Renault sees your video view, and raises you one “real view.”

The auto brand and its agency Publicis have done something we don’t think we’ve seen before. Instead of gunning for views on YouTube, it decided to put cache in the real views it receives in the real world — meaning, it tracked (and, in fact, is still currently tracking) eye contact (via facial recognition tech) that one of its shiny blue Megane vehicles gets when it drives on the streets of Belgium. The views are then featured in a digital counter neatly positioned in the back window of the car for all to see.

And remember when we said the brand is still tracking views? If you go to its website here, you can see the (blurred out) faces of the pedestrians ogling/peaking at the car as it drives by. So far, it’s got a tally of 36,o56 (at time of publishing) and that’s meant to keep climbing as the car continues to tour the streets until January 30.

It’s all so very meta — a brand discarding the idea of creating a “viral video” by making a video of it doing just that. But irony aside, it’s still a pretty neat idea.

[iframe_youtube video = “dcsnnkzCdGs”]

Credits:

Brand: Renault
Agency: Publicis, Brussels, Belgium
Creative Directors: Tom Berth, Geert De Rocker
Digital Creative Director: Naïm Baddich
Creatives: Marc Richard Vander Heyden, Kermit Cota
Development: Tim Knapen / Indianen
Copywriter: Maarten De-Maayer
Strategic Planner: Dieter Riemaeker
Digital Producer: Tanguy De Kelver
Web Development: Everything is Fun
Web Design: Not Human – Prspx
Account Director: Muriel Douchain
Account Managers: Allen Marchant, Aline Huls
Film Production Company: Geronimo
TV Producers: Tuyen Pham, Marc Van Buggenhout