Gays in football is one of the last big taboo topics in Germany. Not one single player in the professional leagues is openly gay. One week before the EURO 2016, “Deutsche Bahn“ published a shortfilm that gave the public debate about football in Germany a new twist.

It was the story of a passionate football fan, following his team via ICE train throughout the season. Only in the end it turns out: the fan is actually more than a regular fan – he’s in a relationship with one of the players. The message: Deutsche Bahn is “connecting more than just A and B“. No other big brand in Germany had made a comparable statement so far.

The film was published on June 1st, 2016 and hosted in parallel on Youtube, Facebook and Twitter, accompanied by an official press release. Within the shortest time, every major media in Germany took up the subject.

„The Fan“ became the campaign with the most positive feedback in the history of Deutsche Bahn. Even the German Foreign Minister shared the film on his official FB site. Two months later, for the first time ever, a major German Football Association took part in Christopher Street Day.

- 10m views on various platforms

- 141 online articles, 27 print articles, 3 TV stations

- sparking a national conversation

- 2.2bn online media impressions

- 2m earned media value

- Most positive feedback in the history of Deutsche Bahn (> 70% positive mentions)