Tesla has launched its first advertising campaign in the United States and United Kingdom, just over a month after CEO Elon Musk agreed to “try a little advertising” at the Annual Shareholder Meeting.
Tesla has never spent money on traditional advertising, with Musk saying he would rather spend the millions of dollars all other automakers spend in that category on making his products better. It is hard to argue with his rationale when seeing Tesla’s growth over the years, leading to it becoming the most valuable automaker in the world. Instead of having an advertising budget, Tesla has relied on word of mouth, referral programs, and other non-traditional methods to drive growth.
However many Tesla fans and investors believe that can only take you so far, and to help counter the false narratives being spread about the company and to help promote the fact that a Tesla Model Y is now more affordable than the average car bought in the US (among many other things), Musk agreed to try some traditional advertising when asked by a shareholder at the Annual Shareholder meeting at Giga Texas last month.
It appears as though Tesla has now started dipping its toes into advertising, launching advertising campaigns in the US and UK through Google Ads. First spotted by Twitter user Yashu Sharma (@heyitsyashu), there are currently 18 Tesla ads being run in both countries, according to Google’s Ad Transparency tool. Among the topics being covered by Tesla in their first campaign is the Model 3 and Model Y being best selling vehicles in the UK, the attractive pricing of the Model 3 and Model Y, the advantages of Tesla Solar, the Supercharger network, and more. Here’s a look at all of the ads currently listed under Tesla Inc.
According to the tool these ads have been running since at least June 20, 2023.
Some Tesla fans might be disappointed in the company’s first efforts at advertising, but as Musk said on the stage at the Shareholder meeting, the company will “try a little advertising and see how it goes.” This is likely just the first of many ads that will be run through Google, likely expanding to other markets, and other formats, as they learn more about the performance of this initial run.
There is also going to be a side effect of Tesla starting to advertise, and that’s all of the news coverage that will now be running on Tesla advertising for the first time, giving them even more exposure.
What do you think of Tesla’s first attempt at advertising? Let us know in the comments below.
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