Happier Business

Happier Business — project still

One of the key business challenges QuickBooks faced was convincing small businesses to make the leap from spreadsheets to its software.

To show the dramatic impact of QuickBooks and inspire the switch, we transformed notoriously grumpy TV character-business owners into noticeably happier versions of themselves. We made John Kreese from The Karate Kid laid-back and Janine Melnitz from Ghostbusters cheerful. We would have made the Soup Nazi from Seinfeld charming, but the client, wanting to play it safe, pulled the plug. No soup for you!

The spots were part of a $100M integrated campaign spanning social, digital, broadcast, and OLV. We even extended the idea into a custom line of Dojo merch.

These :15s ran as broadcast and online.

To show how easy it is to invoice or run payroll with QuickBooks, we turned Instagram Stories' tap-through behavior into interactive demos of the app itself.

QuickBooks Happy Business — Ghostbusters trial run, screen 1
QuickBooks Happy Business — Ghostbusters trial run, screen 2
QuickBooks Happy Business — Ghostbusters trial run, screen 3
QuickBooks Happy Business — Dojo trial run, screen 1
QuickBooks Happy Business — Dojo trial run, screen 2
QuickBooks Happy Business — Dojo trial run, screen 3

QuickBooks leaned into social behavior by having Janine and Sensei post throwbacks to their grumpy former selves.

Happier Business — Janine throwback
Happier Business — Sensei throwback

We created a custom merch line for Koala Kai with the Dojo mantra: Strike First. Strike Hard. Hug Often.

Cobra Kai Koala merchandise line
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