Behind the Scenes of Volkswagen’s We Drive Football Campaign
During our production in 2020, the ball wasn’t rolling. The Euros were cancelled, and football fans across Europe were left without the thrills and excitement of the sport they loved. But when Euro 2021 came around, Volkswagen, as the official mobility partner of the German Football Association and UEFA, was ready to kick things off in a big way. The We Drive Football campaign was our chance to not only connect fans to their football heroes but also showcase Volkswagen’s mobility solutions in the heart of the action.
In this blog post, I’ll take you through the project, from creating 170 social media assets with Germany’s national team to producing last-minute solo clips that combined football, tech, and creativity.
Capturing the Spirit of Football with Volkswagen
The European Championship presented the perfect opportunity for Volkswagen to reinforce its love for football. Our mission at C3 Creative Code and Content was to create engaging social media content that would captivate football fans across Europe.
We set up a video shoot with the German national team, where 22 players—including coach Jogi Loew—rotated through four video production stations over the course of three hours. Each player shared personal stories in quick interviews and demonstrated their favorite goal celebration gestures.
I was responsible for directing the interview content and gesture clips. With just five minutes per player, we had to keep the pace up while ensuring the content felt personal and authentic. From these fast-paced shoots, we produced 170 social assets, including short clips and interview-style videos, all designed to bring fans closer to their favorite players.
The Execution: Football for Everyone
Volkswagen’s love for football extends far beyond professional leagues. We wanted our content to reflect that football is for everyone—from local legends to casual fans. That’s why the We Drive Football campaign took a holistic approach, creating content for a wide range of football enthusiasts.
The content was adapted for various European markets and unified under Volkswagen’s football communications division. By leveraging Volkswagen’s four brand pillars—celebrating, providing, enabling, and uniting—we ensured a consistent look and feel across all platforms.
One of the campaign’s key components was a football content hub integrated with volkswagen.de, which featured articles, visual stories, quizzes, and live talks. On Facebook and Instagram, the content was designed to engage fans with dynamic, shareable formats. The newly launched Instagram channel also served as a prime spot to showcase Volkswagen’s football sponsorship.
Scores that Matter
Since its launch in July 2019, We Drive Football has been a massive success, delivering impressive engagement numbers:
- Over 139 million impressions
- 17 million interactions
- 15 million video views
These results demonstrate the campaign’s ability to not only reach football fans but to actively engage them with Volkswagen’s football-related content.
Quick and Agile Creativity Wins The Race
One of the most memorable parts of the project was a last-minute request from Volkswagen to create a quick social media clip. The concept? A football shirt with a QR code that allowed fans to rent a Volkswagen and drive to the stadium for free.
In just two days, I produced the entire clip as a solo shooter, with four of my colleagues acting as talent in front of the camera. Armed with only a Blackmagic Pocket Camera and the football shirts featuring the QR codes, we created a simple yet effective piece of content. It was a great example of how in-house-production agility and creativity can come together to deliver ultra-fast results.
Final Thoughts: Why We Drive Football Worked
The success of the We Drive Football campaign can be attributed to its authenticity, adaptability, and the connection it created between fans and players. By producing content that felt personal and engaging, we didn’t just tell people Volkswagen loves football—we showed them.
This campaign showcased how powerful content marketing can be when executed with a clear vision, a strong brand message, and a team that’s willing to adapt and innovate on the go.
Stay tuned for more behind-the-scenes insights into our content marketing initiatives!
TEAM
Agency: C3 Creative Code and Content
Executive Director: Peter Kasza
Creative Direction Campaign: Dominic Nitsche
Social Media Concept: Matt Jaro
Creative Director (Personal Stories + Gestures): Matt Jaro
Video Director (Personal Stories + Gestures): Matt Jaro
DP: Pitt Holleber
Producer: Daniel Krebs
Videography, Edit, Sound & Color (QR Clip): Matt Jaro
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