The most popular car in Brazil is the Volkswagen (VW Gol) – the Portuguese word for Goal – and, to support the national team at the 2022 FIFA Men’s World Cup, VW Brazil sent seven Brazilian-made, 2014 edition Gols back to Germany to ‘reset the balance of the footballing universe’ in reference to the infamous 2014 FIFA Men’s World Cup when Germany beat Brazil 7-1.
Not only was this the worst defeat in Brazil’s men’s football history, but it also took place at the Mineirão stadium in Belo Horizonte during the semi-final of a tournament Brazil was hosting.
The campaign, which saw VW work with creative agency AlmapBBDO, revolved around sending seven 2014 models from Brazil to Germany to finally close off a soccer story that has scared Brazilian supporters for too long and ‘end the jinx’.
The background to the campaign idea was that the VW Gol is due to be discontinued this December so the auto company wanted to make a final goodbye gesture to the nation and the seven models will end up in VW’s Wolfsburg headquarters.
The campaign was spearheaded by a hero spot titled ‘#GolDoBrasil’ which dropped on 1 December to leverage Brazil’s opening matches at Qatar 2022.
As the hero film states: “It’s the year to say goodbye to Gol, Brazil’s most iconic car. But he couldn’t leave without saying thank you for all the love he’s received over these 42 years. That’s why, as the last feat of this legend, Gol left a little gift for all of you. And go Brazil#GolDoBrasil.”
According to VW ECD Marketing Livia Kinoshita, the idea was to help Brazil “shake off the ghosts of its past and bid farewell to that trauma in iconic fashion” and to “thank Brazilians for all the love they’ve given us at such an important time for the country” and “to wish the Brazilian national team the best of luck!”
“After such a long and remarkable history, the Gol couldn’t go off without a send-off. And it had to go off in style,” added AlmapBBDO Creative Director Fernando Duarte. “This campaign sees Gol repaying all the love it’s received from Brazilians.”
The campaign was created by a team at agency AlmapBBDO which included Chief Executive Officer Filipe Bartholomeu, Chief Creative Officers Luiz Sanches and Pernil, Executive Creative Directors Fernando Duarte and Henrique Del Lama, Creatives Beatriz Fiori, Tiago Sanchez Marini, Yasmin Oliveira and Vinicius Gonzaga.
Production was handled by Cine with Director Walk In and Post Production/VFX by Cine X with Editor Marcus Mantovanelli.
Comment
There is certainly a strong connection between the car, Brazil and football: after all, the German company’s ‘Gol’ has long been Brazil’s best-selling vehicle, VW is a long-time sponsor and supporters of soccer and has also been well known for naming cars after sports (eg Polo, Golf, Derby and Gol).
In fact, the Brazilian-born Gol was actually created for the market, has since sold more than 8m units and was named after the Portuguese word ‘gol’ which means both the physical goal and the act of scoring a goal. The model is now being discontinued as it is being replaced by the entry-level Polo Track.
As for the match itself, whilst the two teams have since met again with less tortuous results for the Latin America side, Brazil’s more than 200 million fans still haven’t quite got over the humiliating defeat.
This isn’t VW’s only national campaign leveraging Qatar 2022.
In the USA, the auto giant – which sponsors the USMNT and MLS – teamed up with agency The Community and production company Hometeamon to create a mixed-media, social-first campaign activating its USMNT tie-up. Part of the company’s #drivebiggerplaybigger programme, ‘Inspiring The Next Generation’, which dropped on 29 November, was fronted by a hero spot starring US Men’s Team skipper Christian Pulisic.
Leave a comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.