Earlier this month, as visitors to Autodesk’s annual conference came in to land at Las Vegas’ airports, they were greeted by a giant ginger cat. The cat attempted to paw at a laser light before it suddenly transformed into a huge tentacled beast.
The surreal image beamed from the wraparound outer LED screens of the Sphere, the new dome-shaped entertainment venue connected to the Venetian hotel. Autodesk had splurged on an ad placement there as part of its partnership with Marvel. (The “cat,” named Goose, is actually a Flerken from the movie “The Marvel,” which also debuted that week.)
Sphere Entertainment is pitching advertisers a rate of $450,000 for a one-day takeover of the Sphere, or $650,000 for the entire week, per three advertising agency and outdoor advertising industry sources. By comparison, running a billboard campaign in New York’s Times Square for one to three days costs between $5,000 and $25,000, according to outdoor advertising company Inspiria Outdoor. A representative for the Sphere Entertainment Company said the company doesn’t discuss financials.
Autodesk Chief Marketing Officer Dara Treseder declined to disclose how much the company paid for the activation, which ran for one week, but told Business Insider “we absolutely are getting bang for our buck.” (Autodesk spent around $1.7 billion in total on marketing and sales expenses in its fiscal year ended January 31, 2023, according to its financial filings.)
The Sphere offered Autodesk — which is best known for its AutoCAD software used by architects, engineers, and other industries — a chance to showcase to attendees that its tools are also used by the entertainment industry.
“If you are one of our architect customers, you might not know that our software is used to make movies, but that might actually be relevant for you as you think about digital twins, visualization, and the 3D models that are used to bring these architectural feats to life,” Treseder said. “The convergence of our industries is part of our strategy.”
Autodesk and Marvel’s tentacled Flerken, created by production company The Mill using Autodesk software, was the subject of conversations among the roughly 11,000 Autodesk University attendees, and had its viral moment outside the conference, too, Treseder said.
An Autodesk spokesperson said the ad was viewed on the ground by about 4 million people. Meanwhile, videos of its Sphere takeover on Autodesk’s social channels were viewed approximately 7 million times across different platforms, helping to drive a surge of 18,000 visits to its website. One TikTok video, which has notched up more than 14,000 likes, declared it “the best Sphere ad.” The Sphere debuted its first advertising campaign in September of this year and has featured brands including YouTube, the NBA, Heineken and Xbox.
The Marvel-Sphere tie-up is the latest of several big swings Autodesk has been taking with its advertising to broaden the brand’s reach and resonance beyond the professionals who use its products.
Treseder, who joined October last year from Peloton, says she’s bringing consumer marketing tactics to a business-to-business company because “it’s so effective for driving growth and creating, and fostering, and deepening engagement with the brand.”
In an earlier example of this strategy, she worked with Ryan Reynolds’ ad agency Maximum Effort just 30 days after joining the company to launch its first TV ad, and then quickly followed that with its ”Otto Desć” campaign that ran during the 2023 Oscars.
Looking ahead to 2024, Treseder wants to invest further in marketing aimed at its next generation of customers.
“We’re starting to really lean into what an influencer marketing program looks like but it’s different from a B2C influencer program — it cannot just be about paying for content, it has to be about deep integrations and relationships with influencers to drive real ROI for the business,” Treseder said.
One example is Carla Herrero, a mechanical engineering student at University College London who is using the Autodesk Fusion generative AI design tool. Beyond making content for the company, Herrero has also been leading conference panels on topics like the future of the workforce. Herrero is now a mechanical design graduate engineer on the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Formula One team.
“A lot of customers are thinking, ‘How do I attract the next generation of talent to come to my industry?’,” Treseder said, adding that Autodesk plans to work with influencers “to show up in places where we can meet people where they are and get that message across.”
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