Case Study

RUF Documentary

In celebration of RUF’s 80th anniversary, Kahn Media produced and promoted the film “RUF: Love at the Red Line” which conveyed the history, legacy and passion of the RUF brand through the people who lived it.

Client
RUF Automobile
Type of Work
Video Production
PR/Communication
Digital Marketing
Dates
2019 – 2020
01 / The Project

Document &
Convey the Legacy

With nearly a century of experience under its belt, RUF had already proven itself, building a robust reputation as a small volume sports car manufacturer dedicated to producing vehicles of the highest quality and level of engineering. With an all-new model coming to the global market in celebration of RUF’s 80th anniversary, our challenge was to reach the furthest corners of the globe with the news from a small town in Southern Germany. The ensuing campaign spanned several continents, resulted in hundreds of hours of footage being gathered and culminated in the release of a high quality 30-minute documentary titled “RUF: Love at the Red Line.”

The biggest challenge was telling the story of the car, the brand, and the people behind it in an honest and on-brand way, the results speak for themselves.

02 / The Tactic

The Documentary was a snapshot into the eight-decade history of RUF with the family playing a central role. The RUF brand is about the people as much as it is about the cars. It’s about the Ruf family, the workers who build and maintain the cars, their friends, customers, and fans. RUF, more than most brands, is deeply personal and its reputation is based on a close, genuine relationship with the family whose name is on the car.

The work began with a storyboard – a vision of how we would tell the story, the key pieces of the puzzle, and the people we needed to help us tell it. The ensuing journey led us to coordinating interviews with Gran Tursimo creator Kazunori Yamauchi in Monterey, California; Bruce Meyer, Tim Pappas, and Ted Gushue in Los Angeles; and the RUF team in both Geneva, Switzerland and Pfaffenhausen, Germany. For interviews in German and Japanese, Kahn Media facilitated translations for captions. Filming was done in quiet offices, at outdoor car shows and, occasionally, at well over 125 mph on German country roads.

The editing process was equally challenging, gathering footage, photos and information from sources around the world and sometimes from decades in the past. Combined with the footage Kahn Media captured, we were able to add historical context to our clean, modern footage and edit.

The finished product was then uploaded to YouTube and distributed to select automotive, mainstream and luxury-lifestyle media, as well as to select social media influencers and through RUF’s social media accounts.

Systemize Content

Creation and Curation

Storyboard

Utilizing content available while
outlining content to be created

Network

Connecting with RUF enthusiasts
and their stories

Execute

International interactions,
travel, and documentation
03 / The Results

RUF: Love
at the Red Line

The film was first shown at the RUF 80th anniversary banquet to close friends and customers before being released to the world via YouTube, Facebook and Instagram premiers, and pitched to major automotive and lifestyle publications for feature articles. Autoblog, Motor1, The Drive, Hypebeast and many other outlets covered the release, which resulted in hundreds of thousands of views and a film which will stand the test of time. Since its release, the film has seen a steady rise in views showing its status as an evergreen, engaging film.

The film is now the definitive source for the story of RUF and an excellent brand tool that is used at events and in museums.

About the client:

In 1939, Alois Ruf, Sr. formed his company, AUTO RUF, as a general service garage. The company grew, and in 1949, he added a gas station to the company complex. By 1955, Ruf, Sr. recognized a need in Germany for a full-size tourist bus and challenged himself to build his own as a separate business. In 1963, the company began specializing in Porsche vehicles, a direction that Alois Ruf, Jr. vowed to continue when he assumed directorship of the company in 1974. The following year, the first RUF-enhanced Porsche model made its debut. RUF remains a family business run by Alois Ruf, Jr. and his wife Estonia.

Ready to rev your brand engine?

Get in touch with our team. Shoot us an email at info@kahnmedia.com or give us a call 818.881.5246.