What’s the best way to launch a car online for enthusiasts who have been waiting for, and speculating about it, for years? For the first-ever BMW M2, it was a live reveal on Periscope and a chance to drive it before anyone else.

One day prior to the Periscope launch, a teaser was posted on BMW’s social channels featuring a unique Instagram handle hidden within the camouflage of the M2 and a time and date for the Periscope broadcast. Once the broadcast began, viewers could witness the M2 in action from anywhere on their mobile devices and ask the driver ques-tions for nearly 11 minutes.

When the Periscope broadcast began, the hidden Instagram account revealed the first in a series of four puzzles that lead users from one account to another for a chance to drive the M2 on the track before it went on sale to the public.

To make the live reveal of the M2 on Periscope a unique and rewarding experience, a six-camera setup was used to cover as many angles of the vehicle as possible while a professional driver ripped it up on the track for over 10 minutes at BMW’s Performance Driving School in Spartanburg, South Carolina. To date, no other car brand had attempted a multi-cam live broadcast on Periscope and the live reveal of the M2 in action was another automotive industry first. Adding to the challenge of a live broadcast, we were only allowed to remove the M2’s camouflage just 60 minutes before we went live on the track, leaving no time for a trial run. For the first time ever, BMW provided its core enthusiast community with live footage of a new vehicle, just 60 seconds after officially acknowledging its existence.

Twitter claimed “Without a shadow of a doubt, this is the best auto product reveal we have seen on Periscope.” Fans loved it. There were over 5,000 viewers and 65,000 “hearts” delivered through Periscope. The fan site 2addicts.com claimed, “That live event was fantastic, what a great way to see the car the first day in action.” In the end, the program instigated 48,000 social engagements, added 3,000 new BMW social followers, earned nearly 21.6 million total media impressions and a whole lot of love from the enthusiast press. Footage from the event was shared across social media channels from enthusiasts, industry bloggers and fans without a single nudge from the brand. Another fan blog, oppositelock.kinja.com loved the approach saying, "The idea of going straight to the track was great. There were no long tutorials on the M2's features, just immediate speed and even tires smoking."