The newest compact SUV from Audi, the all-new Audi Q3, was engineered for maximum agility and designed for urban Canadians looking to move into a slightly larger vehicle due to an expanding family or active lifestyle with a need for more trunk space.

To the brand’s gross disadvantage, it was the last one in the luxury category to launch a crossover into the Canadian market and was being outspent three-to-one by competitors. The challenge was to make a splash with the new vehicle launch but without having the dollars required to dominate the airwaves.

A goal of 500,000 unique views of the Audi Q3 video was set. Social listening provided insight into how urban drivers struggled trying to fit their SUVs into increasingly smaller parking spaces in condos or underground parking garages. So the aim was to prove that hunting for parking spaces in the city doesn’t have to “drive you up the wall,” by demonstrating how the all-new Audi Q3 could conquer even the tightest of spaces while providing you with ample cargo room.

A highly choreographed three-phased video approach was used to drive both paid and organic video views and shares for the launch of the Q3. For the first phase, an unbranded video of security camera footage captured the Q3 parking on an impossible angle. Then a follow-up video was released with a branded ending, claiming the Q3 “conquers tight parking.” This video was placed on the Audi Canada YouTube page, and promoted through pre-roll video and a highly targeted seeding strategy with auto and lifestyle blogs. For the third phase, a making-of video was released in reaction to consumers wondering how the stunt was done, which was hosted on the Audi YouTube channel only.

The unbranded security cam video went viral with a staggering 2.5 million views in the first three days (and it continued to climb thereafter). Celebrity Ludacris posted the video on his Facebook page. The videos netted more than 82,000 likes, over 42,000 shares and more than 7,000 comments, while tracking showed that 94% of the video views were organic. Moreover, the branded video and making-of video earned 1 million views.