Bringing It All Back Home

"When this happened, it legit changed my life"
Homecoming
Volkswagen wanted to speak to a new generation of car customers — and they wanted to do it through music. In a unique collaboration with Beats by Dre, the ask was clear: build something bold, emotional, and culturally resonant that feels authentic to both brands’ respective heritages. Together with Grabarz & Partner we set out to create something that didn’t look like a car ad — and didn’t sound like one either. So we leaned into the genre at the core of Beats’ cultural legacy: Hip-Hop. And shot the whole thing at a VW factory, turning an industrial space into a stage for storytelling.












Building ideas around the music
The big idea: flip the usual script. Let the car build itself around the music. We invited New Orleans rapper Alfred Banks to perform "Homecoming" — a celebratory cut about coming home — right there on the assembly line. With custom sound design created on-site, the rhythms of the factory became part of the final beat.
Listen to the single
Giving the people what they want
We dropped the full-length “factory version” of Homecoming — and it hit. The campaign won multiple international awards for its music concept, sparked fan love across the Hip-Hop community, and resonated deeply with VW’s next-gen target group. And for Alfred Banks, it became a career-defining moment — proof that when artist and brand truly align, everyone wins.
Alfred Banks: Heritage & Home
“My experience with the VW x Beats By Dre Ad was life changing. It put me on the map & I got to create with some of the hardest working people I’ve ever met over at blut. It made me very proud to represent my hometown of New Orleans. With New Orleans in mind, I made a playlist of 11 songs that all make me feel the heritage and energy of my hometown. Every artist on this playlist is from New Orleans & it’s a wide range of music showing what we do isn’t just what you think of when my city is brought up in musical conversations.”
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