on viewer reaction to national TV ads. Respondents are randomly selected and representative of the U.S. TV viewing audience. The results are presented on a scale of 0-950, which represents scoring on creative attributes such as relevance, persuasion, watchability, information, attention, etc. This list is comprised of the highest scoring new television advertisements with tax themes to have aired nationally within the last 180 days.
About Ace Metrix
Ace Metrix is the new standard in television analytics. Through patent-pending Ace Score™ measurement technology, Ace Metrix collects and measures the consumer impact of every nationally breaking TV ad in near real-time. Through its Creative Lifecycle Management™ suite of products, Ace Metrix provides actionable creative analysis, from ideation through real-time in-market performance optimization, to many of the world’s leading advertisers and agencies. Ace Metrix works with leading global advertisers. For more information, visit www.acemetrix.com
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