"I know half the money I spend on advertising is wasted, but I can never find out which half" - John Wanamaker, retailer
If there was a Wanamaker Award for the most misguided advertising, it would have to go to Autodesk. Autodesk has plastered its Inventor ads all over New Orleans. The ads greet passengers the minute they deplane. They are on billboards on the way downtown. They are even rolling by on taxicabs. Why New Orleans? New Orleans is the scene of the SolidWorks annual user meetings and Autodesk would like nothing better than to have thousands of SolidWorks users feel bad about their choice of MCAD software.
Will this New Orleans ad campaign lead to a single sale of Inventor?
You can be sure that SW is not planning on advertisting at any competitor's coferences in the future. They are too busy taking market share from Autodesk and could care less about meaningless stunts like this that reflect the poor management of those who support it.
Posted by: Jay Reynolds | February 15, 2007 at 08:54 AM
WoW! all this time i've been a doing autocad in 3D, it's been a joke? and i was thinking about tring ADT & inventor.
Posted by: john hilton | February 09, 2007 at 06:48 PM
Autodesk PR person, Heather Kernahan posted a comment at my blog about this (http://floatingpoint.typepad.com/pr_marketing_and_the_busi/2007/01/solidworks_worl.html) which reads as follows: "Writing from the PR team at Autodesk, we will not be at Solidworks World this year. No events planned or PR staff placed at the elevators hoping to lure people away .... Hope everyone has a great week in New Orleans - I think it's a great idea to host such a large event in a city that is working hard to rebuild its self."
I have to give Heather credit for this. It is pleasant and clear, and I am inclined to think this is due to her influence at Autodesk (she was acquired with Alias) but do not know that for sure.
And even if Autodesk's billboard ads have no other effect than to get tongues wagging, it does achieve one thing - bringing yet more revenue to New Orleans, even via billboard ads, is a welcome addition to such a badly hit city.
Posted by: Rachael Taggart | February 07, 2007 at 12:32 PM
Autodesk should spend their money on developing an easy to use 3D CAD system that isn't the joke of the CAD industry. That would be a better use of their money than a shady advertising campaign.
Posted by: Jeff Cope | February 05, 2007 at 05:42 PM
This is a very interesting topic. I just posted on Novedge blog (http://blog.novedge.com/2007/02/free_cad_for_ev.html) a comment on the aggressive Autodesk marketing within the context of the 2D to 3D transition.
Posted by: Franco Folini | February 05, 2007 at 10:40 AM
This is akin to going to the vatican to convert those there away from christianity.....good luck.
Posted by: | February 05, 2007 at 07:56 AM
Thanks AutoDesk, that made me have a nice hearty laugh. Do they really think that SolidWorks users are going to stand up and say. Holy Moly we need to switch to AutoDESK right away! just by seeing all these ads. We all know the CAD software out there and most everyone has formed their "alliances" already. In my opinion the only reason a engineer will change his preferance in software is if it offers something he can't live without, otherwise why bother switching. Lets face if AD, SWX, ProE, etc.. they all work the same,with minor differences. Now if you really want to see some different and better, engineers and designers need to look at IronCAD, then they'll at least have a reason to consider switching...and they don't do any marketing ;-). Enjoy
Posted by: tom lehnhaeuser | February 05, 2007 at 07:30 AM
If Autodesk wants to waste money instead of developing products that actually lead the way instead of following I suppose that is their choice. They would get much farther by just sending me the money they spent.
Dear Autodesk exec... Please ping me an email and I'll let you know which paypal account to send it to. I promise you more seats of inventor sold than what you'll get out of this latest stupid stunt.
Posted by: Rob M | February 05, 2007 at 07:11 AM
"Will this New Orleans ad campaign lead to a single sale of Inventor?"
Yes, it will. See http://www.deelip.com/2007/02/autodesks-inventor-ad-campaign-smart-or.html
Posted by: Deelip Menezes | February 05, 2007 at 06:53 AM
This seems a bit like farting in an elevator.
Autodesk may get some pleasure out of it, but I don't know that it raises anyone's opinion of them.
My guess is that, if someone came to SolidWorks World as part of their process of deciding between SolidWorks and Inventor, this kind of stunt would backfire.
The only way I could imagine it working would be if there were a lot of disgruntled SolidWorks users in New Orleans. Does anyone think that's the case?
Posted by: Evan Yares | February 04, 2007 at 11:41 PM