QOTD: Does Tesla Need to Advertise?

by Tim Healey

Published: May 18th, 2023

We mentioned yesterday that Tesla is going to advertise more. But does the company really need to?

Tesla is in a unique position. It's gotten a lot of press over the past 10-15 years, a lot more than most startups. Most people know that Tesla is an automaker that sells upscale EVs.

Of course, most people know that Ford and GM and most other legacy automakers exist. But legacy makes continue to advertise so that the general public knows what new models are out. They also advertise deals to try and get buyers in showrooms while also trying to undercut rivals. There's more to it, of course, and I'm simplifying things for the sake of brevity, but the point is that even well-known legacy automakers have a reason to spend massive sums on advertising.

But Tesla has had a fair amount of success with just word-of-mouth and with its customers serving, in some cases, as unpaid brand ambassadors on Twitter.

Hype around Tesla boss Elon Musk has played a part in that, of course.

On the other hand, critics might argue that Tesla needs to advertise to overcome negative criticism that has been directed at Musk and his actions -- both as boss of Tesla and of Twitter -- and to overcome concerns about the reliability of the brand's cars.

There's also the fact that Tesla plans to someday launch the Cybertruck and a new Roadster. Given how delayed the Cybertruck's launch has been, perhaps some advertising will be necessary to overcome consumer skepticism.

So, what do you think? Does Tesla have enough positive buzz that it doesn't need to advertise? Is even the negative publicity good for the brand, in a way (all publicity is good publicity, et cetera)? Or does the brand need to advertise, if not for brand awareness, then to rebuild any goodwill that has been lost over the years?

Sound off below.

[Image: Tesla]

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Tim Healey

Tim Healey grew up around the auto-parts business and has always had a love for cars — his parents joke his first word was “‘Vette”. Despite this, he wanted to pursue a career in sports writing but he ended up falling semi-accidentally into the automotive-journalism industry, first at Consumer Guide Automotive and later at Web2Carz.com. He also worked as an industry analyst at Mintel Group and freelanced for About.com, CarFax, Vehix.com, High Gear Media, Torque News, FutureCar.com, Cars.com, among others, and of course Vertical Scope sites such as AutoGuide.com, Off-Road.com, and HybridCars.com. He’s an urbanite and as such, doesn’t need a daily driver, but if he had one, it would be compact, sporty, and have a manual transmission.

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4 of 29 comments

MeJ on May 19, 2023

I'm not a Tesla fan but if anything they should spend some money and update their current cars. I can't believe the length of time these have remained unchanged, or even refreshed...

1 Reply
Stellantis Guy on May 19, 2023

If I had an extra billion dollars lying around, I would start a car company and run it based on advice from the TTAC comments section and see how quickly I could lose it all. 😉
And by billion I mean more like 10 billion.

2 Reply
- See 1 previous
- Analoggrotto on May 20, 2023
  
  HAHAHAHAHA! Very well played !
  
  Like
- EBFlexing on ur mom on May 20, 2023
  
  "If I had an extra billion dollars lying around, I would start a car company and run it based on advice from the TTAC comments section and see how quickly I could lose it all."
  Ah yes because building what people want and building quality is so outrageous.
  
  Like

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