Edgy, energetic, passionate. These were just some of the responses to Mercedes-Benz France’s Sensations campaign, created to help modernize the iconic brand and introduce its new SUV. The immersive experience focuses on The Monolith, a black box that’s crafted into a car by the movements of a series of American football players, skateboarders, dancers and others who represent Mercedes-Benz’s engineers. The core of the integrated campaign was a 14-minute YouTube ad, from which users could unlock an additional 25 hours of content. And they just did that: The TrueView ad achieved an astonishing 69% view rate and attracted 66% more subscribers to its channel.

Goals

Reposition the brand to appeal to a younger audience

Reach a broad swath of people

Drive engagement

Highlight the sporty design of a new SUV

Approach

Build excitement with four days of teasers

Create collection of short videos and a more immersive director’s cut to engage audience

Focus on YouTube, using Masthead, First Watch, TrueView and Search

Results

3.7 million complete views

More than 6.9 years of content actively used

69% view rate on the 14-minute TrueView film

66% increase in YouTube channel subscriptions