Tax, accounting, financial, and mailer software provider Intuit has picked Thomas Ranese to fill its CMO role, ADWEEK has learned.

ADWEEK understands his remit will include marketing, corporate communications, and sponsorship.

Intuit confirmed the appointment but didn’t comment further.

Ranese most recently served in a contract role as CMO advisor for global investment firm KKR.

Before this, his latest resident CMO role was at Greek yogurt brand Chobani, where he led the marketing department for eight months between 2023 and 2024. Other tenures include a year-long fractional CMO position at McKinsey and three years as Uber’s global CMO.

Ranese is a Google veteran having held several senior strategy and marketing roles for the tech giant between 2010 and 2019.

He will replace Lara Hood Balazs, who announced in May 2024 that she would step down from her role as Intuit’s evp, general manager, strategic partner group, and CMO.

Balazs hasn’t revealed her next move, simply saying she plans to pursue a new “chapter in life.” She noted she has the support of “CEO Sasan Goodarzi and the whole Intuit family.”

Earlier in November, the brand’s vp of marketing, Kevin Frisch who led QuickBooks’ U.S. marketing team, joined Fintech bank Dave as its CMO.

A ‘branded house’ strategy

Under Hood, Intuit had started experimenting with a “branded house strategy,” designed to push the Intuit name itself into the consumer consciousness, alongside its roster of individual brands.

This followed a more integrated approach to both business and branding.

In 2022 Intuit unveiled a logo and rebrand that positioned it as a financial global tech platform. Then, at the start of 2024 it incorporated TurboTax’s capabilities with QuickBooks and Credit Karma for the first time.

In the most recent quarter, Intuit group’s revenues increased 10% year-over-year.

Takings from its global business solutions group — which includes MailChimp and QuickBooks — was up 9%, bringing in $2.5 billion for the three months to Oct. 2024.