Know-How Exchange : Advertising/PR

Who specifically are you trying to target (age, demographic, education level, etc.)?
Why should they care about Tesla?
What's the primary message you're trying to convey?
Why did you choose Tesla (or was it chosen for you)?

The target audience for the institutional side is the general public. This was chosen for us by our professor which is what is making it so difficult. I haven't ever been asked to come up with a campaign with no specific target.

The thrust of the campaign should be that Tesla is a group of innovative, independent thinkers, working to solve the problems caused by a petroleum based society. The theme of our entire campaign ( there are others working on advertising, sales promotions etc.) is "Welcome to the Age of Independence." It should focus on Tesla Motors as a company with an independent approach to the manufacture of an (oil) independent type of vehicle.

Tesla was chosen for me by my professor.

Thanks!

I realize that I didn't really mention this in my original question, but as part of the assignment I can't focus on anything specific about the car. We have a separate marketing phase for that. This campaign really does have to focus on the company itself and aquatinting people with their story (all dictated by my teacher)

However, both of your suggestions are still helpful for brainstorming and a jumping off point. Building off of current users satisfaction with the brand is totally possibly and I really like the idea of an outdoor festival.

Thank you both for your help!

I think here it's important for your teacher to get his or head OUT of the classroom and into the real world.

Tesla has been making and selling premium cars for some time (they were founded in 2003).

The Tesla Model S sells for $49,900 which is way, WAY more than the average person pays for a car.

This is particularly evident in the statement "The target audience for the institutional side is the general public."

这种粗枝大叶的,哦,所以广泛瑞ping statements about the general public, the killer storm, the economic depths and so on that are the scourge of newsrooms around the world.

So here, your PR efforts will be better spent by being directed at potential buyers, not at "the general public".

In a nation where the AVERAGE household income in 2009 was $41,673.83, the target audience for this vehicle as a luxury, PREMIUM electric vehicle needs to be individuals with net annual DISPOSABLE income in excess of $200,000 (meaning, people earning in excess of $1.6 MILLION per year). That's not "the general public" that's the top 0.12 percent of income earning households in the United States.

The base price for the Tesla Roadster, which began shipping to customers in July 2009, is $109,000 (which, for my friends and family in the UK, is £87,945. That's more than my mother paid for her house!)

Your comment that as part of your assignment you can't focus on anything specific raises (in my mind at least) a huge red flag.

如果这是我的公司和我的产品,你没有t looking to (or allowed to) talk to my buyers about specifics, there's something rotten in Denmark.

The Tesla story is one of a small, lean, innovation-driven start-up kicking the ass of a large corporation that's been wobbling towards stagnation for 25 years. It's David and Goliath. It's big kid, vs little kid. It's about rooting for the underdog.

As long as Tesla keeps on doing what it's been doing, and as long as it keeps nipping at the heels of the big dogs, it will keep raising the bar, lowering the price, and increasing the efficiency of its cars through powerful social proof.

In 2007, Robert Lutz, who was at that time the Vice Chairman of General Motors said that the Tesla Roadster inspired him to push GM to build the Volt.

In 2009, all the boffins at GM said the lithium-ion battery was a decade away. Then along came Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk to prove GM's developers wrong.

That's your story. Tell that tale, tell it well, tell Tesla to keep doing more of what they're already doing—which is that they're creating astonishment architecture—they might look as if they're building cars but they're not. They're a technology development company that just happens to be building cars. Big difference.

Good luck with your assignment.