The Brief

We were given the task to promote the technology in the Audi R18 e-tron quattro - the car that would be representing Audi at the 24-hours of Le Mans 2012. It featured a kinetic energy recovery system which stored kinetic energy which would have otherwise been lost during braking and supplied it to the front wheels during acceleration as required by the driver.

Describe how the promotion developed from concept to implementation

We created the world’s first online kinetic energy transfer system to promote the Audi R18 e-tron quattro® at the 2012 24-hours of Le Mans. Its electric component harnesses kinetic energy which would otherwise have been lost during braking and transfers it to the front wheels of the R18 TDI e-tron whenever required. A first for Audi at Le Mans. On the website, users could generate kinetic energy by waving their arms around in front of their webcam to power an online Audi R18 around the Le Mans circuit. A leaderboard displayed the total distance individual users powered the car.

Describe the success of the promotion with both client and consumer including some quantifiable results

With users sharing the website with all their friends across social media, coupled with media spends and celebrity tweets, the microsite received an overwhelming response. By the end of the 24-hour activity, an astounding 429,350 people had transferred their kinetic energy to the online Audi R18 and powered it a distance of 115,924km. That translated to a whopping 260metres per user. The microsite was shared 785 times on Facebook, while being tweeted about and re-tweeted over 500 times.

Explain why the method of promotion was most relevant to the product or service

By allowing users to discover in a simple and interactive manner the way the Audi R18 e-tron quattro® worked, we not only increased awareness of this technological leap for Audi but also garnered more support for Audi at Le Mans - a race in which Audi dominated the podium with an emphatic 1-2-3 finish.