How Autodesk is publicizing its role in the Notre Dame Cathedral restoration

On Sunday, the famous Notre Dame Cathedral will reopen five years after a fire burned the roof and spire of the historic landmark in Paris. To mark the occasion, Autodesk, the creator of the design software AutoCAD, has released an ad highlighting the brand’s role in helping restore the cathedral. AutoCAD is used for design tasks across industries including architecture, engineering, construction, manufacturing, media and entertainment. For the cathedral restoration, Autodesk donated employees, money and a highly detailed 3D model of Notre Dame, which took over a year to create. The ad opens with a shot of Notre Dame burning and the aftermath, followed by clips of workers restoring the cathedral and an AutoCAD rendering of the steeple. “Celebrating a five-year journey restoring an icon. To Paris, with love. Autodesk is proud to have supported the restoration of Notre-Dame de Paris,” read text cards throughout the ad. The song playing during the ad is Nat King Cole’s “L-O-V-E” as performed by French singer Philippine Lavrey. The effort continues Autodesk’s marketing approach of linking itself to newsy events under the leadership of Chief Marketing Officer Dara Treseder. “We hope this story resonates with the more than 300 million professionals working in design and make industries (architects, engineers, designers, and so forth),” Treseder wrote in an email. “This audience is emotionally connected to the story of Notre Dame, and is interested in the intersection of history, craftsmanship, and innovation—and understands the practical application of our tools in solving real world challenges.” Treseder is in Paris for the re-opening and has shared scenes on her Instagram account. Autodesk worked with French laser scanning company AGP, which specializes in digitizing historic monuments. The model helped reconstruction teams simulate and plan construction phases and foresee issues before work started on the job site. For example, the cathedral’s spire had to be rebuilt, and the model was used to simulate the stability of the new spire to withstand a storm. The spot was co-produced with Handshake and Shadow Lion, a creative studio co-founded by NFL legend Tom Brady. Autodesk is posting the ad on its digital and social media channels and Brady will share the ad on his social channels. Paid media includes a center-spread print ad in the Sunday edition of The New York Times, followed by a homepage ad takeover of the newspaper’s website on Monday and a mobile takeover on Tuesday. The Notre Dame ad is the latest Autodesk spot created under Treseder that highlights the company’s behind-the-scenes involvement in various products and users’ ability to “make anything,” per the brand’s tagline. In 2023, Autodesk worked with Ryan Reynolds’ Maximum Effort on an ad that ran during the Academy Awards. It used a fictional character named “Otto Desc” to highlight the company’s role in making Oscar-winning animated movies. Earlier this year, Autodesk partnered with Disney on a droid-making contest for the launch of the Star Wars series “The Acolyte.” In August, Autodesk was named the “official design and make platform” of the 2028 Summer Olympics and Paralympics in Los Angeles and for Team USA. NextGen Marketing Summit Join us for a crash course on Gen Z, DTC marketing and the creator economy Register today

How Autodesk is publicizing its role in the Notre Dame Cathedral restoration

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