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Wonder of wonders - an actual Tesla advertisement!

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evp

Nerd
Supporting Member
Nov 28, 2014
881
1,781
Arvada, CO
Elon has said that advertising is a form of lying and he doesn't want to do it. But yet:

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I've examined all the claims in the ad. There doesn't appear to be any lying here.:smile:
 
Very odd to be a current ad yet feature 85D performance and not P90D as mentioned already (or perhaps not, given the intended audience for that particular magazine). As to what it tells us, it would seem to me to mean either Origin had a contact with Tesla and wanted to put an ad in for next to nothing cost wise, or Tesla is trying to increase sales. While they have been production (battery?) constrained for quite some time, that obviously wouldn't last forever. It is a tad surprising if they have their battery supply issues sorted out (is the Gigafactory producing any cells yet?)... the Fremont factory sure seems like it should have the functional capacity to handle increased volume.
 
Very odd to be a current ad yet feature 85D performance and not P90D as mentioned already (or perhaps not, given the intended audience for that particular magazine). As to what it tells us, it would seem to me to mean either Origin had a contact with Tesla and wanted to put an ad in for next to nothing cost wise, or Tesla is trying to increase sales. While they have been production (battery?) constrained for quite some time, that obviously wouldn't last forever. It is a tad surprising if they have their battery supply issues sorted out (is the Gigafactory producing any cells yet?)... the Fremont factory sure seems like it should have the functional capacity to handle increased volume.

Increased volume is contingent on operating the 2nd assembly line, which is contingent on ramping the X.
 
It appears old. The old S 85 numbers.

If it was new it would show P90D numbers.

The text in the first Editor´s letter talks about the Keystone XL pipeline being cancelled "this month" - wikipedia says

On 6 November 2015, the project of Keystone XL was rejected by Obama administration after more than six years of review.[SUP][29][/SUP]

Keystone Pipeline - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Quite strange indeed they wouldn´t show the latest cars...
 
I hope this signals a change in direction long-term. While it's been cool to say 'no advertising, cars sell themselves', the truth is that there is plenty of advertising: Drive events, active social media presence, etc. I suspect the Marketing dept has been hobbled unnecessarily by the whole 'no traditional advertising' edict.
 
It appears that a full-page ad in that periodical costs $3,400. If so, that's extremely cheap. I wonder how large its circulation is, and who and where the target audience.
 
I hope this signals a change in direction long-term. While it's been cool to say 'no advertising, cars sell themselves', the truth is that there is plenty of advertising: Drive events, active social media presence, etc. I suspect the Marketing dept has been hobbled unnecessarily by the whole 'no traditional advertising' edict.


To add, I would argue that the Referral program is in itself a form of advertising, or at least promotion. Nothing wrong with that. I wouldn't be surprised to see some sort of new media blitz following the 3 reveal as a way to gain some more mainstream traction. The blogs and other new media will be all over it, but would be cool to see some awesome commercials just talking about the car of the future that is far more reachable to the masses.
 
Didn't take a picture of it but I believe I've seen original Tesla advertisements in a Danish magazine a few years back. Don't assume that was sanctioned by Tesla HQ but merely assume it was something the local guys here did.
The no advertising clause has long had an * next to it to say "in North America" other countries have had advertising for a while.
 
It appears that a full-page ad in that periodical costs $3,400. If so, that's extremely cheap. I wonder how large its circulation is, and who and where the target audience.

I bought the magazine in a "Natural Grocers" store. So, I'm guessing the circulation is small and the target audience is organic hippie tree huggers. Not that I'm stereotyping at all -- the store was full of them. (What was I doing in the store? Buying some organic free-range basil. For a friend. Who is an organic hippie tree-hugger. I swear, it wasn't for me.)
 
Some of you may be intrigued to learn that Leilani Munter is tagged as a Contributing Editor.

And from their marketing site, a little about their demographics:

Our 150,000 + readership is 78% Female, Age 28-60, with a Median Income of $75,000. We are in 98% of all Whole Foods, Barnes and Noble, Pharmacas, Central Market, Mother’s Market, Mollie Stones, New Pioneer, and 13+ retailers across the nation. You can also find us at yoga + health studios, and art galleries nationally.
 
Very odd to be a current ad yet feature 85D performance and not P90D as mentioned already (or perhaps not, given the intended audience for that particular magazine). As to what it tells us, it would seem to me to mean either Origin had a contact with Tesla and wanted to put an ad
So far everyone appears to assume that Tesla Motors paid for this ad to appear in this relatively obscure print magazine with likely a modest circulation.
I have some editorial experience in the small magazine business, and I can tell you that it is not unusual for advertisers to cancel ads just before a print deadline and then the magazine has to fill the space. What can happen is that the space is given away or a company that does not even advertise in the magazine is given space in an attempt to convince them to start paying for ad space.
It is possible that this magazine had unexpected space available and thought it would look cool to make it appear that Tesla was an advertiser. So they go to Telsa's online file of press photos, use one in the ad (and the one they picked was years old, by the way) and whip up some copy and plug it in.
The copy in this ad is uninspired and outdated. The photo is old. It does not look like something Tesla would come up with.
My chain of reasoning here may appear thin to some, but think about it: why would Tesla spend money on a single ad in a relatively obscure print magazine and nowhere else in traditional media? If Tesla is going to start running print magazine ads they have the money to select much higher circulation, higher profile well known magazines.
Some of you may be intrigued to learn that Leilani Munter is tagged as a Contributing Editor.
Thank you for posting that information, and it may explain a lot. There may have been page space available and Leilani got the ear of the editor to give Tesla some free promotion. Good for her if that was the case.
Note: regarding the magazine's claim of 150,000 circulation, that is a relatively small number in the US print magazine business, and small publications like that often do not have that figure audited by an independent firm. Such circulation figures are routinely exaggerated to make publications seem larger than they actually are and to attract advertisers. I'm not criticizing, just pointing out how that business world works.
 
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