Autodesk marks anniversary of Notre-Dame fire with emotional ad about restoration effort

Today, B2B creative platform Autodesk released a campaign about the catastrophic event and how it has assisted in the cathedral’s restoration with the French government and master architects. On the same day, French president Emmanuel Macron visited the site to pay his respects.

The spot, developed by San Francisco-based creative agency Goodby Silverstein & Partners, personifies the cathedral: a female narrator with a thick French accent speaks directly over chiming church bells. “Using technology of the future, and traditions of the past, history will be recreated,” she says, as architects survey a 3D model of the cathedral.

According to a blog post published today, Autodesk was among many individuals and companies worldwide that “rushed in with donations to help save the landmark,” although its exact donation amount remains undisclosed.

According to the campaign, Autodesk also helped create a highly detailed 3D model of Notre-Dame. The model was created using a combination of Autodesk’s Building Information Modeling (BIM) product, 3D geometric processes and intelligent data from previous scans of Notre-Dame.

As part of Autodesk’s agreement with the French government, the brand cannot put paid media behind the campaign, so it is instead leveraging an aggressive organic approach. The brand says it previously succeeded with this approach with its ‘Otto Desc’ Oscars campaign featuring Ron Perlman and other stars.

Notre-Dame de Paris’ restoration team is working to reopen cathedral doors in December 2024.

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