Our client asked us to come up with a way to launch the New Audi R8 digitally in South Africa, as well as show off its best feature: 0-100km/h in 3.5 seconds.

We looked into placing ads before videos on YouTube. But we noticed that most people never watch more than these first five seconds, because after 5 seconds you can skip the ad.

So we created an ad that finished in 5 seconds.

Additional benefit: If you skip a YouTube commercial before the end it’s free. So we paid almost nothing to launch the new Audi R8 online.

The media execution is the core of our creative idea. The ad plays off our insight into the way people engage with the media space before YouTube videos.

We took a media space that people stop engaging with after 5 seconds and used this time limit to prove how fast the new Audi R8 Coupé can accelerate.

The budget we had to work with was very small, so our use of digital media needed to be cost effective. We discovered that when you place an ad before a YouTube video, you only have to pay for the media space if people watch your entire ad. Because people could skip our ad after the first 5 seconds (we even encouraged them to do so), we spent next to nothing on media space.

Generally only 10% of people watch a full YouTube ad and get to see its message. But everyone saw the Audi R8 ad and got our message, because it only took 5 seconds.

An extra bonus: If you skip a YouTube ad before the end…it’s free. So we paid almost nothing to launch the new Audi R8 online.