What an odd investing strategy. You are so advertising averse you are willing to sell TSLA on the verge of both FSD and Optimus breaking out into profitable businesses within the next few years?
What is it about advertising you hate so vehemently?
We have had in this thread and others much discussion. You chose to make a sentiment attributed to methane have never held and never said. I used the word 'general' numerous times and have explained target marketing numerous times. I made that the focus of my PhD and have practiced various parts of advertising including general advertising
( print, broadcast, and digital forms.) I have practiced that in four continents and several countries.
Since you obviously do not understand the basics, else you would not have misunderstood my post, I will elaborate slightly (more details would turn into 'Marketing 400: Targeting'.
In very short,
-the more generic the product the more likely: 1) broadcast advertising, 2. event sponsorships/advertising (e.g. The Super Bowl) and 3) various types of generic special offers (couponing, etc) all make sense.
- the more specialized and/or novel the product is the more likely early adopter techniques such as clubs, owner/user referral/recruitment are valuable, with more extensive use of direct contact with major influencers such as government entities, shareholders and influencers.
-as specialized products or infrequently purchased ones (e.g. Cars, planes, boats, houses) mature the challenge is to avoid wasting resources on general advertising while expanding the more direct and targeted forms. Tesla is now in the midst of that maturation.
Tesla, specifically, is responding to retail investors desires to 'advertise' when nearly all of them have exactly zero expertise. That means Tesla is facing a dilemma: how to satisfy those retail investors while not wasting money?
Using social media is, thus far, a useful tool for Tesla. However, the more general forms of social media placement today are approaching the cost of broadcast advertising. Thus very precise targeting is crucial to reduce 'cost per qualified reach'. Current state of the art is deeply concentrated with search-based placements. That itself is risky because search is NOT equal to 'qualified'. Qualification includes inferences of geolocation, link history, dwell time and such demographics and psychographics as are available in the specific case.
That is the very, very short summary of the issues, and is why I am now watching and monitoring with all available resources including proprietary media monitoring sources.
Tesla has been, until now, one of the most apt direct marketers in the world.
The issues are all related to how well they can maintain that discipline. Enter Facebook, a notorious difficult place to optimize for cost-effictiveness. That is the specific trigger.
Finally, anybody who knows me knows I do not hate advertising. In fact, it is among my most valuable professional qualifications. It has been responsible for much of my career success.
I seriously Hate wasting money. I hate wasteful advertising. The would of auto manufacturers is full of really bad choices, many of them due to ignorance.
Examples of excellent marketers, excluding SpaceX and Tesla both of which qualify: Gulfstream, Airstream, Airbus, Ferrari, Porsche. Note that each of those has been notably more profitable than have been other competitors. Then, to general products: Mars, Apple, Amazon. Note the latter all use clever general advertising coupled with adept direct marketing to major forces, including distributors and retailers.
So, Please do not misunderstand what I said and attribute sentiments to me I do not and never have had!
