As mentioned by rob at gottaquirk, we’re running a bit of a test on YouTube.

On 15 August, I uploaded one of BMW’s most recent television commercials, featuring kinetic sculptor Theo Jansen, onto our BMWSouthAfrica channel:

We have just passed the 35000 view mark, which is pretty amazing considering the fact that we didn’t tell anyone about the upload.

Just what this really means for us is debatable. At the end of the day, the ultimate question is always “does it sell more cars?”.

Points to consider when trying to answer this question:

- The commercial is very much a brand job as opposed to a model specific campaign.
- It was picked up by various blogs that focus on topics other than cars. (Design, art, etc).
- Although it was pretty clear that the advert was the work of BMW South Africa, the audience is certainly going to be predominantley international. Such is the nature of South Africa’s internet situation, and the sheer popularity of YouTube overseas.

So with these points in mind, asking the question about whether or not it’s going to sell more cars becomes a bit easier to answer - the impact this test has on South African car sales will probably be zero. The branding value and impact it will have on those viewers abroad is pretty much impossible to measure. The 4 out of 5 average from 37200 viewers is a good start though.

To use YouTube again? It’s a brilliant way of getting your stuff out there. In fact, it could be a good way of testing advertising here in SA by showing the commercial to those who use YouTube. We will keep running stuff that we have rights for internet usage - at least all local production.

At the end of the day, for the moment, I think more value would be gained by BMW HQ in Munich, or BMW USA. The guys with serious audience numbers.