Intuit QuickBooks has been highlighting unsung heroes in the film industry during the Toronto International Film Festival as the accounting software company continues to reach out to small businesses and entrepreneurs.

The “Credit Roll” spot looks at three industry vets – a film composer, editor and producer –  rather than the big names in marquee lights usually associated with TIFF, with longer-form interviews online. The campaign, created by Bolt Content, is based on a global platform created by TBWA that was launched at the 2019 Academy Awards.

TIFF provided an opportunity to put the spotlight on these behind-the-scenes players in a local adaptation, says Martin Fecko, Intuit’s country manager for Canada. He says the brand wanted to drive greater user uptick of QuickBooks at a timely and relevant moment culturally, at a big film festival that is the focus of a lot of media attention. 

Fecko says this film industry-centric campaign, however, is in line with the overarching brand messaging Intuit has focused on with its latest efforts: helping people with their business needs, so they can spend more time on their craft. Almost half of the Canadian film industry, he says, is self-employed, so it is small business owners and freelancers that bring movie magic to life behind the scenes. Supporting those people helps Intuit QuickBooks be consistent with how it positions its brand: backing the small business owner.

The campaign goal, Fecko says, is to drive brand awareness. Other efforts to do that within the film industry have included a partnership with IMDb this year, using a special correspondent interviewing cast members of high-profile films like Lighthouse and Hustlers.

Intuit QuickBooks has flirted with the silver screen prior to this campaign, when it enlisted actor Danny DeVito to position itself as a solution for small business tasks.