Tesla has finally started to advertise with video. The automaker has produced its first video commercial – an ad highlighting its vehicle’s safety performance on Youtube.
Earlier this year, CEO Elon Musk announced a reversal of his longstanding strategy that Tesla not spend on advertising but instead spends money to improve the products – counting on owners to spread the word.
Tesla investors have often suggested to the CEO that some advertising to highlight certain features and benefits of Tesla vehicles could be worth it. The effort could help Tesla reach new consumers who are not aware of Tesla’s offering, especially following recent price drops.
At Tesla’s annual meeting earlier this year, Musk obliged for the first time. The CEO said that Tesla would “try a little advertising” and see how it goes.
In June, we reported that Tesla officially kicked off “a little advertising” with a few Google ads.
A few months later, Tesla expanded its Google ad efforts with hundreds of new ads.
But investors were hoping for more; specifically, Tesla getting into video ads on the internet and on TV.
Historically, those have been more impactful in the auto industry. For example, automakers are most often the top advertisers during the Super Bowl.
Tesla has previously held a competition to create video commercials for its vehicles, but it never actually paid to air the videos.
Now, it’s starting to change.
Youtuber users have spotted paid Tesla ads appearing as pre-roll ads on Youtube videos:
This is a significant move for Tesla to now pay for placement on video commercials.
For its first video ad, Tesla has decided to highlight its industry-leading safety performance.
Top comment by Connor Paull
In theory, an ad focused on safety is fine.
In practice, an ad with an engineer rambling about sensors with some vague connection to safety over crash testing footage doesn't seem particularly compelling.
Tesla’s vehicles have consistently ranked at the top of the industry in crash test results.
It might seem like an interesting choice for Tesla to choose to highlight this particular aspect, but safety has often ranked amongst the top three features that people look for when buying new vehicles.
The ad includes a link to Tesla’s test drive webpage in order for people to sign up.
What do you think of Tesla’s first video ad? Let us know in the comment section below.
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