“If you’re constantly trying things with the intention of creating a feeling, then you’ll learn fast and find success faster,” said George Dewey, co-founder of Maximum Effort. “And then maybe CFOs can focus on Sarbanes-Oxley compliance instead of marketing? I’m a dead man for saying that.”
Converting the masses
Even B2B buyers are consumers to a degree. In Autodesk’s case, it wants those buyers from other companies to see its big-picture ads with the schoolkids, chase some of those design features to the company’s ecommerce store, and become customers and clients.
“We approach B2B in a similar manner to B2C because even though the sales cycle of B2B is longer, we think the anchoring effect of entering through a feeling is critical,” Maximum Effort’s Dewey said. “And that feeling can actually increase as people go through the sales funnel.”
Treseder noted that the brand campaign isn’t doing all of the work: It gets a lot of support from demand generation, industry and portfolio marketing, and then the digital and ecommerce teams all driving sales and revenue. Connecting all of it into a single, broad strategy makes it easier to determine just how effective the ads are—but also gives Autodesk the freedom to target those campaigns to its audience’s passions.
Autodesk is used to design and build bridges, buildings, movies, games and countless other items through its various software products. However, when Treseder first arrived at the company, customers were often more familiar with the individual products than they were with the greater Autodesk brand. That said, they felt as strongly about those products as Peloton consumers felt about their bikes and classes.
“If you had told me that, becoming CMO of Autodesk I would meet someone who had a tattoo of one of our products on their body, I would have been like, ‘No.’” she said. “One of our customers said, ‘I can’t tell the story of my career without telling the story of Autodesk.’”
Autodesk tailors the message slightly for architects, mechanical engineers, general contractors and other customers looking to the company for specific needs, but Treseder said the value of Autodesk’s brand and products remains at the core of its marketing. It also maintains an humble, optimistic, lighthearted tone that Treseder views as a reflection of the company culture.