Why not advertise?

[YaTravis]

I guess my question is whether there is a lack of demand or not. Most folks unfamiliar with the company or car that I talk to about Tesla say that the company is never going to succeed. People say there isn't demand. Elon Musk is a nut job who is just looking for attention. They don't know anything about the car...and honestly I don't know what the details are about the sales numbers and demand either. Q1 results have people worried and I wonder if there is a lack of demand because there is a lack of information about how cool these cars are.

If there is a lack of demand for these cars, it seems simple. Give people a chance to get in the Model 3 and orders will go crazy. Every time someone drives my Model 3 SR Plus they are amazed by what it can do and how cheap it is relative to other EVs. Lots of people don't even know that a Tesla is fully electric or that it has autopilot. The vast majority of the population is clueless about what these cars can do and how much they cost.

If you could post up a car at a Concert or Sporting event and let people sit in it and see summon in use or something like then I would think orders would be through the roof! I don't know how much TV ad time costs but maybe it would be worth it to have some badass sexy ad on primetime here and there? These things are amazing and I hope more and more hit the roads.

 

[Wooloomooloo]

The notion that Tesla has excess capacity and their is no demand, is a myth. While there has been some inventory build up, it isn't due to excess capacity.

Advertising and promotion might create more demand, but if capacity is already tapped out, that could be counter productive from a reputational point of view. World marketing is expensive and the benefits at this point are negligible at best, although I do agree with your overall point of promoting the brand as something deeply desirable, and the benefits are often long lasting.

 

[glide]

Advertising costs money. Tesla doesn’t have any to spare.

Simple.

They aren’t doing it because it’s “cool”. I can guarantee that.

 

[DirtyT3sla]

Because of people like me. I make youtube videos about my car and it's essentially free advertising for Tesla. I also benefit of course. But people are so interested in these cars they'll watch the videos. I love sharing about them too like most Tesla owners do!

 

[SW2Fiddler]

If there is a lack of demand for these cars, it seems simple. Give people a chance to get in the Model 3 and orders will go crazy. Every time someone drives my Model 3 SR Plus they are amazed by what it can do and how cheap it is relative to other EVs.

Pretty much. Which is something that advertising won't accomplish.

Some say the negative press is due to Tesla not buying ads like all the car brands and car dealers buy. Which is an admission that it is a "protection racket" run by bullies. In which case, you really don't want to appease bullies by contributing to their protection racket.

(Full disclosure: I work in marketing as tech support. Last job was at a big, big ad agency. I still say it's not time to buy ads!)

 

[Missile Toad]

Elon just had his twitter wings clipped. That _was_ their way to advertise.