CHAPTER SIX Marketing for the 21st Century: Thinking through Current Marketing Trends that Will Effectively Position Your Organization Erin E. Gilles, Shannon M. Brogan, Doreen M. S. Jowi, and Jason S. Wrench H&R Block and Adventures in Social Media Starting in 2007, H&R Block realized that it needed to compete electronically in the tax business. Too many people saw the company as just the people who offered tax advice from various retail sites. In actuality, H&R Block owned a number of digital products including TaxCut, which was designed to eat away at the market dominated by TurboTax, and Tango a recently developed new online tax-filing program. Paula Drum, vice president of digital marketing for H&R Block, realized quickly that she needed an integrated marketing strategy that included both traditional and new social media avenues. Drum and her team developed a multipronged campaign that marketed H&R Block to the social media generation specifically by having a strong presence on You- Tube, Second Life, Twitter, MySpace, and Facebook became prime channels. One of their more innovative approaches was the Me & My Super Sweet Refund video contest on YouTube. Entrants were asked to submit a YouTube video explaining what they would do with their tax refund. All entrants had to mention TaxCut as part of their three- minute video montage, ensuring that the new products would be center stage. The winner was given $5,000, and the winning video was featured on the YouTube home page for an entire day. Furthermore, H&R Block allowed YouTube users to vote on the winning video. Ultimately, the 130 videos submitted received more than 1.6 million views. Second, H&R Block created an island in Second Life, the interactive metaverse. The island was populated with real H&R Block representatives to help users and answer tax 4148-530d-1Pass-V2-006-r03.indd 131 4148-530d-1Pass-V2-006-r03.indd 131 6/29/2012 10:29:57 AM 6/29/2012 10:29:57 AM