The history of automotive marketing is littered with oversized ambitions — cars bursting through paper walls, sedans perched improbably on mountaintops, sport utility vehicles fording streams that no suburban driver will ever encounter. Volkswagen, which built its American reputation on the counterintuitive virtues of smallness, appears to be returning to first principles.

The automaker has decided that its summer soccer strategy will center not on a full-sized vehicle, but on Tiggy, a remote-controlled miniature Tiguan that has been dispatched to deliver match balls at tournaments around the country. The toy-sized vehicle, which has previously appeared at high-profile soccer events, will serve as what the company calls its "summer ambassador."

Johannes Leonardo, the New York agency that has handled Volkswagen's creative work since 2019, developed the approach. Jonathan Santana, an executive creative director at the agency, said the strategy emerged from a familiar summer problem: too many brands, not enough attention.

"With so many brands activating this summer, we looked for the most authentic and compelling way to help Volkswagen break through," Mr. Santana said. "People can't help but smile when they see Tiggy, in real life or on screen."

(One imagines the planning meeting where someone said, "What if the car were very small?" and was not immediately escorted from the room.)

Tiggy made an appearance at a Volkswagen street soccer event in Chicago recently, and on June 21 the miniature vehicle will deliver the match ball at a United States Soccer Federation doubleheader in Los Angeles featuring the men's and women's national beach soccer teams.

For a brand that once asked Americans to "Think Small," the reversion to diminutive charms has a certain logic. Whether a remote-controlled toy can carry a summer's worth of marketing weight remains, as they say, to be seen.

Original story published in Muse by Clios | Discover the latest creative marketing and advertising news. Muse by Clio is the premier news site covering creativity in advertising and beyond.: "VW Plays Small Ball for the World Cup. Very Small | Muse by Clios", by David Gianatasio