We conducted the Audi RS6 “Blind Drive” campaign in France, a country where Branded Entertainment is at the center of the conversation: everybody talk about it, but few brands manage to do something interesting.

Most branded content efforts in France have failed either because people saw it as fake, or because it failed to entertain them. Indeed, today branded content competes directly with all the amazing unbranded content released by production companies, users or Youtube celebrities. This “genuine” content is the one that’s the most likely to be shared and talked about on social networks.

It has also to be noted that any brand mention on TV is forbidden and punished with tough sanctions against the TV channels. Huge car brands like Renault have their own cable channel, but nobody watch them. Our benchmark study showed that the only branded content to emerge is the one that brings something new to the table, either by its subject or its format.

In total, we installed 32 microphones in and around the Audi RS. Two of them were located in the ears of a “dummy head” placed in the driving seat to determine how exactly the sounds spread and reach the driver’s ears.

The emitted sound waves were then mixed by 7 sound engineers using a technic called “binaural synthesis”, so as to offer the listener’s brain a full 1080° hearing experience.

As our auditory sensations are amplified when we don’t simultaneously receive visual information, we asked people to use headphones and switch off their lights for a truly mind-blowing, visceral experience of this “blind drive”.

5 million people (a quarter of French driving population) experienced our immersive brand experiences.

The immersive brand experience was rated positively 9 times out of 10 on youtube – which is well above youtube standards (4-6 out of 10 on average) – which is even more remarkable considering this is branded content.

The campaign was saluted by more than 30 articles on qualified media specialized in automotive, luxury and music design.

From a business standpoint, the campaign has proven to be an indisputable success. Indeed, showcasing the persuasive power of this stimulating quasi real-life experience, online configurations for the Audi RS6 increased by 75% vs. the month before the campaign, while sales jumped by 275% vs. the average month.