Why Elon Musk Hates Advertising? What about Tesla?
“I Hate Advertising”, this phrase was once tweeted by 21st century’s one the top CEO’s, Billionaire, Co Founder and Brand
Custodian of Tesla and SpaceX and one of the Richest Person of the World Elon Musk.
But, Why Elon Musk hates advertising?
It may not make sense to many, you might even think then how did he managed to build successful global brands? What about Tesla?
When was the last time you saw a Tesla TV commercial? And what was it? You don’t remember seeing one right? Yes, Tesla don’t do TV commercials like other competitor brands do.
If you take Mercedes, BMW, Audi and the list goes on, these brands spend a fortune in advertising especially on TV commercials. No wonder some of their TV commercials looks like Fast and Furious teaser trailer.
But, Elon Musk plays a different kind of strategic ball game for his brands understanding digital media and his customer behaviour.
Let’s take Tesla, he himself build a conversation with his direct target audience through his twitter account. He constantly updates about the products, progresses, user experiences and engages with his audience directly. His twitter account alone has 58 million plus followers and thats a big asset right? And thats his advertising platform but people don’t feel it as his advertisement.
Reports reveal that Tesla does have a marketing budget, yet they don’t spend on TV commercials as its competitors and rather focuses on referral programs.
People like Elon Musk hate advertising just because advertising looks like advertising. If advertising can make people forget that they are looking at an advertisement and build a bond with them, then they will love it.
Have you seen Apple’s recent commercial they made to launch Air Tags? People even commented saying “Thats how you introduce a product”.
When brands think from the point of view of their typical target audience, thats where they can make advertising don’t look like advertising.
When Apple fired Steve Jobs, they even fired the advertising agency he appointed. And their downfall began. As soon as Steve Jobs returned to Apple, one of the first key things he did was re appointing the same advertising agency and the rest his history we all know.
A good advertising agency, which act as a partner for the brand, understands the brand and has the ability to think from its target audience point of view can make people love its advertising rather than hating it.
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