2016 Winners & Shortlists

The Campaign

Audi supports the dreams of a talented boy to become a professional footballer, by delivering, building, and lighting up a football pitch for him. Our protagonist, Zakaria is a young boy who lives in the small village of Balad Sayt, Oman. It’s a remote village surrounded by majestic mountains. He has a big dream: to become a professional footballer. Through interviews done with Zakaria, his father and an old neighbour – as well as the footage captured, we learn that Zakaria faces a big obstacle. Living so far away from everything, there isn’t proper infrastructure for him to train. Audi decides to support his dreams. A total of 22 Audi Q7 travel to the mountainous village. Even though the roads are rough and dangerous, Audi persists in their mission. In the end, we deliver, build and light up a football pitch. It shows Audi's commitment to progress, under any condition.

Creative Execution

The biggest challenge with this kind of branded content: to find an authentic story within a real environment. The film must be cinematic, and contains a high level of aesthetics – after all, this is an Audi film. Five weeks were spent to find that needle in the haystack: a talented kid who lacked the facilities to support his dream to become a professional footballer. We found Zakaria in the remote mountainous village of Balad Sayt, Oman. We all wanted to become professional players when we were kids. But Zakaria took it a little more serious than the rest of us. For the film to be believable and emotional, the story was told by Zakaria, his father and an old neighbour. Camerawork was observational and organic, yet considered and composed. Drone shots further added a cinematic quality. Set design was minimal to show the village as it was. The football pitch was modeled after actual soccer pitch – with a subtle hint of Audi branding. Two main parts to the music. The first reflected the remoteness of the village. The second, inspired by the Champions League anthem, helped to lift the emotion of the viewers.