RALLY THE WORLD #DOITFORTHEDRIVE

TitleRALLY THE WORLD #DOITFORTHEDRIVE
BrandVOLKSWAGEN
Product/ServiceVOLKSWAGEN MOTORSPORT/ RALLYE ENGAGEMENT
Category E07. Content Placement
Entrant Aperto, an IBM Company Berlin, GERMANY
Idea Creation Aperto, an IBM Company Berlin, GERMANY
Credits
Name Company Position
Thomas Kirchner PLANTAGE Berlin Creative Director
Henning Lisson Aperto - An IBM Company Creative Director
Johannes Nittmann PLANTAGE Berlin Creative Director
Catherina Isken PLANTAGE Berlin Art Director
Philipp Langer Apert - An IBM Company Art Director
Emilie Montigny PLANTAGE Berlin Art Director
Anita Möller Aperto - An IBM Company Client Director
Mia Twerenbold Aperto - An IBM Company Client Director
Sandra Gemeinhardt Aperto - An IBM Company Content Strategist
Svenja Jelen PLANTAGE Berlin Designer
Tim Müller Aperto - An IBM Company Designer
Andreas Pleß Aperto - An IBM Company Designer
Fritz Waldhecker Aperto - An IBM Company Designer
Doreen Reppenhagen Aperto - An IBM Company User Experience Designer
Julia Berger Aperto - An IBM Company Creative Team
Sarah Buggle Aperto - An IBM Company Creative Team
Peter Steigerwald Aperto - An IBM Company Creative Team
Nadine Franzen Aperto - An IBM Company Editor

The Campaign

In 2015, we devised the global storytelling campaign, DO IT FOR THE DRIVE across the RALLY THE WORLD digital platforms. DO IT FOR THE DRIVE focuses our communication on the passion for driving. Using video, the ultimate storytelling medium, to communicate a passion for driving - a passion which unites rally sport in general and the Volkswagen brand. We populated the channels with many bite-size videos. Covering 13 rallies, across 4 continents, each one became a spring-board to tell humorous and entertaining stories surrounding the sport. Stories which not only would excite the super-fans but could relate to and entertain ordinary, young, car lovers also. By broadening the appeal of the sport we would recruit new fans to the Volkswagen rally team and thus the brand itself.

Creative Execution

Over 12 months we ignited this passion in millions of people via 5 digital channels - with content that was perfectly aligned with the channels in terms of tonality. The videos acted as an alternative behind-the-scenes for the Volkswagen motorsport team. Creating different scenarios inspired the country, history and challenges of each rally. Other times, we brought the individual rally challenges into the spotlight. We weren’t afraid to poke fun at the Volkswagen team either. Alongside this, we used onsite phone footage- showing the rally from a fan’s perspective. Using live footage meant a very short windows of time to create, cut and edit together footage while the rally was ongoing.

With the backing of almost 2 million enthusiastic fans and followers, RALLY THE WORLD did not only exceed all expectations, but also pulverised all objectives: 365 days of content translated into 365 million page impressions. We managed to inspire millions of people who were not yet part of our fan base. Our videos generated an impressive 60 million video views. To our utmost delight, we achieved 40% of our reach organically, i.e. without the use of media. RALLY THE WORLD has become Volkswagen’s most successful content campaign; it created awareness and enthusiasm that went far beyond the usual, existing target audience.

With DO IT FOR THE DRIVE we wanted to excite a broader target audience for rally sport, and thus for the Volkswagen brand: modern potentials and young, enthusiastic car lovers.