The final result!

This is the final advertisement:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3bEN4Y1Or4

Commercial: Strategy & Structure

The strategy and structure of the Tesla Model S commercial is going to be discussed in this blog. The product of the ad, the Tesla Model S electrical car is very relevant for the user. Users have to feel comfortable and safe in their car which they usually own for several years. The advertised car is therefore a high involvement product. 

People have to learn about and accept this high-end electrical car. They have to know what its specifications are to be able to accept this electrical car as a general car. The ad has to create confidence in the brand and the Tesla Model S regarding its appearance and its capacity. This will be easier if people would know its characteristics and see its appearance, it would make the emotional response stronger since they would not expect an electrical car to have all these possibilities. We want people to accept this product on a brand attitude level. The ad will try to convince people of the benefits of the car by offering ‘evidence’ that the car is fast and both family- and business appropriate. By doing so, people might overcome their prejudice about electrical cars being ‘lame’, slow, low driving range and for tree-huggers mainly. This way the acceptance of people to purchase an electrical car will increase. 

The strategy used in this case will be high involvement / transformational. Since this car is yet to be introduced and Tesla has only launched one other car into the market, there will be little prior attitude within the market towards Tesla. This means that the message of the ad has to be neutral in this case. Because there is little use of electrical cars currently, we have to take into account that the increase in acceptance and attitude has its limits. People might be impressed by the specifications of the Tesla Model S, but still be reluctant to purchase it themselves because it has a relatively high risk. The product is unknown to most people and not very common in society. Next to the product and monetary risks, this also involves risks on the social and status aspects. Electrical cars are not common in current society and this might influence the acceptance and attitude level negatively. 

The informational aspects used in the ad are (1) a demonstration of the product, (2) list of benefits and (3) a slight side-by-side comparison. The demonstration of the product is shown in the way the car accelerates and its spaciousness is shown with a shot of the back seat. The benefits are mentioned with text accompanying the relevant slides and the side-by-side comparison is shown when two cars are standing in front of the traffic light and they both pull up in which case the Tesla Model S accelerates much faster.  The transformational side of the ad shows the busy lifestyle of the driver who has private as well as professional responsibilities to fulfill. He has to take care of his children and go to work, so he wants a car suitable for all situations: safe, spacious, silent, professional, streamlined and of course speed to go wherever he wants or needs to go fast, safe and in style.

The above mentioned strategy results in the following criteria, characteristics and propositions:

 

–        Benefits product (transformational/informational)

There are three main things we want to communicate to the viewers. Emphasis is put on the acceleration (speed), spaciousness and business appropriate aspects of the car. The ad will be developed following a transformational structure to convince viewers of the benefits of the Tesla Model S.

–        Core of the message

The core message is that the Tesla Model S is suitable for a variety of activities the driver engages in throughout the day. This could be from dropping off the children to school, to going to a business meeting. Whatever responsibilities the driver has, this car is taking care of it and makes sure you will look circumstance appropriate.

–        Uniqueness

The uniqueness of the Tesla Model S is the combination of characteristics rather than the separate specifications. It is the whole package that makes this car outstanding and special. This is what we want to emphasize in the ad. It looks like this car is ready for anything the driver has planned which makes the lives of the drivers more enjoyable. The car is electric, silent, fast, accelerates fast, spacious, business appropriate and has a streamlined design.

–        Consistency

The consistency of the ad will be that this specific car is multi functional and helps the driver to get where they want fast, safe and in style. The driver of this car is a business man with a family and now he has a car that is suitable for both business and home. Meanwhile these drivers are contributing to the environment by the decrease of noise and gasoline emissions.

 

Movie characteristics:

-         Actors: The actors consist of the driver, his children and his business partners/colleagues/clients. The driver of the car will be a smart looking business man and his children are young, cute and happy-looking. The actors for the driver’s work environment are, just like the driver, smart looking business people.

-         Colors: the colors used are clean, slick and transparent which has to convey the image of openness, transparency, trust and business-like. This means that the colors used in the ad will be blue-ish which is important since the car is mainly targeted at business people who happen to have a family as well.

-         Music: Apart from the natural sounds of the elements of the different shots, there will also be a background music clip by Sven Hammond Soul - "Fatcakes".

-         Images: Images of business environment, children/school and a shot of a driving car will be used to send the message.
-    Pay off: The pay off of this ad should mainly be that people get familiarized with the capacities and specifications of the car. By showing them the capabilities of the car, we want to increase the acceptance towards electrical cars in general but more specifically the Tesla Model S. People need to be amazed by the combination of specs and become more open towards electrical cars. The Tesla Model S shows that 'real driving'  is possible with an electrical car.   

-         Trade off time/information: The trade off made in this ad is of the electrical aspect of the car. It will be mentioned briefly, but since we do not want to focus on this characteristic because electrical cars have a negative image, this will not be a big problem. We want to advertise this as a superb car without mentioning the electrical aspect too much to avoid prejudices and a tree-hugging image. To be able for people to see the underlying capacities and specifications we want people to think this car is very ‘cool’ and business appropriate and an electrical car currently does not have this image. However, the car being electrical in combination with its specifications is what makes the car special. Compared to other electrical cars, the Tesla Model S has a high (acceleration) speed, large driving range, streamlined design, low price tag, etc. When leaving or minimize the electrical aspect of the car for the sake of the product-image, the specifications and capacity of the car seems less unique.

Ad concepts

After the analyses we developed three ad concepts for the Tesla Model S. The concepts are shown below:


Ad concept 1

Ad concept 2

Ad concept 3

Design Briefing

The meaning of the car

The Tesla Model S is a high-end electric car. It has an aerodynamic design and has lots of space. This means that there is enough room for five persons and 2 children seats. The car is expensive, but has  impressive performance. For example an acceleration from 0-50 mph in 5,6 seconds and a top speed of 120 mph.

As a conclusion one can say that the Tesla Model S looks like a fast sports car and has also the qualities that go with it, but at the same time it has some real family features. It has enough space for the whole family.

For the owner driving and owning a Tesla Model S is a statement. Most important is that you drive a family car, but have the feeling it is a sports car. But you are also driving an electric car; having the feeling you are in the lead of the technology, being an innovator. You are not only driving an electric car, you are also driving a sports car, which can also serve as a family car. This enhances the statement, by driving something unexpected and different from all the other cars. Especially the contradiction of a sports car and a family car can really give you a feeling being an innovator and in the lead. The Tesla Model S has a streamlined design what does not only stand out for combustion engines, but also among other electric cars. You are truly unique!

The meaning of the brand

Tesla has experience in electric cars. They launched the Tesla Roadster, which can be seen as a the first competitive (with the fuel cars) electric sports car, with its performance and design.

Tesla's assortment consists of only electric car and stands for “Premium Electric Vehicles”. They are specialized and focused in electric cars; they want to show that an electric car does not mean that it should be a weird-looking with average performance. Also with the Tesla Model S they want to show that it is possible to have a family car with outstanding performance and a good design.

Purpose of the ad

By developing the ad for the Tesla Model S, we want people to get to know the car. More specifically, we want them to understand and know what the performance of the car is. Since the performance of the car is high compared to its price range, we want people to have a positive attitude towards this (electric) car. They have to be amazed by its possibilities, performance, vibe and design. The aim is to let our target group believe that they need the car, either for sustainability, space, performance or any other reason. This attitude should result in people to be more open to consider an electric car, more specifically the Tesla Model S, when making purchasing decision. The behavior we want people to adopt is for them to try the car and of course to purchase it afterwards.

In order to do so, the advertising strategy for electric cars should be changed. The Tesla Model S offers great specifications to focus on the car and its performance rather than driving on electricity, sustainability, etc. when setting up an advertisement. The Tesla Model S should be communicated as a high performance, high quality and a spacious car for business men with a family. This target group needs a business car which can also provide enough space for the rest of the family. We chose for this strategy because electric cars have a very negative image. People think they are expensive, low-performance, boring and mainly developed for tree-huggers. In order to overcome this prejudice and to support the sales of the Tesla Model S, the advertising aspect of this car need to be approached in another way. Compared to other electric cars, the Tesla Model S is a high performance electrical car which targets business men with family. We therefore want to advertise the Tesla Model S as a normal (business) car that also happens to be electrical.

For this new car of Tesla we refined the target group of Tesla Motors. By targeting business men with family, the aim is to reach a niche market. We want them to know that the brand is high-performance, high-quality and streamlined design. By developing the ad for Tesla Model S, we aim for enhanced brand awareness among the group of potential customers.

Target group of the Tesla Model S and its relation to the brand

The target group has been discussed extensively in our previous blog article. Now we want to discuss the relation of this target group to the brand. The brand stands for high-performance, masculinity, sports and high-quality. This brand image is supported by the specifications and design of the car. The vehicle has a sporty design to give it a masculine vibe. Furthermore the acceleration, top-speed and driving range is relatively high which implies masculinity, performance and quality. In this regard the target group fits very well with these characteristics of the brand. The target group, however have some additional demands. Even though they love the sporty design, the car has to be ‘serious’ enough to function as a business car and spacious enough to be a family car. This definition of the target group for the Tesla Model S is a further refinement and specification of the target group for Tesla in general. With other words, the target group of the Tesla Model S still fits perfectly into the target group of the Tesla brand. The relation between the Tesla Model S target market and the brand could therefore be classified as strong.  

Target group

The Tesla Model S is an electric car. The consumers, who are interested in this car, are thus likely to be conscious about the environment and the damage they cause when consuming or using products. Even though it is not explicitly stated by Tesla, this car is targeted at men. The Tesla Model S offers fast acceleration speed, sports car like, aerodynamic appearance, and compared to other electric cars a high top speed. Furthermore this car has a relatively large driving range on one charge. Taken all this into account it can be concluded than men are the main target for this car. But what kind of men are we talking about? What segment within the huge group of ‘men’ could be interested in an electric sports car? With its seven seats, the car is aiming to transport multiple people as opposed to regular sports cars. This allows the driver to transport his family and friends. The car costs 49900 US dollars (approximately 34800 euros). This is a relatively high price and thus can only be bought by people with middle or high income, who usually also have a high education level. With other words, this car is targeted at people (mainly men) with a successful career, a high education level and who is conscious about the environment. The car is with its spacious interior especially interesting for fathers with children and wife.

According to GE Reports*, the (potential) buyers of electric cars can be divided into three main categories. The categories are based on the type of motives of people to buy an electric car. The three segments are (1) environmental conscious people who support sustainability, (2) technology and car driven people who are interested in cutting edge innovation and (3) frugal travellers whose main goal is to (permanently) reduce their travel costs. Based on the characteristics of the target group described above, buyers of the Tesla Model S could be mainly divided into the environmental conscious (1) and the technology and car driven (2) segments. The different perceptions of the different groups can be found on the images below *. For the GE Report, respondents indicated their attitude towards different statements. Both the total scores as well as the segment-related scores per statement are shown.

(* Source: http://www.gereports.com/ges-consumer-survey-whos-most-likely-to-buy-an-ev/)

 

Target group

Competitors

The competition of electric cars can be looked at from multiple levels, and in this case there has been chosen for two levels: full electric cars and hybrid cars. See Image 1 for an overview of the competitors.

Full electric cars

The electric cars have not yet a lot of competition, but manufacturers are busy to develop them. This can be confirmed by the fact that a lot of electric cars are in a test phase or only available by leasing. However, a few cars are already directly for sale, but most of them are small city cars. This market is in the introduction phase of the product life cycle.

Hybrid cars

Hybrid cars have a combination of electric motors and fuel as a powertrain. Many of these models are available for a long time, varying from small town cars till big SUV’s. This market is still growing.

Image 1: Competitors Tesla Model S

In order to see where the Tesla model S fits in the current market, a diagram has been made where all these cars are fitted in (see Image 2). It has two axes: Acceleration and Price. These have been chosen because they are one of the USP's for the Tesla Model S. 

Hybrids are being sold really cheap, like the Honda Jazz. Those kinds of cars also have also a really slow acceleration time. On the other end there is for example also the Porsche Cayenne Hybrid, which is really fast but also very expensive. Electric cars are at the moment all very slow, and are on average slightly more expensive than the cheapest hybrids. 

From the graph is it visible that the Tesla model S fills a gap in an area where there is no competition yet, because of its outstanding acceleration time. This acceleration time combined with the price should be stressed in the advertisement. 

Image 2: Tesla Model S positioning

Chosen car