Tesla brand merchandise and the Ferrari model

[pete8314]

Interesting thread, I didn't notice it the first time around. I have a slightly different perspective on this, since I do sell some 'branded' stuff that's not licenced, though it's not for lack of trying.

I think there's a lot of benefit in Tesla building brand equity. The amazing cars are, of course, the best way to do that, but it clearly does not always help with brand recognition. I'm sure you've all had this conversation:

Random person: "Nice car, what is it?"
Me: "It's a Tesla Model S"
Random Person "Cool, who makes it?"

This has happened to me many, many times, and frequently with people who you'd expect to have heard about Tesla, one way or another, either from the car review mags, Consumer Reports, Tech blogs, CNN etc etc.

So, I think there's still a lot to be done with the brand recognition, and the stores are helping, but a tiny % of the developed world's population is within a reasonably distance of the store, I would assume even in the US, it's still a single-digit % that's within 50 miles of a store.

So I agree, I wish Tesla would place a priority on developing a licensees model, as, honestly, I don't think they're great at developing the merchandise, and their time is better spent developing vehicles. I think at this early-stage, they could do a lot to 'be different' in this space, at the same time making some decent money without really having to do much.

I don't think the comparison to Ferrari is entirely misplaced. Tesla is (currently at least) an aspirational brand, but without the crazy levels of recognition that Ferrari enjoys, and has built up over decades. That might all start to change with the Gen III, but not necessarily, if you get it right, aspirational doesn't always equal high-dollar.

 

[AudubonB]

I'm now well into the classification of old fart. Therefore, I have long ago earned my right to despise tag-along marketing, thusly:

Why should Tesla Motors Inc. spend one iota of their employees' precious time and energy peddling "Tesla" watches, nose-pickers or rub-on tattoos? Anything that detracts from furthering the EV revolution is a betrayal of what this company believes in.

Let me re-state this from a different perspective. Long ago, when I was still racing and a prospective member of the US Ski Team, the only people who could wear an item of clothing that had "US Ski Team" on it; the only people who had access to windshield stickers, etc., with "US Ski Team" on it...were members of the US Ski Team. That logo MEANT something, and it was effectively priceless: you could not buy it. Shortly thereafter, some dingalong had a horribly lousy idea and within picoseconds every Tom Dick and Snowbunny had US Ski Team crap all over the place and the logo meant absolutely nothing at all. I absolutely beseech TMInc not to dilute their very, very valuable brand in such a fashion.

 

[Ludus]

I'm now well into the classification of old fart. Therefore, I have long ago earned my right to despise tag-along marketing, thusly:

Why should Tesla Motors Inc. spend one iota of their employees' precious time and energy peddling "Tesla" watches, nose-pickers or rub-on tattoos? Anything that detracts from furthering the EV revolution is a betrayal of what this company believes in.

Let me re-state this from a different perspective. Long ago, when I was still racing and a prospective member of the US Ski Team, the only people who could wear an item of clothing that had "US Ski Team" on it; the only people who had access to windshield stickers, etc., with "US Ski Team" on it...were members of the US Ski Team. That logo MEANT something, and it was effectively priceless: you could not buy it. Shortly thereafter, some dingalong had a horribly lousy idea and within picoseconds every Tom Dick and Snowbunny had US Ski Team crap all over the place and the logo meant absolutely nothing at all. I absolutely beseech TMInc not to dilute their very, very valuable brand in such a fashion.

So if the US Ski Team raised a large amount of money every year to support their program by licensing that logo and at the same time radically increased the awareness of the existence of the US Ski Team, they shouldn't have done that because....actual members of the US Ski Team (or people who seriously aspired to be on it) might feel the stickers they lusted after were now devalued? How about they just make a special sticker for you almost actual members? Does the fact that Harvard licenses their logo and anybody can wear a Harvard hoodie or have a Harvard window sticker somehow spoil the value of an actual Harvard degree? Would people who actually drive Tesla's feel that it meant nothing if non owners could dare to wear Tesla sunglasses?

 

[AudubonB]

Yep: EXACTLY ​ what the "marketing consultants" would have you fall for, Ludus. I don't buy it.

 

[Ludus]

Sure, Formla E is in IMO better than F1 or Indycar et. al. But there are not only rewards associated with racing. There are risks as well. See for example the injury involving Felipe Massa in F1 in 2009.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felipe_Massa#Injury

And judging from the kind of media coverage a fire in a Tesla gets, what would the media coverage be if someone got permanently injured in a Tesla-branded racing car?

And making comparisons to the current Ferrari F1 endeavor is one thing, but becoming that successful in a completely new racing series seems like something completely different.

And neither BMW, Audi, Porsche, Jaguar, Lamborghini or Aston Martin are in F1 (or Formula E), and they seem to be doing pretty good financially...

And lastly [and perhaps y’all better sit down and hold on tight for this one]: If you take a strictly logical approach a la Spock in Star Trek (or other Vulcans for that matter), ultimately all forms of racing are pointless. Basically engineering resources spent that could have been used in a much more meaningful way. And unfortunately – today and for the foreseeable future – there will be no shortage of challenging and literally life changing engineering tasks.

I read about Massa but his injury doesn't seem to have produced any noticeable bad publicity for Ferrarri. Perhaps you are thinking Tesla takes a special risk because of the rather out of proportion coverage of a couple fires. I don't think they need to be paranoid.

I started down the list of auto brands. BMW BMW Motorsport : Home
I suspect most auto brands have some involvement in motor sports. F1 is very expensive. Fe is much less costly. There aren't very many electric racing options at present.

Vulcan's probably don't like anything about brands and marketing. Tesla is in part successful by making very unVulcan products that appeal to human emotion. That's what is so confusing to critics who think it's about "electric cars". It not. It's about cool cars, the "best" cars, that happen to be electric.

- - - Updated - - -

Interesting thread, I didn't notice it the first time around. I have a slightly different perspective on this, since I do sell some 'branded' stuff that's not licenced, though it's not for lack of trying.

I think there's a lot of benefit in Tesla building brand equity. The amazing cars are, of course, the best way to do that, but it clearly does not always help with brand recognition. I'm sure you've all had this conversation:

Random person: "Nice car, what is it?"
Me: "It's a Tesla Model S"
Random Person "Cool, who makes it?"

This has happened to me many, many times, and frequently with people who you'd expect to have heard about Tesla, one way or another, either from the car review mags, Consumer Reports, Tech blogs, CNN etc etc.

So, I think there's still a lot to be done with the brand recognition, and the stores are helping, but a tiny % of the developed world's population is within a reasonably distance of the store, I would assume even in the US, it's still a single-digit % that's within 50 miles of a store.

So I agree, I wish Tesla would place a priority on developing a licensees model, as, honestly, I don't think they're great at developing the merchandise, and their time is better spent developing vehicles. I think at this early-stage, they could do a lot to 'be different' in this space, at the same time making some decent money without really having to do much.

I don't think the comparison to Ferrari is entirely misplaced. Tesla is (currently at least) an aspirational brand, but without the crazy levels of recognition that Ferrari enjoys, and has built up over decades. That might all start to change with the Gen III, but not necessarily, if you get it right, aspirational doesn't always equal high-dollar.

So you are trying to get Tesla to do this and license you to sell Tesla branded merchandise? It would be interesting to hear about your experience.

 

[SwedishAdvocate]

I read about Massa but his injury doesn't seem to have produced any noticeable bad publicity for Ferrarri. Perhaps you are thinking Tesla takes a special risk because of the rather out of proportion coverage of a couple fires. I don't think they need to be paranoid. /…

I disagree. I think they should consider any kind of motorsport venture very, very carefully. It seems to me that you really can’t compare Tesla to Ferrari in this case, or Porsche in the case of Paul Walker and the other guy who was driving and whose name I’ve forgotten. Those corporations seem to be like Teflon when it comes to accidents.

.../ I started down the list of auto brands. BMW BMW Motorsport : Home
I suspect most auto brands have some involvement in motor sports. F1 is very expensive. Fe is much less costly. There aren't very many electric racing options at present. /…

Lamborghini doesn’t seem to currently do any racing at all. And according to Wikipedia Jaguar has not had an official presence in motorsport since 2004. And, Tesla’s entire success with the Model S has also come without any involvement in motorsport what so ever. And as has been noted repeatedly on TMC, the Model S is not a very good race car…

.../ Tesla is in part successful by making very unVulcan products that appeal to human emotion. That's what is so confusing to critics who think it's about "electric cars". It not. It's about cool cars, the "best" cars, that happen to be electric.

Yes. But my point was not about the cars Tesla currently makes (or the Roadster). My point was about racing cars.

 

[Al Sherman]

Interesting thread, I didn't notice it the first time around. I have a slightly different perspective on this, since I do sell some 'branded' stuff that's not licenced, though it's not for lack of trying.

Yes Pete and thanks for trying. AND the products. Most of us here are familiar with your journey.
Speaking of which; I was in the new Cincy Service Center and they had a large box with at least 200 key fob covers that looked identical to yours. The manager asked me if I wanted a couple and I said thanks but no I had already bought 3 or 4. Could these have been yours? It would be amusing if Tesla said no on the licensing and then bought truckloads of your product for swag. :smile:

 

[pete8314]

Yes Pete and thanks for trying. AND the products. Most of us here are familiar with your journey.
Speaking of which; I was in the new Cincy Service Center and they had a large box with at least 200 key fob covers that looked identical to yours. The manager asked me if I wanted a couple and I said thanks but no I had already bought 3 or 4. Could these have been yours? It would be amusing if Tesla said no on the licensing and then bought truckloads of your product for swag. :smile:

Unless they're somehow buying them in ones and twos under many different aliases, then no, I'm not selling to Tesla I know they've been giving away the clones of the Case Logic USB holders, but I've not seen any other designs.

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...So you are trying to get Tesla to do this and license you to sell Tesla branded merchandise? It would be interesting to hear about your experience.

Trying. It's just really difficult to get any kind of engagement from them.

 

[Ludus]

Tesla Breaks Into Top 5 Brands in Consumer Reports Survey - Bloomberg

Tesla displaces Mercedes-Benz for #5 slot up from 11 last year. Evidence of rapidly change in recognition.

 

[pete8314]

Tesla Breaks Into Top 5 Brands in Consumer Reports Survey - Bloomberg

Tesla displaces Mercedes-Benz for #5 slot up from 11 last year. Evidence of rapidly change in recognition.

That's an interesting link, but it's more about perception, rather than recognition, i.e. people that know the Tesla brand beleive it represents quality, technology, safety, etc.

 

[Ludus]

That's an interesting link, but it's more about perception, rather than recognition, i.e. people that know the Tesla brand beleive it represents quality, technology, safety, etc.

"Tesla was fifth in the poll, up from 11th last year, behind namesake brands of Toyota Motor Corp. (7203), Ford Motor Co. (F) and Honda Motor Co. as well as General Motors Co. (GM)’s Chevrolet, the Yonkers, New York-based magazine said today. The results are from a December survey of 1,578 vehicle owners asked to rank brand attributes including quality, safety, value, design and technology."

Don't know any details about methodology but to move up that dramatically with a proper random sample asked to rank in those categories they would have to be making a lot of progress in both recognition and perceived qualities.

 

[pete8314]

"Tesla was fifth in the poll, up from 11th last year, behind namesake brands of Toyota Motor Corp. (7203), Ford Motor Co. (F) and Honda Motor Co. as well as General Motors Co. (GM)’s Chevrolet, the Yonkers, New York-based magazine said today. The results are from a December survey of 1,578 vehicle owners asked to rank brand attributes including quality, safety, value, design and technology."

Don't know any details about methodology but to move up that dramatically with a proper random sample asked to rank in those categories they would have to be making a lot of progress in both recognition and perceived qualities.

The source article is here, it goes into more of the details.

The majority of comments below the Bloomberg article are as moronic as ever, some people have way too much time on their hands.

 

[wycolo]

> There are a number of products (floor mats for example) that I'd like to purchase once there's an official licensing mechanism for logo'd merchandise. [brianman]

Ok, so you are suffering with beat up floor mats well past their service life until replacements properly logo'd become available? Sir, that is brand loyalty!
--

 

[brianman]

> There are a number of products (floor mats for example) that I'd like to purchase once there's an official licensing mechanism for logo'd merchandise. [brianman]

Ok, so you are suffering with beat up floor mats well past their service life until replacements properly logo'd become available? Sir, that is brand loyalty!
--

Huh?

Firstly that post was 5 months ago, so I guess it's due an update... oh wait, nothing has changed.

As for beat up floor mats... Nope. I'm using the Lloyd's that I got way back when and they aren't beat up at all.