DSC Arminia Bielefeld and Alpecin enjoy a decades-long partnership which has reached a new milestone as the German Bundesliga 2 club and its official partner joined hands to produce a nationwide TV commercial. The TV commercial has been produced just in time ahead of the Bundesliga 1 season opener on Friday and it will be broadcasted on SKY, ARD Sportschau and RTL Nitro.

The idea for the TV commercial originates in the epic team talk by Arminia Bielefeld’s assistant coach Carsten Rump ahead of the penultimate match of the 2016/17 season, when the club needed a win to avoid relegation from Bundesliga 2. The video clip of the team talk went viral after Arminia’s 6-0 win against Eintracht Braunschweig, while the East Westphalians secured their stay in the league one week later.

Inspired by those emotions, Alpecin conceptualized the TV commercial in close collaboration with Arminia Bielefeld which takes football fans into the team bus.

“Our physio Michael Schweika is actually there to support our players in the best possible way to perform at their best to the point. He now shows a different side in the TV commercial. It’s nice to see Arminia’s decades-long partnership with Alpecin getting an additional vitalisation through this extraordinary collaboration,” said Arminia Bielefeld’s Head Coach Jeff Saibene.

The TV commercial produced by Alpecin and Arminia Bielefeld is the first nationwide campaign featuring the team and the staff, which will reach out to several million TV viewers. The shooting and final cut of the TV commercial took just 24 hours and it is considered as one of the fastest TV commercial productions. The “Near-Live-Production” has been realised by Bielefeld-based company Simian.

Alpecin has produced a comparable Tour de France campaign for the Katusha Alpecin racing team earlier this year and the company felt that a similar concept would suit well for the football team. “The concept of a speech in the team bus is quite fascinating for us. We believe it is a convenient place for a authentic message with a peculiar momentum,” said Jörn Harguth, Executive Director, Alpecin.