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Tesla is worth $725 Billion – more than 2x GM, Ford, and Toyota combined.

Yet Elon claims they’ve never spent a dollar on paid marketing.

But that’s not true — Tesla is running the most effective modern marketing campaign in history.

Here’s a breakdown:
Everything Tesla does from a marketing perspective is designed to do one thing:

Build super fans.

And you don’t do that through FB, IG, or TV ads.

You have to be more creative.
EVs only made up 9% of total car sales in 2021.

That number was <1% in 2004 when Elon became Tesla’s largest shareholder.

Tesla has to target early adopters:

– technologists
– futurists
– people with money

In each of the coming examples, that’s exactly the audience.
Example 1: collab with @waitbutwhy

In 2015, Tim Urban released a 4-part series detailing Elon and his companies.

It’s the tech version of influencer marketing.

Part 2, covering Tesla, is one of the best essays I have ever read: waitbutwhy.com/2015/06/how-tesla-will-change-your-life.html
Example 2: Audience building

Elon (and his companies) have spent countless hours building audiences.

Elon:
– Twitter: 100.3 million

Tesla:
– Twitter: 16.2 million
– Insta: 9.5 million
– YouTube: 2.2 million

An audience is a compounding asset that gets more valuable each day.
What’s really impressive is not Tesla’s follower numbers

It’s the engagement.

This tweet likely did 10M impressions… talking about a technical improvement to the car.

What would that cost as a FB ad?
Example 3: product drops

Tesla uses product drops to raise awareness (and money).

Tesla is not out here dropping boring products.

That’d be off brand. It’s dropped:

— Tequila
— Cybertruck whistle
— S3XY shorts
Example 4: product —> brand

Elon says, “brand is simply a collective impression some have about a product.”

According to @adage, Tesla spent just $0.11 on measured media per car sold in 2020.

Other luxury carmakers spend close to $2000 per car sold.
Example 5: drone videos

Tesla films drone footage and releases it on its channels.

It can be Elon dancing, footage of its latest plant, or a drone light show.

Here’s Tesla’s video of its Giga Berlin plant, which has over 3M views on YouTube:

Every company is a media company.

And every post you see is an ad for something.

Elon and Tesla are masters of this game.

Tesla makes up 65% of the EV market despite legacy players investing in the space.
The real brilliance?

It’s hard to be neutral on Elon & Tesla — you love them or hate them.

That translates to super fans, viral content, and earned media.

For ex: @SawyerMerritt has built an incredible following of >250k, mostly around his Tesla takes.
Hope you enjoyed that!

I write about storytelling 1-2x per week.

Follow @nathanbaugh27 so you don’t miss those.

Here’s another one you may enjoy:

Storytelling is one of the most important skills you can learn.

To become a better storyteller, try my free weekly newsletter: worldbuilders.ai/subscribe
Can’t forget S3XY.

— Model S
— Model 3
— Model X
— Model Y

A great touch.
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