When Volkswagen joined the World Rally Championship, it made a thunderous entrance, and its “Rally the World” marketing campaign was ahead of its time – still impressive even by today’s standards.
In motorsport, performance is the cornerstone of success, and Volkswagen certainly achieved that in the WRC. However, success is also about marketing the product. During Volkswagen’s rallying era, Sebastien Ogier was shown grilling steaks on the bonnet of a rally car, while the Polo R WRC served as a “sewing machine” in another campaign.
Volkswagen Motorsport became a rallying powerhouse not just because of its performance but also due to the team’s culture, created collectively by strong individuals within the team.
Anyone who followed the WRC between 2013 and 2016 will surely remember Volkswagen’s “Rally the World.” Volkswagen is often considered a pioneer in marketing, as evidenced by its many iconic adverts still found on YouTube today.
It was only natural that Volkswagen’s WRC era reflected this trend. The team was the leader in marketing, with its stunning success on the stages as the cherry on top.
Volkswagen’s victories and championships were underpinned by much more than just speed. Andre Dietzel, now Volkswagen’s Head of Content, but the team’s head of communications during its rallying years, reminisced about this era.
“It was clear that we had to bring our team to another level to compete in WRC [after the Dakar], but we were also all aware that we have to step up a bit with communication,,” Dietzel told DirtFish.
“And I think the way we approached it communication-wise was also a little bit… I think we were a bit humble,” he added.
Volkswagen is one of the world’s most recognised car manufacturers and brands, but the leap into the WRC caused some apprehension in the German automaker’s offices – there were no guarantees of success.
“I mean at the beginning, we never expected this success. So from the very beginning we were thinking of how to approach WRC, because we could not be sure that we would be successful,” Dietzel explained.
“There were very strong brands like Citroën, they were almost invincible at that time; Ford also has a big heritage and a lot of successes. We were not expecting to be winning from the beginning,” he admitted.
Marketing and communication are, of course, much easier when you’re winning. Today, Hyundai serves as a great example, producing engaging content for social media, much like Volkswagen did in its day. Not all Hyundai’s material is directly related to rallying; instead, it creates impressions and reaches new audiences effectively.
Volkswagen also prepared for the possibility of not succeeding on the stages.
“Also the communication concept, let’s say, was a little bit more like, ‘OK, what can we do independent from our success?’ So to have content or to have communication assets that are not only relying on sporting success,” Dietzel noted.
Ultimately, lack of success didn’t become an issue. Volkswagen won both the drivers’ and manufacturers’ titles four times in a row before withdrawing after the 2016 season. All four drivers’ titles were delivered by Sebastien Ogier, with Jari-Matti Latvala and Andreas Mikkelsen also driving for the team.
“Of course it’s always easy if you’re winning to tell the story, but if you’re not, you also have to tell something. And that was also one, let’s say, baseline that led to how we did it,” Dietzel said.
Volkswagen surprised many positively, breaking away from the stereotypical image of a German team.
“Probably people would have expected that we would be, let’s say, more like a typical German team: very concentrated, very straightforward, not too nice and probably not with a lot of humor,” Dietzel laughed.
“But what also came into this was Jost Capito, with his way of leading a team and how to see things and how to lead a team, brought some very important aspects in the team that we were very open, that we were friendly, that we were approachable, and that we also were able to laugh about ourselves, so not taking ourselves too seriously,” Dietzel added.
Capito remains a somewhat controversial figure, but Dietzel has nothing but praise for his former boss.
“I think that is one core value of his leadership philosophy, and then that also influenced of course the communication, because with such a team principal, it’s easier to do funny and innovative stuff than having somebody who’s only, let’s say, very performance-minded,” Dietzel remarked.
Volkswagen was doing “TikTok-style” content years before TikTok existed.
“It gave us, let’s say, a large playing field of funny things, of classic sporting communication, because Rally The World is one thing, like having these shorts before shorts were invented, and the idea of funny videos to approach a new target group,” Dietzel recalled.
It’s hard to say how many new fans Volkswagen brought to rallying, but one thing is certain: the German automaker left a lasting, positive mark on the sport.
