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 enabled them to 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 with a press release and media outreach.

Opel also communicated via a social video, 10 seconds add-on on TV and a campaign website. The social video 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).

In the TV add-ons, the price of an Online Edition in views is shown extra large on the final title.

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

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%.

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)!

And to top it all, we received a plaque from YouTube saying that the campaign film was the 2nd most viewed ad on YouTube in the Netherlands 2017!

As YouTube themselves said: ‘It’s a World’s First’.

On June 13th 2017, we launched a special campaign to promote the new Opel Online Edition. YouTube was designated as the primary channel for the campaign to play out on. But in order to drive the right target audience there, we employed a PR strategy to create awareness - which we did via a media outreach to TV, radio and the right online publications. PR ignited the 'Pay with Views' campaign, which resulted in a whole new currency to buy a car with: YouTube views.

As YouTube said: "This is a world's first"

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'.

When it comes to that online world, it's 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. The calculation is as follows: the price of the car model times 40. Which gives one YouTube view the value of €0,025.

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 the existing volume models KARL ROCKS, Corsa and the Astra: 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?