Volkswagen – The Gol that became a goal

Over 42 years of uninterrupted production, Volkswagen Brasil has churned out more than 8.5 million units of the Gol, 1.5 million of which were exported. The model has been in production since 1980; it’s been the most-produced, most-sold on the Brazilian market, and the most-exported, as well as having led the country’s sales rankings for 27 years. 

This Volkswagen icon was recently discontinued, moving over to make room for its substitute, the Polo Track. And the farewell to the Gol was marked by the transformation of one Last Edition Gol into the goalposts at the Vila Belmiro stadium. 

To get the idea off the drawing board, we had to disassemble the vehicle, select key parts, and melt them down in a furnace at over 500ºC. That molten metal was then used to make the official goal at Vila Belmiro, which debuted during Santos Futebol Clube’s first official match in the Paulista state championship, a 2-1 victory over Mirassol. 

To better understand the connection between the car and football, you should know that Volkswagen is well known in the mobility market for model names that reference sports, such as the Polo, the Golf, and the Derby. The Gol, a Brazilian-born model, is no exception, and was designed to honor Brazilians’ legendary footballing prowess. In Portuguese, the country’s official language, the word also means a goal – the goalposts and netting where players score in matches, and the goals themselves.

Credits

Advertiser: Volkswagen 
Title: The Gol that became a goal 
Product: Gol 
Agency: AlmapBBDO 
President and CEO: Filipe Bartholomeu

CCOs: Luiz Sanches and Pernil 
ECDs: Fernando Duarte and Henrique Del Lama 
Creatives: Igor Cabó, Pedro Hefs 
Client Approval: Livia Kinoshita, Cristiano Mineiro, Arthur Rocha, Eduardo Wolfsohn 
Audiovisual Production: Diego Villas Bôas, Vera Jacinto, Murillo Moretti e Paula Buzzi 
Liaisons: Christiano Bock, Mariana Nanes, Stephanie Gasparini, Juliana Stern 
Planning: Sergio Katz, Bruno Ortiz Machado, Lavieri Junior

Media: Rafaela Alves, Luana Gallizzi, Everton Maciel
Content: Cristiana Uehara, Hannamy Layla, Samanta de Melo, Beatriz Amâncio
Production: ilha 253
Stage Manager: Henrique Tupã
DP: Eduardo Auricchio
Editing: ilha 253
Executive Producers: Prisma Cultural e Carol Kern
Assistant Directors: Ba Silveira e Isabella Woelpl
Liaison: Beatriz Prado
Costuming Production: Karina Kohatsu
1st Assistant Camera: Alex Amati
2nd Assistant Camera: Brenno Carvalho
Video Assist: Jeferson Médice
Logger: Rebeca dos Santos
Direct Sound: Alfredo Guerra
Transmission: Guilherme Florian
Crane: Felipe Ramos
Drone: Henrique Moraes
Gaffer: Antonio de Souza Neto
Color: Clandestino
Colorist: João Paulo Geraldo
Post-production: ilha 253
Sound Production: GANSO MUSIC
Composition and Musical Production: Cezar Brandão Sound
Design: Equipe Ganso Music
Mix and Master: Equipe Ganso Music