Autodesk ad – Otto Desć

As the 2023 Academy Awards unfolded, Autodesk took the opportunity to celebrate the magic that lies behind the magic of movies. With a legacy of over 25 years, Autodesk’s cutting-edge technology has contributed to the success of many Oscar-winning and nominated films. Blockbusters like Avatar: The Way of Water, All Quiet on The Western Front, and Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio have relied on tools like Maya and ShotGrid to breathe life into extraordinary scenes and characters.

This year’s celebration of Autodesk’s design and make software was brought to life through a captivating three-part ad series masterfully crafted by Ryan Reynolds‘ creative agency Maximum Effort. The ads introduced us to the influential, groundbreaking, and entirely fictional Hollywood legend Otto Desćinski, affectionately known as Otto Desć.

Elizabeth Banks, a prominent figure in the ads, appeared alongside Otto during the Academy Awards broadcast. The second ad took viewers on a journey exploring the enigmatic Otto’s impact on Hollywood peers, featuring Elizabeth Banks (Cocaine Bear, Pitch Perfect, and Reynolds’ Definitely, Maybe co-star), Ron Perlman (Hellboy, Beauty & The Beast, Sons of Anarchy), Paul Lambert (Academy Award-winning VFX Supervisor for Dune, Blade Runner), and Mandy Walker (Academy Award-nominated Cinematographer for Elvis).

The grand finale of the ad series revealed the true identity of Otto Desć: Autodesk itself. The company’s software technology empowers Hollywood’s brightest creative minds, architects, engineers, students, and more, to make anything they can imagine. The full documentary-style ad is available for viewing here.

Ryan Reynolds humorously remarked on the campaign: “Autodesk has been a secret weapon for Hollywood’s artists for decades. What better way to highlight that than to create a fake man of vaguely Germanic descent to receive an award that doesn’t exist?”

Dara Treseder, Chief Marketing Officer at Autodesk, expressed gratitude for the collaboration with Maximum Effort and shared her enthusiasm for the campaign. She said, “Autodesk is how the world gets designed and made—including the beautiful films that delight and inspire us all. The Oscars are a night to celebrate the biggest names in Hollywood, so we’re thrilled to celebrate the design and technology from Autodesk that makes this magic possible in such a fun and creative way. And with this campaign, we’re re-introducing our inspiring company tagline—two words that effectively say it all: Make Anything.”

The commercial was a brilliantly executed tribute to the magic behind movie magic.