Driving the Shift from Desktop Software to SaaS at National Scale
CLIENT
Intuit QuickBooks
ROLE
Creative Director
AGENCY
Collier.Simon
SCOPE
National, cross-channel digital launch
Context.
QuickBooks was at a pivotal moment in its evolution — transitioning from a boxed, CD-based desktop product to QuickBooks Online, a subscription SaaS platform. This shift represented more than a product change; it required a fundamental change in customer mindset.
Small business owners were being asked to move sensitive financial data to the cloud, adopt a recurring payment model, and trust an always-connected platform at a time when SaaS was still emerging. Success depended on clear, credible communication that could reduce hesitation and reinforce confidence during this transition.
The Challenge.
- Translate a major business model shift into language customers could immediately understand
- Address implicit concerns around trust, security, and reliability without over-indexing on technical reassurance
- Replace legacy software mental models with a modern, service-oriented narrative
- Align messaging and visuals across a national, multi-channel digital launch
- Ensure consistency between advertising, digital touchpoints, and the campaign website
My Role.
Partnering closely with both client and agency leadership, I led the creative direction for the national QuickBooks Online launch to shape how the transition from desktop software to SaaS was communicated.
My role focused on narrative clarity, visual credibility, and cross-channel alignment — ensuring that the story customers encountered in advertising was reinforced consistently across digital experiences.
Strategy & Narrative Approach.
The communications strategy centered on a single, concrete customer outcome:
- Helping small businesses get paid faster.
Rather than leading with abstract SaaS benefits or technical explanations, the campaign focused on a tangible result enabled by QuickBooks Online: direct-to-customer invoicing that allowed recipients to pay instantly with a tap.
Key narrative principles included:
- Reducing friction by showing the product in everyday use
- Framing the SaaS transition as a practical upgrade, not a risky leap
- Letting product utility — faster payment — serve as the trust signal
- Using authenticity and realism to imply security and reliability
Execution.
To support this narrative, we moved away from stock photography and introduced real QuickBooks customers as the visual foundation of the campaign. Original photography was produced in Los Angeles and Chicago, capturing authentic moments of small business owners using QuickBooks Online on modern devices.
This visual approach was guided by brand principles emphasizing natural light, realism, and everyday environments — reinforcing credibility at a time when many users were still wary of cloud-based financial tools.
The photography and messaging were deployed consistently across:
- The QuickBooks campaign website, ensuring narrative and visual continuity
- National digital advertising placements
- Cross-channel paid digital media
Impact & Results.
- Supported a national, cross-channel digital launch during a critical business transition
- Helped reframe QuickBooks Online as a practical, trustworthy evolution of the product
- Reinforced adoption by anchoring the SaaS shift to a clear customer benefit
- Introduced a more authentic visual language aligned with modern digital services
- Enabled consistent storytelling across advertising and owned digital experiences
Executive Takeaway.
This work demonstrates how corporate storytelling can reduce friction during periods of change. By grounding a major business model transition in a clear, outcome-driven narrative — and reinforcing it with authentic visual language — the campaign helped customers understand not just what was changing, but why it mattered.
It reflects my approach to corporate communications: using clarity, consistency, and credibility to help organizations guide customers through transformation with confidence.
Selected Work.
Representative examples from a multi-year body of work .
