“Pep Guardiola embodies an attitude that fits perfectly with Audi: never be satisfied with the status quo, keep moving forward rather than resting on your laurels,” says Giovanni Perosino, Head of Marketing Communications at AUDI AG. “This creative impulse defines the strongest teams and was the intuitive idea behind the commercial.”
The film with the slogan “Vorsprung starts in the mind” begins with only the Bayern coach visible. His first sentence immediately captures all attention: “Forget everything you have achieved.” Guardiola explains that “every goal is just the halfway mark to the next” and that the most important thing is to “think as far into the future as you can – That way no one will ever catch you up.”
It is not until the end of the commercial that the camera pans to show who Pep Guardiola is actually talking to: Audi employees and not the soccer stars from FC Bayern Munich. What the viewer assumed was the soccer team’s locker room is in fact the working environment of Audi engineers. They jump in to help out when the Spanish coach seeks to sum up his definition of success: “Vorsprung!”
“The film puts across a strong message with simple means. The minimalist look of the black and white clip with only minor acoustic accompaniment underscores Pep Guardiola’s charisma and his characteristic gestures and expressions,” says Michael Finke, Head of Creation/Sales Media in Marketing Communications at AUDI AG. The company created the commercial together with the creative agency Philipp und Keuntje from Hamburg, Germany.