Creative Advertising

Autodesk Is the Everywhere Software You Don't Know—Until Now

Maximum Effort introduces the tech company during the Oscars with tongue-in-cheek ad

elizabeth banks speaking to a camera — Elizabeth Banks talks about how "Otto Desc" helped her become a better filmmaker.Maximum Effort

By Kyle O’Brien

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The Oscars are full of grandiose accolades, fawning, excessive adulation and platitudes. When those involve someone behind the scenes, viewers often tune out, as the insider flattery falls flat.

A new campaign helps poke fun at this ritual with film stars and award-winning filmmakers singing the praises of an entertainment industry icon who has had a lasting impact on their careers and lives: Otto Descinski, affectionately known to his friends as Otto Desc.

The campaign by Ryan Reynolds’ Maximum Effort pays tribute to Otto Desc, a fictitious Hollywood legend feted in a series of ads by actor Ron Perlman, writer/director/actor Elizabeth Banks, Academy Award-winning VFX supervisor Paul Lambert, and Academy Award-nominated cinematographer Mandy Walker.

Ads ranged between $1.6 million to $2.1 million for the 2023 show.

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A voiceover calls Desc a “world builder, a dream maker, a visionary,” while Banks says she wouldn’t be the filmmaker she is today without Desc.

Kyle O’Brien

Kyle O’Brien is a staff reporter for Adweek and editor of AgencySpy.

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