Audi and FX Networks marry new marketing with new media

This post brought to you by Untitled Jersey City Project. All opinions are 100% mine.

Towards the end of September this year, Audi and FX Networks announced a partnership for what they termed a short-form original series. Its name, "Untitled Jersey City Project". By short we're talking only 16 minutes, split into 8 episodes. At just 2 minutes an episode they're the ideal length to watch on the small screen of your computer or mobile device. Each clip packed enough intrigue and interest to hook you in and make you wonder what was in store for the next one. A clever scheme, and certainly not something at all easy to pull off.

When Audi and their marketing partners came to me for my thoughts, I had already heard about the series and the partnership with FX Networks, but hadn't actually watched an episode. Obviously I'm a fan of Audis, and I do regularly watch a couple of shows on the FX channel so I'm familiar with what they're capable of as well. I had no doubts that the two together would come out with something worth watching, especially when it requires only 16 minutes of my time. Well, it only took 2 minutes of it to peak my interest and watch the rest back-to-back.

Like me, you may have seen ads for the series during this year's Primetime Emmy Awards or somewhere online. They were promoted on both Audi's website and the FX Network's site, as well as their YouTube channel and Facebook pages. While I'm often skeptical of product placement and can spot the obviousness from a mile away, I must say that they made great use of the new Audi A6. But hey, like a sexy actress, who wouldn't want to look at the new A6 doing its thing on the city streets? As a future owner of one, I obviously would.

The series was directed by Daniel Minahan of HBO fame. With shows like "True Blood" and "Game of Thrones" under his belt, he brought his expertise to "Untitled Jersey City Project". It's a little bit cop drama and a little bit mafia suspense film. While there's no big-name actors in the series, it didn't need it. The acting was on par with what you'd see on network or cable television, as was the writing and editing.

The series itself didn't wrap up with a nice tidy bow on top, but that doesn't mean it won't or can't. It was intended to be an open-ended work-in-progress, with viewers able to learn more about the characters online and even having the chance to determine their fate. The dedicated site page also has another nice subtle integration of the 2012 Audi A6 where viewers can see additional photos of the car, yet not be bombarded with a sales pitch. Yet another clever tough, Audi. While having cars like the R8 appear in big budget action movies is cool, I'm really hoping we'll see more of these types of partnerships and experiments coming out of Audi. They've been on the forefront of embracing those buzzwords we know as 'new-' and 'social-media', and I personally hope it continues.

So what are your thoughts? Have you had a chance to watch any of the episodes, or are you hearing about this now for the first time? Episode 1 is embedded above, so have a look and let us know what you think. I'm just as interested to hear what you have to say as Audi is!