Elon Musk had similar thoughts about advertisements but we still saw the first commercials for Tesla last year
Tesla has finally decided to bring on-board its first known celebrity ambassador for the Korean market. This is a bit surprising since Elon Musk specifically mentioned in a tweet on X that, “Tesla doesn’t pay for endorsements or advertisements and instead use that money to make the products great.” Funnily enough, Tesla started advertising its products for the first time last year. It looks like Musk’s habit of failing to keep his promises is going to continue.
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Tesla Hires Celebrity Ambassador
Tesla announced that it has hired the Olympic shooter Kim Ye-ji as an ambassador for the American EV giant in Korea. At the recently concluded Paris Olympics, Kim’s performance became viral online. Aiming to leverage that, Tesla decided to incorporate her into its advertising strategy to woo Korean customers. Note that the Korean market prefers to stick to domestic brands in general.
Addressing this development, Kim said, “I’m very excited to work with Tesla, who have recognized me. I hope to convey a positive message together with Tesla.” The collaboration is corroborated by a few pictures. Interestingly, Kim’s agency said that this relationship with Tesla commenced when Elon Musk tweeted about her impressive performance at the Paris Olympics. She bagged a silver medal in the 10m air pistol women’s event.
In the Korean market, the EV giant has been doing quite well for a foreign brand. Its Model Y achieved the milestone of becoming the best-selling foreign EV during the first half of 2024. This translated to just over 10,000 units. Nevertheless, for a market which prefers its domestic players, this is a healthy figure. It remains to be seen how this celebrity endorsement affects Tesla’s sales performance going forward.
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Learn Electric Cars Says
Tesla might be the largest EV maker in the world, but this step highlights the importance of marketing in this modern era. The digital era demands car marques to be present across the internet. This could be with the help of social media handles or paid advertisements and brand/celebrity endorsements. The fact that Elon Musk is such a prominent personality on X is also a subtle way of modern advertisement. Let us see if Tesla decides to get more aggressive with such celebrity integrations going forward.