Twin Cities Finance and Commerce: Tax-time tissues

As the tax filing deadline nears, Kansas City, Mo.-based tax preparer H&R Block has replaced chocolate bars offered to clients with H&R Block-brand packs of tissue in select offices.

Out-of-home marketing company AdPack USA distributed 25,000 packs of tissues to 21 H&R Block offices in Minnesota and six other states as part of a branding promotion. Each black and green pack features H&R Block's trademark green square and the slogan "Your taxes. Your way. You got people."

Minneapolis ad agency Campbell Mithun created the campaign, which is designed to give average Americans the same bragging rights as corporate executives who out-source financial chores to accountants.

The campaign even drew praise from Bob Garfield, hard-to-please ad critic for trade journal Advertising Age, who said the campaign "has succeeded in turning a down-market purchase of filling out tax forms into a point of pride."

AdPack USA distributed the tissue packs to select offices in Colorado, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin. "We wanted our brand to stay in the hands of our customers for more than the two minutes it takes to eat a candy bar," said Kristen Fusco, a marketing consultant for H&R Block. "Plus, we chose to hand them out in colder states where tissues are truly appreciated, especially this time of year."

Tissues also could be used for tears, if customers owe a sizable amount to the Internal Revenue Service.