By striking that tone and centering voices other than its own—like the visual effects artists and restorers in its Notre Dame Cathedral campaign from earlier this year—Treseder said Autodesk made a conscious decision to avoid B2B’s tendency toward stern, rational marketing. Maximum Effort believed a drier, more straightforward approach was a poor fit for Autodesk’s diverse offerings.

“An emotional moat around a brand is just as valuable as a technological moat,” Dewey said. “We believe if people enter through laughter or joy, it saves time and money in the long run.” 

Finding your people

While Treseder’s strategic, business-minded approach helped sell her team’s brand campaigns with Maximum Effort to the C-suite, Dewey said her consumer background made it much easier to find common creative ground.

Dewey noted that B2B marketers’ penchant toward a rational approach often prevents them from emotionally connecting with clients and buyers—making it easy to disrupt a brand’s message. Treseder, meanwhile, has seen the “time and place for risk” and knows when a friendlier approach outweighs a flood of information. 

“She also has an overarching messaging strategy of which we are just a part,” Dewey said. “We’re not trying to win awards or increase fees or be anyone’s AOR, and because we focus on cultural impact, it frees both us and our partners up.”

In Treseder’s view, that creativity is directly linked to exponential growth. By maintaining a strong internal team at Autodesk and bringing in Maximum Effort for a bit of outside perspective, Treseder is bringing together creative minds to solve a business problem—which a company’s finance team tends to love.

“Having that great partner means that you have someone who’s in it with you,” she said. “It’s when you come together that you’re able to really achieve greatness and do things that make a massive difference—that exceed expectations.”