A New French Team: Rocket League & Volkswagen's First Steps In Esports
Involved for 10 years as a mobility partner of the French Football Federation (FFF). In 2024, the growing emergence of eSports and its young, committed audience presented an unprecedented opportunity - to introduce an official French Rocket League* team.
*video game combining racing cars and football, developed by Epic Games, the publisher of Fortnite.
In this Success Story:
Volkswagen wanted to further strengthen its commitment to the FFF and the French national teams by supporting and accompanying the creation of this French Rocket League Team! Following the announcement of the first FIFAe Rocket League World Cup and the FFF's participation in it, Volkswagen immediately decided to join as a partner of the eFoot French Team.
Challenge
Rocket League is thus a perfect fusion of the automotive world to which Volkswagen belongs and football, represented by the FFF, offering a meaningful opportunity within the framework of their partnership. However, this opportunity came with several challenges:
Building credibility: How to speak legitimately for the first time as a brand in esports on one of the most popular games of the moment, to an ultra-engaged audience, while giving the brand a useful and coherent role.
Respecting its heritage: How to naturally connect this initiative to the FFF partnership, which VW has been part of for 10 years.
Finding the right timing and tone: How to communicate about the creation of the first French Rocket League Team, which would bring together the best French players—among the top players in the world—while addressing a World Cup that VW is not a partner of, knowing it is being held in Saudi Arabia.
Solution
Starting from this challenge, Volkswagen, in collaboration with SPORTFIVE and the FFF, designed an integrated campaign combining storytelling, on-the-ground activation, and digital engagement to launch the French Rocket League Team and prepare it for the first World Cup in the discipline.
The recipe for the success of this campaign is based on 4 key pillars:
A natural universe for the brand
As previously introduced, Rocket League is the perfect game that combines the worlds of the FFF and Volkswagen, with the added bonus of an ultra-engaged community.
A crossroads of audiences
The World Cup was identified as a key moment, but one where many brands (including the automotive partner of the event) would communicate openly and extensively. We chose to focus on the reveal/announcement of the French Rocket League Team rather than the competition itself, as the announcement of this team was highly anticipated by both French and international fans.
Powerful and relevant partners
Rocket Baguette was a key ally throughout the campaign and the game changer that lent credibility to the operation. Their involvement allowed us to secure additional partners, including KCorp and Vitality.
Maximizing rights at 100% and a 360° activation
We activated this campaign across all available touchpoints: social media, influencers, public relations, media, events and fan experiences.
We created three key communication milestones to establish Volkswagen as THE partner of the French Rocket League Team.
The reveal/announcement of the French Team as the primary highlight of the campaign and the World Cup as a secondary moment around which we communicated more selectively. A contest leading to an exclusive experience for a fan of the French Team.
Our goal was to develop programs that make sense for both the fans and the brand, leveraging all the opportunities for expression within the partnership between VW and the French Football Federation.
Adrien BAILLEUL, Director of Brand Marketing Solutions at SPORTFIVE France
The Reveal at Clairefontaine: Announcing a New Era
For the first time, the selection of players for a French national team was unveiled through branded content.
For Volkswagen, we produced a film combining action and humor, shot at the Centre National du Football in Clairefontaine, an iconic venue for French soccer. The film makes a strong reference to soccer and the French national soccer team, using the codes of the players' arrival at Clairefontaine, an eagerly awaited and iconic moment when the players step out of their Volkswagen ID. cars one after the other, wearing fashionable outfits. For the first arrival of the French Rocket League team, we decided to play on this unique moment, to enable them too to make a remarkable arrival at Clairefontaine. The film also incorporates specific Rocket League references, such as the game's typical boosts and explosions, as well as the voice of the iconic French commentators, Rocket Baguette.
This highlight of the Team's announcement was reinforced by the opportunity offered by another FFF partner: Xbox, which enabled us to reveal the French Team at Paris Games Week on the Xbox stage in the presence of the players. An exclusive venue, a live broadcast of the event on Twitch and, once again, Volkswagen at the heart of the event thanks to the Volkswagen ID Tiny Car, which, just like at French team matches where it brings the ball into the center circle for kick-off, brought the Xbox controller to the Paris Games Week stage to launch the team's announcement film on a giant screen.
Content To Communicate Around An Unprecedented Competition
The World Cup was the second highlight of the operation, with the French team among the favorites. As Volkswagen was not a partner of the competition, it could not communicate directly on the subject. However, thanks to the FFF and a new filming slot made available to us, we were able to create numerous ways of engaging fans, as well as making simple and relevant links between this team and the brand. Once again, the Tiny Car proved to be a powerful ally in content in which we were able to see the players playing Rocket League in real life on the Clairefontaine synthetic pitch.
As with soccer matches broadcast on TV channels and accompanied by partner advertising spots, we were also able to position Volkswagen during the broadcasting of Equipe de France matches, thanks to Rocket Baguette, the official French broadcaster of the competition. Over 30 spots were broadcast from the group matches to the final, following the progress of Les Bleus, who finished 2nd in this prestigious competition.
A Digital Competition To Offer A Unique Experience
Having addressed the two key moments of the operation with the announcement of the French Team and the World Cup, we felt it was important to include fans in a physical way in the operation. Of course, some of them were present at PGW, but without really being able to enjoy a unique and exclusive experience. So, in collaboration with Rocket Baguette, we created a competition inviting Rocket League fans to create a design (called a preset in the game) in the colors of the French national team, and let the community vote for the most popular design. The grand prize for the winner was a VW ID Tiny Car in the colors of his or her design, presented in Clairefontaine by the players of the Equipe de France.
This unique experience was also captured on video to create content retracing the activation and the moment experienced by the winner.
Resources deployed:
Press relations
Influence (Rocket Baguette)
Media partnership with social media relay + Twitch sponsorship (Rocket Baguette)
Production of reveal content to announce Equipe de France in social media
Stunt in cross-partnership with FFF and Xbox at Paris Games Week
Production of reactive social media content for the World Cup
Production of case content as part of a competition offering a unique experience for a winner at Clairefontaine with players from the French Rocket League team.
Jean-Manuel CAPARROS, Communication Manager of Volkswagen France: "Volkswagen's commitment to eSports is a natural extension of our 10-year involvement in football alongside the French Football Federation. This new era, marked by the creation of a French Rocket League team, represents a fantastic opportunity to promote the passion for automobiles combined with the love of football to new, highly engaged communities."
Adrien BAILLEUL, Director of Brand Marketing Solutions at SPORTFIVE France: "Our goal was to develop programs that make sense for both the fans and the brand, leveraging all the opportunities for expression within the partnership between VW and the French Football Federation. With this campaign, VW continues its ambition to convey the strongest emotions and to be part of the daily lives of French people across all generations."
Results
An operation that enabled Volkswagen to take its first steps into the eSports arena and position itself as THE major partner of the French Rocket League team, by pre-empting the key moment of the reveal and extending its communication until the end of the World Cup, allowing the brand to stand out from the other partners of the French team. This included 1 Stunt at Paris Games Week (France's No. 1 video game trade show, No. 2 in Europe and No. 5 worldwide).
+0M
impressions of content produced as part of the operation*
+0K
of commitments on publications produced during the 3 highlights of the operation
0
press coverage from specialized and generalist media**
*due in particular to relays by players from the French Rocket League and Rocket Baguette teams and the FFF
**including L'Equipe, Konbini, Ouest France, Interlude, Actu Stream and ESPORT.fr
