6 ms·

And yet the most valuable car company in the world (for whatever that's worth) spends 0 on advertising and sells everything they can produce.

r00fus 5y ago
Market cap (ie, stock price) is not a good indicator of present value, but perceived future value. Edit: I also think TSLA isn't a car company. More like a battery company.
- reader_mode 5y ago
  Someone here was arguing that advertising can't be measured only through impact on present sales but "good will and long term value". Tesla seemingly has good will beyond any competitors. Also Tesla is buying battery cells, sells cars and expects to have third parties supply batteries long term - how can they be a battery company ?
  - r00fus 5y ago
    Same way Apple is a computer company but Foxconn does most of the building of said computers?
    - reader_mode 5y ago
      But Apple sells computers ? Tesla is selling some battery installations from what I saw but their core business is cars. You could claim they are valued as a software company because of FSD, but I don't really see the battery angle, they would be not be anywhere close their valuation if they were valued on that angle.
- Cincognito 5y ago
  Same goes for app stores, what happens if google and apple ban you for whatever reason? Your company is screwed and you have no appeal or legal safeguards. <a href="https://businesscutter.com/">https://businesscutter.com//</a> https://businesscutter.com/">https://businesscutter.com//</a...
- Cincognito 5y ago
  Someone here was arguing that advertising can't be measured only through impact on present sales but "good will and long term value". Tesla seemingly has good will beyond any competitors.https://prickdaily.com/ https://prickdaily.com/
  - Cincognito 5y ago
    We checked her rating and it's 4.5 or so. But it's funny, she looks like a deadbeat here because of more discerning/critical NYC Uber drivers who gave her 4 stars 50% of the time.https://trickynerds.com/ https://trickynerds.com/
slg 5y ago
>sells everything they can produce. That is the important part. Their production capability is limited to a level that is below current demand. It therefore doesn't make any sense for them to invest in increasing future demand until their production capability consistently exceeds the level of current demand.
- reader_mode 5y ago
  But their supply is constantly expanding and demand is following right up. They have 0 ads and yet everyone knows about Tesla.
  - slg 5y ago
    What is your point? No one is claiming that advertising is the only way to increase demand. It is simply one option to increase demand, an option that Tesla has no use for at the moment.
    - reader_mode 5y ago
      If the hottest company in auto is spending 0 on ads are ads really that valuable to auto industry ?
      - slg 5y ago
        If Elon Musk is one of the richest men in the world and draws roughly a minimum wage salary, is salary really that valuable to building personal wealth? That is the equivalent of what you are asking. Musk has other forms of income and wealth accumulation that other people don't have. Therefore his salary shouldn't be used to compare to people who don't have those other methods of income. Similarly Tesla has other advantages that help increase demand (or limit the upside of further increasing demand). Other companies that don't have those same advantages can still benefit from increasing demand through advertising. The only conclusion we can draw from Tesla's lack of advertising is that the company leadership feels that it is not the best use of company money. Any attempt to extrapolate that out to the auto industry or advertising in general is making a lot of assumptions.
samat 5y ago
I would not call Elon Musks Twitter and other public performances ‘no advertising whatsoever’. They don’t pay for it cash to adv companies, but they got in hot waters with SEC because of it, for example.
- reader_mode 5y ago
  I didn't say they do no advertising, I said they spend 0 on ads.
potatosaur 5y ago
When I was small, the same thing was said about Ferrari. Obviously we didn't understand that F1 is marketing as much as magazine ads are. In the same way though, Tesla might not do declarative advertising but things like Musk's appearance on Rick and Morty or favourable media coverage fulfil the exact same role.
enlyth 5y ago
They've done something smarter, created a cult of people that do the job for free
dexterdog 5y ago
The number of companies who could drop their advertising to $0 yesterday and still significantly outsell Tesla can not be counted with my hands.
411111111111111 5y ago
Toyota doesn't advertise?
- spullara 5y ago
  I think you saw the "brand value" list rather then the valuation of the company list: https://www.visualcapitalist.com/worlds-top-car-manufacturer-by-market-cap/ https://www.visualcapitalist.com/worlds-top-car-manufacturer...
tayo42 5y ago
Based off the comments I guess this is tesla. Isn't this just based off of their inflated stock price. If someone was seriously considering buying the company they wouldn't make an offer based off the stock price?
megablast 5y ago
Does it??
mhuffman 5y ago
>spends 0 on advertising I mean there is probably a number you can put on having one of the most famous people on Earth hawking the brand 24/7 ...
sumedh 5y ago
Did you know about Tesla before Elon Musk?
oblio 5y ago
Is that actually true? As in, their line item for marketing is 0? Not advertising, marketing.

r00fus 5y ago

Market cap (ie, stock price) is not a good indicator of present value, but perceived future value. Edit: I also think TSLA isn't a car company. More like a battery company.

reader_mode 5y ago
Someone here was arguing that advertising can't be measured only through impact on present sales but "good will and long term value". Tesla seemingly has good will beyond any competitors. Also Tesla is buying battery cells, sells cars and expects to have third parties supply batteries long term - how can they be a battery company ?
- r00fus 5y ago
  Same way Apple is a computer company but Foxconn does most of the building of said computers?
  - reader_mode 5y ago
    But Apple sells computers ? Tesla is selling some battery installations from what I saw but their core business is cars. You could claim they are valued as a software company because of FSD, but I don't really see the battery angle, they would be not be anywhere close their valuation if they were valued on that angle.
Cincognito 5y ago
Same goes for app stores, what happens if google and apple ban you for whatever reason? Your company is screwed and you have no appeal or legal safeguards. <a href="https://businesscutter.com/">https://businesscutter.com//</a> https://businesscutter.com/">https://businesscutter.com//</a...
Cincognito 5y ago
Someone here was arguing that advertising can't be measured only through impact on present sales but "good will and long term value". Tesla seemingly has good will beyond any competitors.https://prickdaily.com/ https://prickdaily.com/
- Cincognito 5y ago
  We checked her rating and it's 4.5 or so. But it's funny, she looks like a deadbeat here because of more discerning/critical NYC Uber drivers who gave her 4 stars 50% of the time.https://trickynerds.com/ https://trickynerds.com/

slg 5y ago

>sells everything they can produce. That is the important part. Their production capability is limited to a level that is below current demand. It therefore doesn't make any sense for them to invest in increasing future demand until their production capability consistently exceeds the level of current demand.

reader_mode 5y ago
But their supply is constantly expanding and demand is following right up. They have 0 ads and yet everyone knows about Tesla.
- slg 5y ago
  What is your point? No one is claiming that advertising is the only way to increase demand. It is simply one option to increase demand, an option that Tesla has no use for at the moment.
  - reader_mode 5y ago
    If the hottest company in auto is spending 0 on ads are ads really that valuable to auto industry ?
    - slg 5y ago
      If Elon Musk is one of the richest men in the world and draws roughly a minimum wage salary, is salary really that valuable to building personal wealth? That is the equivalent of what you are asking. Musk has other forms of income and wealth accumulation that other people don't have. Therefore his salary shouldn't be used to compare to people who don't have those other methods of income. Similarly Tesla has other advantages that help increase demand (or limit the upside of further increasing demand). Other companies that don't have those same advantages can still benefit from increasing demand through advertising. The only conclusion we can draw from Tesla's lack of advertising is that the company leadership feels that it is not the best use of company money. Any attempt to extrapolate that out to the auto industry or advertising in general is making a lot of assumptions.

samat 5y ago

I would not call Elon Musks Twitter and other public performances ‘no advertising whatsoever’. They don’t pay for it cash to adv companies, but they got in hot waters with SEC because of it, for example.

reader_mode 5y ago
I didn't say they do no advertising, I said they spend 0 on ads.

potatosaur 5y ago

When I was small, the same thing was said about Ferrari. Obviously we didn't understand that F1 is marketing as much as magazine ads are. In the same way though, Tesla might not do declarative advertising but things like Musk's appearance on Rick and Morty or favourable media coverage fulfil the exact same role.

enlyth 5y ago

They've done something smarter, created a cult of people that do the job for free

dexterdog 5y ago

The number of companies who could drop their advertising to $0 yesterday and still significantly outsell Tesla can not be counted with my hands.

411111111111111 5y ago

Toyota doesn't advertise?

spullara 5y ago
I think you saw the "brand value" list rather then the valuation of the company list: https://www.visualcapitalist.com/worlds-top-car-manufacturer-by-market-cap/ https://www.visualcapitalist.com/worlds-top-car-manufacturer...

tayo42 5y ago

Based off the comments I guess this is tesla. Isn't this just based off of their inflated stock price. If someone was seriously considering buying the company they wouldn't make an offer based off the stock price?

megablast 5y ago

Does it??

mhuffman 5y ago

>spends 0 on advertising I mean there is probably a number you can put on having one of the most famous people on Earth hawking the brand 24/7 ...

sumedh 5y ago

Did you know about Tesla before Elon Musk?

oblio 5y ago

Is that actually true? As in, their line item for marketing is 0? Not advertising, marketing.