Everybody knows that when it comes to the web, it's all about views. Views are quite literally worth money.

So, for the introduction of the Online edition, we turned YouTube views into a currency. By asking people in The Netherlands to film their Opel test drive, upload it to YouTube, promote their video - and then use those views to buy a brand-new Opel Online Edition model.

Your video has to be special, because an Opel Online Edition isn't cheap. The KARL ROCKS Online Edition costs 589.900 views, the Corsa Online Edition, 739.600 views and the Astra Online Edition 922.800 views.

On June 13th 2017, we launched this special campaign for the new Opel Online Edition.

Opel kicked of with a social video that clearly explains what Pay with views entails and what is expected of people, supported by examples of viral content in and around an Online Edition. The social video was boosted via YouTube with a Discovery strategy (targeting the homepage of the mobile app on YouTube).

On the campaign website people could learn everything about paying with views, and of course see the videos of test drive registrations of others.

The rest, best and largest part of the promotion in this campaign came via views of the test drive films of the Dutch themselves.

The results are pretty legendary. The campaign earned media worth €841.884,32 and attracted 34.4 million impressions (source: Carat Amsterdam). More than 97.000 people visited the campaign website. The Opel website had a 72% increase in visits compared with the same period in 2016. In the wake of the campaign, orders of the Online Edition Opel increased by 29%.

And… Dutchman Yuri Schuurkes was the first person in the world to ever buy a car with YouTube views (an astonishing 30 million organic views for an unpromoted test drive)!

On June 13th 2017, we launched a special campaign to promote the new Opel Online Edition. In order to reach the digital savvy Dutch with a driver's license we focused on YouTube views to gain a big audience. With success, thanks to the very stimulating call-to-action: "upload your Opel test drive film and use the views to buy a car or other products." This approach created a huge involvement of the target group, an enormous reach trough co-creation and user generated content and … we created a new currency.

In the automotive sector the introduction of a new model or edition is about every day's business. There are more than a hundred introductions per year.

In order to reach the target and emphasize the online character of the edition, Opel didn't set the Online Edition 'standard in sales'. An 'online car' can be promoted par excellence in an 'online way'.

That online world is all about views. Views are worth actual money. So we went one step further by turning views into a payment system. We collaborated with YouTube to calculate the amount of views needed to buy a car.

Than we communicated to the target group that views are worth money. We stimulated them to take a test drive, film it and push the film in order to get enough views to actually buy a car with their views.

Opel Netherlands developed a new trim level for several models: The Online Edition. The Online Edition includes an extensive range of product features like 4G WiFi, Apple CarPlay and OnStar, for Opel drivers who always want to be connected.

But Opel is not the only one with an introduction of a special edition. With more than a hundred car introductions per year, it is a big challenge to stand out. Especially when there is limited budget.

Our challenge: how do we reach our target, in a market where every day a different car brand promotes their new model or edition?