Autodesk is a 40-year-old company that offers 140+ products used in AEC (architecture, engineering, and construction), D&M (design and manufacturing), M&E (media and entertainment), and AEX (architecture and engineering education). While they do have competitors, there’s no one else who does everything they do. While best known for AutoCAD, they’re also a massive presence in Hollywood (Maya), gaming (3ds Max), product design (Inventor) and construction (Revit). 90% of what’s in your home was made using Autodesk.

Brief: Take advantage of a big cultural moment to seize attention with key Autodesk audience to raise awareness of Autodesk Parent Brand. In this case, the 95th anniversary of the Oscars. Autodesk software is used in every academy award winning film—a little known fact.

Objectives:

--Generate disproportionate talk value and buzz

--Positive Sentiment exceeds 80%

--Drive search traffic to Autodesk.com (our organic traffic has steady 13% YOY decline)

Autodesk leveraged the largest Hollywood stage to tell the story of the impact our software has on the world. We created three commercials that premiered during the Oscars. Goal was to build awareness of Autodesk as the secret weapon behind every amazing film–and pretty much everything else in the world!

The ads used a clever play on words to create intrigue around a mysterious legend: “Otto Desc”. “Otto” was admired by accomplished film and TV personalities Elizabeth Banks, Ron Perlman and VFX wizard Paul Lambert.

This was the first time that Autodesk closed a broadcast ad with a scrolling reel featuring multiple products across all three industries.

These spots were activated across press and social via both Autodesk teams and our agency.

The commercials ended on Ottodesc.com, an Autodesk landing page connecting the dots that “Otto Desć is Autodesk”. The page featured the commercials and told the story.