April Fools Fake Press Release Results

By now you've probably read our April Fool's press release:

AUTODESK TACKLES ITS TOUGHEST CHALLENGE YET - DESIGNING ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIPS

The idea was the brain child of: Senior Manager, Executive Communications, Bill O'Connor, Autodesk Labs VP, Brian Mathews, Adviser to the CTO, Jonathan Knowles, and VP of Market Development, Jon Pittman. I came on board on April Fool's Day to post the press release and create faux Autodesk Labs pages that the press release could reference.

The "Download Now" link and "satisfied customer // more" on the Getting Started page point to interesting YouTube videos.

Some of the responses we have received so far:

• "I love your April fool’s day press release! You had some people in our office wondering if this was for real. Very creative and fun! Great writing job." -- Sarita

• "Fabulous!!! I didn't know that you guys had a sense of humor. I take back all of those things I said about you. -- Lynn

• "So glad you guys did this!... Really good fun... I think we need a lot more of this kind of stuff..." -- Michele

• "This is a really cool platform technology. Will you be licensing it to match.com, etc.? Looks like you missed the Valentine's Day FCS date, though." -- Anh

• "Is the subscription evergreen or is there a need for renewal every year? ;-)" -- Swen

• "This is absolutely hilarious. Where on earth did you find that ultimate geek singing that gawd awful ohohohohohohohohoh?" -- Caitlin

• "Merci, thank you, grazie for making me smile, chuckle & laugh OUT LOUD. Trololololololololololo!" -- Elise

• "You should create a box, Autodesk Gallery exhibit, and include customer stories but might want to refrain from live demonstrations. :-)" -- Richard

One of my Facebook friends did poke fun at us:

"I've heard people saying, 'I'll be f---ed if I use Autodesk software.' Now, thanks to this development, it's true!"

One Autodesk employee did note:

"Sometimes Autodesk can get a little stodgy; thank you for providing a very welcome blast of creative humor!"

Of course my response was:

"I am not sure you are allowed to call us stodgy? Have you checked with Legal?"

Thanks to everyone involved in this. Those who created the press release and the reading public who took this in the spirit in which it was intended.

Chuckling still remains alive in the lab.