Dassault SystèmesPositioning for executive growth

Challenge

Dassault Systèmes had long been recognised as a pioneer in 3D software for design, manufacturing and product lifecycle management, serving engineers and designers across multiple industries. However, as the company expanded its proposition into experience design, it needed to shift its positioning towards senior business leaders and board-level executives.

This represented a significant strategic change, moving the brand into a more competitive enterprise software landscape where it would face established global players with strong executive relationships.

Our challenge was to elevate awareness and reshape perception of Dassault Systèmes beyond its traditional technical audience, while preserving its credibility as an innovation leader.

Insight

We identified that collaboration and shared possibility were central to how Dassault Systèmes innovates. The company’s strength lay not just in its technology, but in its ability to help people imagine and design future scenarios together. This idea of collective exploration became the foundation for a more emotionally resonant brand narrative.

We distilled this thinking into a simple but powerful linguistic structure that captured both ambition and collaboration. The repeated pairing of “if” and “we” reflected conditional possibility and collective action, creating a flexible framework that could express complex ideas in an accessible and memorable way.

This became a unifying concept that could elevate the brand beyond functional messaging and create space for imagination, curiosity and strategic storytelling at a global executive level.

Solution

We built “IF WE” into a bold brand platform for Dassault Systèmes, designed to engage senior decision-makers and elevate global brand awareness.

We used provocative, open-ended statements built around the “IF WE” structure to invite audiences to imagine future possibilities enabled by the company’s technology. We brought the concept to life with a multi-channel global campaign spanning television, print, digital and out-of-home, supported by striking photographic storytelling that placed speculative scenarios in iconic and unexpected settings.

The campaign reframed Dassault Systèmes as a strategic partner in shaping future experiences rather than solely a technical software provider. Over a sustained period, it significantly increased unaided brand awareness and expanded its executive community, helping to reposition the company for long-term growth and relevance in the enterprise technology space.