From Cards to Codes: How H&R Block is Embracing the Digital Age with Chief Marketing and Experience Officer, Jill Cress

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Block built the tax category and we're here working to continue to energize it and revitalize our brand as the best way to facilitate that tax experience and do other things like provide those financial solutions through our mobile banking app and do more jobs. For small businesses.

To thrive in a rapidly evolving landscape, brands must move in an ever increasing pace. I'm Matt Britton, Founder and CEO of Suzy. Join me and key industry leaders as we dive deep into the shifting consumer trends within their industry, why it matters now, and how you can keep up. Welcome to the Speed of Culture Today. We're thrilled to be joined by Jill Kress, a consumer marketing leader with 30 years of experience under a belt, including over two decades at MasterCard. Today Jill serves as Chief Marketing and Experience Officer at H and R Block and we're thrilled to have her on the podcast. Jill, so great to see you.

Hi Matt, so great to be here. Thank you for having me.

Absolutely. So I was looking at your background and it's so interesting because you spent so much time at MasterCard kind of early on in your career and I would imagine just given the platform that MasterCard has in terms of its merchant network, its reliance on consumer data, that was such a great experience for you in terms of widening your palette in terms of knowledge as a marketer.

Absolutely. It was an incredible opportunity to grow as the industry was evolving and fintech was becoming what it is today. In the 20 plus years I was at MasterCard when I joined, it was a not for profit association that an association of bank issuers and merchant acquirers and we were really connecting buyers and sellers through that network. We then became for profit and then we had the push towards a quite successful IPO and then had the time working there after the IPO where MasterCard really embraced the data and knowledge that it had on consumer behavior to diversify its business. And it was an amazing place to grow up as an executive and also as a human being. It really allowed me to grow in so many ways.

Yeah, I find that so many younger employees just feel the need to jump around every three years or every two to three years. And I think I understand the value in that because I think a lot of younger people don't feel like they have the opportunities to advance and the only way they could advance is by switching. And that's I guess, a relatively new phenomenon. But the same time I just think there's such value at really sinking your teeth in a business and understanding various aspects and building deeper relationships.

Yeah, again, I feel really fortunate in that. MasterCard was a very supportive environment for me in the way that I thought about my development. And I think I was pretty intentional about wanting to continue to grow, to take on expanded roles. I did lots of zigging and zagging and taking, you know, moving horizontally across the company, moving geographically and I think being clear on what it is that you're looking for and if you're fortunate enough to work in a culture that is supportive of that growth and you can find ways to grow. MasterCard was a growing company. It was on the precipice of lots of new things. Over the course of my tenure there, I joined to launched debit cards which were nascent at the time. I then was actively involved in launching some of the very first co branded cards in the world. I had an opportunity to move to Europe where I worked on mobile payments and leapfrogging the gap in technology that existed in Europe through telecom infrastructure. And so there was always something new and challenging and that created a really interesting playground for me to take risks and to learn. So I feel fortunate that I was able to grow there. I had, in the 22 plus years I was there, I think I had 13 roles, local roles, regional roles, global roles, strategy, product marketing. So it was a really robust environment for me to grow and make an impact.

Yeah, it's interesting because the credit card space, you know, when Apple came out with Apple Pay, I remember I was doing work with some of the large credit card companies. I remember thinking like, is anyone ever going to carry a physical credit Card again because you're just going to use your phone and we're not there yet. I don't think the consumer behavior is just tapping your phone on. Everything has caught on quite the way we thought, but it's definitely heading in that direction. Where do you see the future of the credit card industry both in form factor and in consumer utility?

Yeah, well, I think it's really broader than it was. Credit card was the category. Right now it's payments and all the things that you referenced, the form factors and the ways to pay. Interestingly, when Apple Pay launched, a big part of what fueled an Apple Pay transaction was MasterCard technology actually worked on some of that. And then while I detoured over to National Geographic and we can talk about that. But then I was at PayPal where mobile apps and driving more engagement and payment through those apps was the value prop that we brought to the market. And you know, it was interesting. I think that there were a few things that were happening that were driving large scale adoption of largely mobile to conduct transactions. The big one I think was what was happening in transit and in the uk. For example, when Oyster embraced mobile technology, you just saw a huge adoption of Apple Pay in the uk. We lived in the UK for a while and I was spending a lot of time there and to see see massive shift from what were prepaid Oyster cards to enable transit and entry into the tube to the proliferance of Apple pay to be a streamlined, significantly less a frictionless experience. And you know, similarly I'm here in New York and you see it with New York transit here as well. And so I think as mobile payments can facilitate a more seamless experience for consumers, you see much more adoption. And I think the beauty of being able to leave your home with just your phone, knowing that you have the ability to engage in commerce with it is a really exciting thing for a lot of consumers who just want to have the phone as their primary device. I mean there's all sorts of crazy data. Right. People would rather lose many things versus their phone. Yeah.

You know, someone say their teenage daughter rather lose the hand that's holding the.

Phone in the very sad statement but you know, and I think that yeah, the proliferation of phones at H and R Block, we have launched a mobile banking app that is working hard to serve our hardworking Americans who need a solution that is less expensive than traditional banking. And we see when we add more utility through savings tools and things like that offers discounts. We're creating an experience that delights the consumer and creates a More sticky relationship with our brand, which we enable payments through our mobile app through MasterCard. And you know, it's just as consumers do more on their phones, they're going to use those to pay more. And I think that is really the form factor that is winning and will continue to win.

Absolutely. I mean, curiously, how much cash do you normally carry when you leave the house?

Yeah, very little.

I have zero. I have a few like crippled up $1 bills, but I really just don't carry it with me. I'm afraid I'm gonna lose it. I usually leave it in my pants and it gets washed in the washing machine.

You're just not used to it.

Like you have your keys, you have your wallet and your cell phone. A lot of people have their wallet connect to their phone and I think keys are gonna be gone one day too. And you're right, it's like there's no reason that you really need anything but your phone.

Absolutely. We just bought a Rivian and there's no key in the Rivian. You open it through the app. I suspect other electronic vehicles are the same. So yes, it is very interesting. I travel a lot and so I often feel badly when I engage with someone who needs a tip and I'm not able to tip them because I don't have cash. We need a solution. Actually, when I was at PayPal we worked on a QR code solution to facilitate gratuities, which was, I think an interesting use case. The other thing that I will say, and this was really indicative of the time that I spent at PayPal was Covid really, really accelerated the comfort that more consumers across different demographics had with mobile and electronic payments. We saw explosive growth. Everything had to be done via E commerce. And you had a whole new entrant of consumers who were embracing online shopping and learning how to use mobile banking apps and things like that.

Yeah, I mean, PayPal's interesting. I mean, I was an early adopter of the Internet. Cause I came outta college in very late 90s, early 2000s and that's when the Internet was first becoming a thing. Right. And one of the first websites I used prolifically was ebay. I was just always fascinated with ebay.

Oh yeah.

How I think was acquired by ebay at one point and then spun back out, if I'm not mistaken.

Yeah, PayPal was the enabling payment technology with. They refer to it as the PayPal mafia, you know, Peter Thiel and Elon Musk and others who built that technology. And yes, then it was spun off and there was a separate IPO for PayPal as a standalone company.

Right. So when I think about PayPal, I mean, they've been around almost as long as the Internet itself has. When you joined in 2019 to head their consumer marketing. I guess given that it's not necessarily like a startup like Facebook that started in 2005 and this is a company that had been around for 20 years. So when you go there, I guess you don't expect it to have that like real startup Y vibe because it's a more mature organization. What surprised you about PayPal in terms of their innovation and what do you think some of the opportunities they still have in the marketplace to still achieve?

It was a really exciting time to join PayPal as they were looking to do more than just facilitate commerce. And it did have a very, I guess I would say it was more of a tech forward vibe, which I think felt startupy to me. I mean, certainly based on the, you know, growing up at MasterCard, which while very technology oriented, grew out of banking and it felt a little bit more conservative from a culture standpoint. And then I was at National Geographic in the entertainment space. And when I landed at PayPal, I found the energy to feel similar to the tech companies that I had partnered with and having spent time at Facebook or Google or other tech forward companies. And so the energy was great. Then CEO Dan Shulman, who took PayPal, led the PayPal IPO in separation from ebay. He was not the founder, but he had a founder like energy to him and really worked hard to rally the troops, to inspire culture. And that's what made it an exciting time to be there because we were really working to expand, to do more jobs. We launched crypto while I was there. We launched installment products through our buy.

Now, pay later Covid boom as well.

Exactly. And so it was, you know, very much aim for the fences, culture, rally technology, resource and capacity around growth. And it was very, very energizing.

That's awesome. And then you made the decision in 2022, so a couple years ago to leave PayPal to join H and R Block. Why H and R Block? I guess. What led you to make that decision? And tell me a little bit about your role there today as chief marketing and experience officer.

Yeah, so I received a call from a recruiter who had placed me before and he said, I've got this great opportunity. You have to take a listen. And he said, H and R Block. And I thought, huh, that's interesting. Taxes, Kansas City, I don't know. And he said, it is a company that is very much in transformation, which is something I really enjoy. It was a big reason why I chose to leave MasterCard and go to National Geographic which was a joint venture really going through a digital transformation. Anyway, I liked what the recruiter had to say and so I met the CEO Jeff Jones who grew up as a very iconic marketer. He was the chief marketing and experience officer at Target, he worked at Gap, Coca Cola, had a short story. Very impressive, very impressive and very consumer centric. And the thing that was really exciting was the transformation, the focus on the consumer, the focus on digital products and solutions and diversifying our product experience to do more jobs for our tax clients so that we could be a year round company. It was the Chief marketing and experience officer role which I had experience roles. I had had brand roles at PayPal. I learned growth marketing on an epic scale at one point in the picture peak of our consumer growth There we had 400 million consumer relationships around the world and we're really focusing on new client growth. So it was really this interesting opportunity to bring the things that I enjoyed doing brand building, growth marketing, transformation, digital products experience into a role that was designed to do just that for a chief marketing and experience officer that had a seat at the table reporting directly to the CEO. And I am having such a great time. I am feeling so fortunate to be in this role, to be empowered to swing for the fences there, to take some bold risks as we work to really address what is a bit of a crisis of relevancy which I find to be a huge opportunity from a brand experience standpoint. Understanding the tailwinds and headwinds under brand reputation and how we can think about continuing to drive real transformation to win in this space. H and R Block built the tax category and we're here working to continue to energize it and revitalize our brand as the best way to facilitate that tax experience and do other things like provide those financial solutions through our mobile banking app and do more jobs for small businesses.

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And when you talk about a crisis of relevancy, I guess can you unpack that a little bit? And how do you believe that HR Block got to this crisis? And I guess how do you plan on or how are you digging the brand out of that?

Yeah, absolutely. H and R Block is a nearly 70 year old company. It was founded by two brothers, Henry and Richard, hence the H and R. Henry and Richard Block in Kansas City who observed that the tax experience is intimidating and overwhelming and that they could take some of the pain out of that and provide more help through creating a network of experts who could help to facilitate that. And we have really built our business around that purpose of providing help and inspiring confidence around this very challenging moment that as we sit here on April 4, we are knee deep in pushing towards the tax deadline of April 15th. And so we built that expertise and care through building that human relationship. H and R block has around 9,000 locations that are open during tax season and close to 60,000 humans that are facilitating that experience between client and expert to facilitate the tax return. For most Americans, it is the most significant financial moment of the year. That's because 75% of Americans get a refund and for many of them it is a critical influx of cash or it can be a vehicle for creating savings, for surprise and delight moments through the year. And our reputation was built on that human expertise in the retail experience. At the same time as the world became more digital and this really gets to the crisis of relevance, H and R Block launched really great digital tools and, and you can work with H and R Block and get that same expertise and care without the need to work with a human in a retail environment.

Perception of consumers is you have such a strong retail presence that, oh, this is the company that you go in and wander their retail establishment on Main street to get my taxes done. When people use digital and you're saying you do have that and there's just that lack of awareness or understanding.

Well said, way to shortcut it. That's exactly it. So we've got 90 plus awareness, 90 plus percent scores in trust, but that is very much associated with that retail experience. And so you can do the same thing with H and R Block as you can with our biggest competitor. Can do your taxes online and use virtual help and have access to a product we launched this year and AI Tax Assist which can bring that expertise. So we serve 20 million clients every year and about half of those are through the traditional tax expert experience in either retail or virtually as we're talking now, through virtual experience. And then we serve about 10 million through our digital product experience. And that is really the crisis of relevance which is how can we continue to be known for more than just our legacy and really create awareness of the delightful digital experience that we can provide. And we really took the gloves off last year and decide, you know, looked at how great challenger brands have challenged the category and really started to take aim at the competition and actually use the equity that exists there in comprehension of what it means to do your taxes online in a trusted way. And we're starting to challenge the category.

Yeah, it's not unlike Walmart where they were late to get into the E commerce game and now they're really stepping on the gas to get into E commerce. And most people know of Walmart through their physical retail experience and they have the right to play in the space and compete with Amazon. It's very much like the space that you're in, right? Trusted brand, almost a hundred years old, but you guys have the technology to go forward. So it's interesting because it's like once you were the institution and now you're almost trying to be the revolution, right? You're trying to fight against, I guess, more established players in the digital side of tax prep space.

Yeah, you're exactly right. And Walmart is a great example. Matt, I looked very closely at Walmart, what Walmart is doing. William White is very inspiring, he's amazing. And another former Target exec. And you know, I think their approach to Omni has been really inspiring and I love and take a lot of inspiration from the way that they have told their digital story through content, the way that they bring their UI into that and show the simplicity of it. And we are looking at brands like Walmart and others who have gone through that transformation to help inspire how we tell our story. Because that's really what it comes down to, which is really breaking down those barriers and perception and getting people to consider us. And so our campaign this year is all about switching, making the switch to H and R Block. We reference the places you can switch from largely our competition, whether that be an independent tax preparer or TurboTax.

Yeah, we've had a lot of heritage brands on the podcast. We've had Cadillac and Tropicana and these brands that have just been around for so long. And so speaking to CMOs like yourself at those brands, it's just a really interesting challenge to try to contemporize the brand, hold onto the trust and equity on what got the brand there to begin with, but at the same time, slowly change and alter the perception of the brand so you can actually modernize your business approach and take advantage of new opportunities.

For sure. Yes. And a lot of that has really come down to the thing that drives, I think, great brand positioning and product development, which is what is the data telling us. And so really looking at who's using and really delighted by H and R Block and where do we have an opportunity to grow. And so one of the things is we've been challenging the category and disrupting ourselves has been the effort that we have embarked on, which is to win disproportionately with new entrants into the category, which is Gen Z, and working to understand what are the headwinds that we have with that audience from a perception standpoint, and where do we need to meet them to introduce our brand in new, more relevant ways to get them to consider and choose us. You know, that has been rewarding in that we're moving the needle there, but it's also really inspiring our customer experience, marketing and comms folks who sit within the world that I manage to try new things. And we've had some fun with that.

Yeah. And speaking of sort of innovation, I read a story, an interview of you recently in Wall Street Journal, and one of the things you mentioned in that interview was the AI Tax assistant.

Yes.

And obviously, you know, I'm surprised we've gone now almost 25 minutes of this podcast about mentioning those letters. It's almost like the drinking game, where you take a shot every time that somebody says AI in the business day. And soon I feel like it will be so ubiquitous, it'll be almost like digital, where you don't even need to differentiate it. But obviously, right now, in that disruptive phase of AI. And obviously you, your industry I would imagine has both tremendous threat and opportunity with the AI revolution. So I guess what is H and R Block's strategy in this space and how do you see things unfolding over the next year?

Yeah, we are really excited about the momentum and the fact that we are really operating at scale with an AI solution at this point. So we worked cross functionally with our CIO and our product organization to look at what jobs could AI do for us. And at the same time, Microsoft and their Azure team were looking to partner with different companies that they partner with to bring different use cases to life. So we were really delighted to be a part of a pilot program with Microsoft and to work with them and leveraging their technology and understanding of large language models to bring our AI tax assistance to the market. And it was a consumer experience that was envisioned through the things that we know matter to consumers, which is providing that expertise and answering questions in an easy and efficient way. And essentially what we've done is taken that corpus of knowledge of 70 years of tax preparation and continuing to build and train the model to answer the most basic questions in a way that makes the process more efficient, makes it easier for consumers, you know, keeps them engaged in the product and doesn't take them out of the product once they're in a chat experience and they need to get more information. So we had a big sprint to launch AI Tax Assist. It was a huge cross functional effort with our team of, yeah, designers, product.

Data privacy and all those concerns that you have with financial information. I'm sure it was no small feat.

Absolutely. In navigating hallucinations and how important those questions are to consumers who are using it. And yeah, so it's launched, it's live. We have seen really good engagement with certain audiences. Gen Z being one who very much is embracing AI and using that to facilitate that promise of our brand, which is we're bringing expertise and care to those clients in a way that is leveraging new technology to do that.

Yeah, it's really exciting. Another thing that you've been behind in the last, I guess, couple months was this reality show that you created called Responsibility island, which like I have to say, when I first saw it, I did a double take and then I read it. So much sense. I'm sure you never thought when you joined H and R Block that you'd be behind the production of a fake reality show on a tropical island. But has something like that come about? What's the process behind a campaign like that. And I guess what are some of your learnings now? A couple months since it's been launched.

Yeah, I certainly never expected that. It was funny. The other day TMZ referenced Responsibility island and closed the segment saying it makes me want to do my taxes with H and R Block and I Does.

That officially make you cool when he's referencing a campaign you built?

I think so. I mean, I certainly I shared with my team and with our CEO2 references that I didn't expect to live together in a positive way where H and R Block and tmz. But you know, here's where we were again, starting with the data, knowing that we had to win with Gen Z last tax season, we created a lot of short form content. We really embraced TikTok and we were able to meet that audience in ways that were fun but also educational and entertaining. And I think with so many things where we push boundaries as marketers, there is good fortune involved. And so fortuitously the writers so strike served us really well and that while writers were not able to write properly for entertainment, they could work for brands. And an old friend who I had been trying to work with for years said, hey, I've got a bunch of writers who, you know, want to do some branded content while they can. Let's get in a writer's room and understand what your problems are and come back with some solutions. And that got us to Responsibility island, which was again a data driven approach looking at what kind of content Gen Z and younger millennials consume. They're all about Love island and Love is Blind and other reality television. And the concept was, well, what if we can take some young people to an island under the guise that they're there to get lit and have a good time, but they're really there in a lesson in responsibility and the only way they can get off the island is to do their taxes. And so it was a four part micro series, four or five minute episodes where we introduce a selection of young singles who are taking on some responsibility challenges like doing their own laundry. And kind of the pan ultimate of the experience that they have to do to get off the island is to do their own taxes. And so we introduce our online tax experience, we introduce AI Tax assist and it's been really fun, it's done a lot of jobs for us. We've launched it on Roku, YouTube and our own.com and we are seeing really high engagement with it and conversion into our DIY product. So that's great. But the other job that it's doing for us is helping us to learn how to test responsibly, how to really look at an opportunity and challenge the status quo in the way that we've gotten at it, and to embrace a learning journey and to take some risks. One of our values is we've got enterprise values to stay curious and to be bold. And so doing these things within measurements is teaching our organization that it's okay to experiment and we need to test and learn as best we can.

Absolutely. When you talk about crisis irrelevance, I mean, obviously getting quoted in TMZ is a great step towards solving that, especially with a younger audience. So kudos to you for taking a brand like HR Block and making it cool. And I would definitely encourage our listeners to check it out because it's very well done and actually quite funny. So shifting your ear as we wrap up. Jill, you've obviously had a great career and you've leaned much into the financial services industry. And I never even got to ask you, like, is that a place that you always thought you would be or you kind of just stumbled into it?

Such a great question. I've always been really curious about consumer behavior. My dad worked at Quaker Oats when I was quite young, and I was really fascinated by advertising and the way that they launched new products. And I dreamed of being a marketer. I was writing jingles since I could write. I studied marketing, and when I graduated, it was one of the previous recessions. I had a job with a CPG company in the beauty category. I was absolutely delighted and that offer was rescinded. I was gutted. And I thought, here I am, a college grad. What will I do? And I actually started my career in banking. I worked at a regional bank in Chicago, which is where I am from, and I was learning commercial banking and making the best of it. The CMO of the bank went on maternity leave and we were launching a MasterCard product. And I raised my hand and said, can I work on that product while she is on maternity leave? And that was a real pivot for me in helping me to ultimately get to a role in marketing. I started working with MasterCard and ultimately that was my entree into working for them. And so it was not so much financial services as the thing I was passionate about. It was storytelling, value, prop articulation, launching new products that really energized me. And I then just became really passionate about people's relationship with money and continued to choose places where I can bring that expertise that I have and continue to Drive for differentiation and transformation.

Absolutely. So looking back on your career, Joe, and all the place you've been, we talked about your stint at longer than the stint. So for some people, entire career at Mastercard York, at National Geographic and PayPal, now, of course, H and R Block. What are some of the things that you think you've done right along the way that has set yourself up to be in the CMO seat today? It's such an iconic American brand. And maybe some advice that we can impart on some of our younger listeners here at the podcast.

Yeah, I love that question, Matt. I would say the first thing was consistently raising my hand. I do a lot of coaching and mentoring that is very much core to my purpose. And I always share the following, which is understand what you're really great at from a competency standpoint, be clear about the things that you're passionate about and understand how those play into what matters at the enterprise that you're at. And it kind of makes a really nice little intersecting three circles. And when something matters to the enterprise, you're good at it and you have passion for it. Raise your hand and lean in. And that was really, I think the thing that I did with a lot of confidence at MasterCard to say, started with asking if I could fill in when the CMO took a maternity leave. Raise your hand. It doesn't always happen, but, you know, and I think if you do it through the lens of what matters to the enterprise and how you can bring value, you'll often get a fair hearing and create a path to doing a growth project or providing some sort of support in a task force, et cetera. So that would be the one thing. And then the other thing is, I know it sounds trite, but I took a lot of lateral moves to learn new skills and to be really looking at what's coming at the thing that you're doing and learning how to be great at it. When digital started to happen, I saw what was going to be possible in the way. I had no idea now, in the way of consumer engagement and attention and consumption across new social channels. I was intimidated because I was not a digital marketer. I was more of a strategist. I was really great at value prop articulation, but I really pushed myself to be uncomfortable, to take on a digital marketing role. I worked on building priceless.com when I was at MasterCard, and I remember going to meetings with our agency and they said, okay, now we'll look at wireframes. And I was like, oh, my gosh what's a wireframe? So I think it's like being vulnerable but clear about where you need to grow and what you need to learn.

Absolutely. And with that, Jill, is there sort of a mantra or saying that you like to live by in business that you can think of?

Yes. I always say let's start by starting, and I think that's true of disruption or something like digital marketing. We may not have all the answers, but if we wait to have a perfect path, we're going to lose a lot of time. So let's start by starting, let's learn, let's iterate, refine, and keep at it.

Yep. I can't tell you how many people I've seen throughout my career that are so great at writing decks or talking about what's going to happen, but they never actually get the thing done. And ultimately that's what we're here as business people and as marketers, is to focus on impact and to drive the business forward. And often it's easy to kind of get disconnected from that in a world of meetings and bureaucracy and PowerPoint decks and this and that. But that's what we're here to do, right?

Yeah, absolutely. We're charting our course for planning for next year. I've got a one pager that we're using, which is the role of a business is to. To acquire and retain customers. And that is the work that we do at H and R Block to acquire customers, to give them a delightful experience so that we can retain them and drive advocacy and demonstrate that it's better with Block.

Absolutely. Well, we're going to leave it with that. It's been so great catching up with you today, Jill. It was awesome having you on the podcast and I can't wait for our listeners to hear our talk today.

Thanks so much for having me, Matt. Great to see you.

Absolutely. On behalf of Susie and Acme team, thanks again to Jill Kress, Chief Marketing and Experience Officer at H and R Block, for joining us today. Be sure to subscribe, rate and review the Speed and Culture podcast on your favorite podcast platform. Till next time. See you soon, everyone. Take care. The Speed of Culture is brought to you by Susie as part of the Adweek Podcast Network and a guest creator network. You can listen subscribe to all Adweek's podcasts by visiting adweek.com to. To find out more about Susie, head to Suzy.com and make sure to search for the Speed of Culture in Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Google podcasts or anywhere else podcasts are found click follow so you don't miss out on any future episodes. On behalf of the team here at Suzy, thanks for listening.

Foreign.

The right audience shouldn't feel like doom scrolling with Experian. It doesn't. Experian syndicated audiences help you reach holiday shoppers, car buyers and more across over 200 top platforms with over 2400 pre built audiences. There's no more doom scrolling. It's audience targeting you can trust. Made simple. Learn more at experian.com adweek that's E-P-E-R-I-A N.com adweek.