After years of working to help restore Notre Dame, Autodesk shined a light on its partnership with the French government by launching a 360-degree brand campaign on the four-year anniversary of the fire. Due to the legalities of the patronage agreement, no paid media was permitted. The company and its creative partner, Goodby, had to spread the message entirely via earned/free impressions.

The primary objective was to reach new and existing audiences– from Autodesk’s customers and investors to students and employees – with a story that demonstrates how Autodesk’s Design and Make platform designs buildings of the future while reimagining the most iconic structures of our past.

The campaign was designed to engage Autodesk’s target audiences on social, drive traffic to its landing pages, build positive brand sentiment and association with architectural design-and-make feats, and ultimately provide an overarching brand halo for the company’s continued demand generation efforts.

In the film, Autodesk and Goodby personified Notre Dame to tell the story of the iconic cathedral’s restoration from 'her’ own point of view.

“Our Lady,” Notre-Dame de Paris describes her rich history of hosting coronations and witnessing world wars. She tells the viewer about all that she has endured, up until the tragic fire on April 15, 2019. Though she was significantly damaged by the fire, she vowed that she would stand once more.

The film promises that with Autodesk’s technology of the future and with the traditions of our past, Our Lady, Notre-Dame de Paris, will rise again.

Autodesk’s target audience was comprised of press, investors, influencers, customers and employees with the goal of helping these groups understand and spread out the word about Autodesk’s critical work to build a better future. This campaign was a brand awareness effort to help more people understand Autodesk’s impact on the world and commitment to using technology to solve pressing problems worldwide like helping repair Notre Dame.

Autodesk approached this brand awareness opportunity by creating a short film to powerfully communicate the story of Autodesk’s critical role in bringing Notre Dame back to life after the tragic fire.

Autodesk’s Notre Dame campaign effort was a fully digital activation through Autodesk’s website and social media channels. The campaign launched in April 2024 to commemorate the 4-year anniversary of the fire and support the Public Institution. Autodesk implemented the campaign across the US, EMEA, and APAC to spread mainstream awareness of a long-term, behind-the-scenes partnership that is helping bring Notre Dame back to life.

With zero paid media, the video resulted in a 62% increase in new visitors to Autodesk’s website.

Landing Page:

- 33.1% click-through rate and a time-on-page at 1:45 (and very low bounce rate at 15%) -- all of which indicated strong interest in the activation content with audience engagement.

- 62% of landing page visits came from new visitors – proving the campaign’s effectiveness in attracting new audiences

Press:

- Coverage initially from 10+ publications, accounting for 21 million unique visitors per month, including an exclusive interview in Fast Company, international coverage, and trade coverage from outlets like The Drum and Mashable.

Social Media:

- 2.6M impressions and 159K social engagements – above Autodesk’s 15K target

- 100% positive sentiment

- Engagement rate percentage also well exceeded Autodesk’s average across all social platforms including 211% above average on Twitter.