Neoco taxed by collective look

Tax professionals have banded together to improve their ‘grey and boring’ image among students and graduates, with a collective brand identity and website created by Neoco Design.

Nearly 20 organisations, including the ‘big four’ accountancy firms, HM Treasury and the Inland Revenue, have formed the TaxWorking Group in the hope of boosting recruitment among young people.

The website, www.taxworking. org, will act as a ‘careers gateway’ to the industry, presenting information about the members, case studies and on-line games.

The brand could also be used as a kind of clearing house for arranging work placements, when the marketing drive is stepped up next year.

‘Say the word “tax” and everyone groans because everyone has to pay it,’ explains a spokeswoman at the Chartered Institute of Taxation. ‘But by the same token, it’s an interesting, broad-ranging and even political issue that requires specialist skills.’

Understanding of the tax profession is poor, she adds, and the initiative’s first objective will be to increase the information available to potential recruits.

Neoco creative director Benn Achilleas says the brief was to ‘make tax sexy’.

The group won the work in May without a pitch on the strength of a previous project for the Chartered Institute of Taxation.