Jörg van der Vegte, Creative Director at Jung von Matt, on GoSee with the ZALANDO x DFB campaign

Jörg van der Vegte joined Jung von Matt as an intern in 2015 and today is one of the youngest Creative Directors the agency group has produced to date.

His work combines strategic brand building, emotional storytelling and contemporary pop culture. What drives him is a strong sense of timing, attitude and the emotional impact of great campaigns. Underpinning this is a distinct sensitivity for aesthetics and a confident eye for modern visual language, which he consistently carries through to execution.

With recent work for international brands across lifestyle, fashion, sport and mobility, Jörg demonstrates an impressive ability to position brands within very different cultural contexts. Whether global brand campaigns, emotionally driven sports communication or pop-culture-inspired lifestyle projects, he moves effortlessly between these worlds and continues to shape the culture of craft and excellence at Jung von Matt.

As lead Creative Director, he is currently responsible for "Sowas von ready" for Zalando x DFB ahead of the 2026 World Cup. Rather than focusing on the game itself, the campaign explores what comes before it: the rituals, anticipation and excitement experienced by players and fans alike. From an emotional anthem film for TV and online to bespoke social assets and stills for onsite and out-of-home applications, one central idea is translated consistently across every touchpoint.

Emotional timing, a keen sense of cultural relevance and a clear visual perspective: these qualities run through all of Jörg’s work, from sport and lifestyle to major international brand campaigns.

Calls and presentations are certainly part of the job. But at its core, my role is really about something else. It’s about bringing together different perspectives and developing a shared vision with the team - one that everyone genuinely believes in.

To do that, you need space. Space for people’s viewpoints, their obsessions, their understanding of pop culture and the things that inspire them beyond advertising. The best ideas usually emerge where different interests and references collide and suddenly create something that feels genuinely relevant. My role is to give that energy a direction.

And eventually comes the part that is just as important: defending the idea. Against doubt and against the tendency to make things smoother and more interchangeable than they need to be. Safety is often the most expensive compromise. What matters is trust - trust in the people you work with and trust in the ideas that still feel a little uncomfortable.

AI. I know, everyone is talking about it. What interests me is not whether AI will replace us. What interests me is what we can actually do with it. In theory, we have more creative freedom right now than ever before. Almost anything can be produced, almost anything can be visualised, and the distance between idea and image keeps getting smaller. That creates more time for what really matters: concept, tone and the emotional core of an idea. The question is no longer whether something is possible, but how honestly and convincingly you can bring an idea to life.

There was this recent example: Asher Hyde, a twenty-year-old design student from the United States, created a Nike commercial entirely with AI, and many people assumed it was a real campaign. To me, that’s not a reason to worry - quite the opposite. The tools are available to everyone. What makes the difference is the person directing them, with taste and a clear instinct for what works. That is becoming more valuable, not less.

"Sowas von ready" is about the moment before the moment. Not the match. Not the goal. But that very specific feeling when you know it’s about to begin. Everyone knows it - players, fans, everyone. That state where excitement and anticipation can no longer be separated.

We asked: What makes you ready? And the answer is different for everyone. For a player it may be a ritual, for a fan it could be a jersey - or perhaps the perfect fade on the sides of their haircut. This is not a classic football commercial. It is a shared feeling that connects everyone before the ball starts rolling.

People have an incredibly sharp instinct for recognising when something is being sold to them. At the same time, they are willing to be genuinely moved when the intention feels authentic. At some point during the process, we realised that one of the most interesting aspects wasn't the game itself. It was everything that comes before it. That feeling everyone knows, whether you are standing on the pitch or sitting on your couch. That mixture of anticipation and tension.

And when a campaign manages to create a moment where people recognise themselves without needing it to be explained, then you have found something meaningful. Whether we achieved that is ultimately for the audience to decide.

More work by Jörg van der Vegte can be found via jvm.com and at vandervegte.de.