Tesla can reverse its stance and start advertising | engaged

Known as an adversary, Tesla hasn’t really done traditional advertising since its launch in the early 2000s, opting instead to rely on word of mouth to promote its vehicles. Now things may change for the automaker. At the company’s latest shareholder meeting, Tesla chief Elon Musk responded to a public question about advertising with, “We’ll do a little advertising and see how it goes.” Apparently, the CEO changed his mind about advertising after acquiring Twitter, which makes most of its money from advertising.

“It is indeed ironic that Twitter relies heavily on advertising. Here I am, I’ve never really used advertising before, and now I have a business that relies heavily on advertising. So I guess I have to say that advertising is great, and that everyone should do it.” That is a total reversal of the executive’s previous position. He said that a few years ago he hated advertising and that Tesla used money other automakers reserved for advertisements and endorsements “to make the product great”.

In his response at the shareholder meeting, Musk said that Tesla vehicles have functionalities and features that most people don’t know about. The company does post them on his Twitter account, but he acknowledges that this is like preaching to the choir. In a follow-up conversation with CNBC, he said ads can be “informative and entertaining” so they contain more content than regular ads. He suggested that future Tesla ads could adopt that format and highlight the lesser-known features of its vehicles.

Musk also teased two new EVs at the shareholder meeting, saying the vehicles’ design and manufacturing techniques are “head and shoulders above anything else in the industry.” He said the company is already “building a new product,” which could mean Tesla is already working on a prototype for at least one of the EVs.

All products recommended by Engadget are selected by our editorial team, independent from our parent company. Some of our stories contain affiliate links. If you purchase something through one of these links, we may earn an affiliate commission. All prices are correct at time of publication.