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.