Why TurboTax Created a Short Horror Film About Tax Anxiety

Op-ed by: Gah-Yee Won, Head of Marketing Consumer Group at Intuit Canada

Every tax season at TurboTax Canada, we get the opportunity to test new marketing tactics to reach our evolving audiences. This year we were particularly excited to do something entirely unique with the launch of an original short horror film (that is actually scary!). When we were thinking about how to break through to Gen Z, we leaned into the theme of tax anxiety, and realized we could use horror to bring it to life. Rooted in the insight that 85 percent of Gen Z Canadians experience anxiety or stress in anticipation of filing their taxes, we launched Undone, a short horror film that tells the story of Sophia, a young creative entrepreneur whose dread of starting her taxes takes on a haunting presence.

We know and understand that tax and finance can be emotional topics, especially for young adults. We bring that consideration into our product design and into our marketing alike. With so many young Canadians facing tax anxiety each year, we saw this as an opportunity to highlight this phenomenon and demonstrate to young Canadians they’re not alone and show how TurboTax can help.

To reach Gen Z, validate their experiences, and provide tangible solutions, we decided to speak to them in a language they love and understand: horror. The horror genre provided a platform to feature many of the common traits and symptoms associated with experiences of stress and anxiety through cinematic language, like negative self-talk, isolation, and shortness of breath. It also effectively communicates the anticipation, stress and overwhelming emotions tied to tax anxiety through jump-scares, scenes where the walls close in, and looming figures in the shadows. Without spoiling too much, setting up the anxiety that our protagonist feels also allowed us to effectively position TurboTax as the solution to that anxiety, making for a very satisfying brand reveal.

Many Canadian Gen Zs (18-27 years) are filing their taxes for the first time and often have multiple income streams to navigate or have experienced a major life event that impacts their taxes, like graduating or moving cities, making the process a little more complex. The stress they’re feeling stems in part from a lack of confidence when filing and fear of making mistakes. The survey we conducted found that stress and anxiety associated with tax filing drops as Canadians get older, potentially because they become more comfortable and experienced with the process. TurboTax empowers Canadians to file their taxes confidently, regardless of their tax situation.

In terms of format, we were excited to continue to create longer-form video storytelling, following the ongoing success of our series, What Did You Make This Year. We launched What Did You Make This Year in 2023 and it’s shown us that longer-form storytelling can lead to strong awareness and engagement and gives us a chance to humanize the brand in new ways. It was important to take the time we needed to tell our full story with Undone and let the horror really build.

To round out the campaign we partnered with mental health advocate Brittany Krystantos and are sharing her tips on our channels to help mitigate tax anxiety. We also have cutdowns of the film running on social, OLV and in Cineplex movie theatres across Canada and have partnered with influencers to help get the word out.

Our goal is to bring awareness and to validate the feelings of tax anxiety that so many young Canadians experience each year. We want them to know that they are not alone in experiencing this and that TurboTax can help take the guesswork out of getting taxes done right. If audiences watching our short horror film leave feeling a bit unsettled, entertained, but also like they’ve been seen in some way, then we’ll know we’ve succeeded.