Tesla has employed a star ambassador, a departure from Elon Musk’s coverage of not paying for movie star endorsements.
Musk has typically bragged about the truth that Tesla doesn’t pay for movie star endorsements in distinction to different automakers who rent movie star model ambassadors to advertise their automobiles.
Very similar to promoting, Musk appears to be abandoning this technique.
Tesla introduced that it employed Olympic shooter Kim Ye-ji, whose efficiency on the Paris Olympics this summer season went viral, to be the automaker’s model ambassador in Korea.
Kim stated about her new partnership with Tesla:
I’m very excited to work with Tesla, who’ve acknowledged me. I hope to convey a constructive message along with Tesla.”
Listed below are just a few photos launched to announce her new partnership with Tesla:
Kim’s company stated that her relationship with Tesla began from CEO Elon Musk tweeting about her viral efficiency on the Olympics:
“The connection between Kim Ye-ji and Tesla developed after Elon Musk talked about her. The corporate stated that Kim is Tesla Korea’s first model ambassador.”
She shouldn’t be solely Tesla Korea’s first ambassador, however she is the primary recognized paid movie star ambassador for Tesla globally.
The coverage change shouldn’t be totally stunning because the coverage of Musk not paying celebrities to endorse Tesla’s merchandise was typically hooked up to the automaker’s technique to not promote.
Musk went so far as to say that he “hates promoting,” and Tesla began promoting final 12 months.
The change in technique coincidently, or not, got here after Musk purchased Twitter, an organization counting on promoting, and Tesla even began to promote on Twitter, now known as X.
Tesla gross sales in Korea haven’t been superb, however the nation’s auto market drastically favors home manufacturers. The American automaker does pretty properly for a international model with the Mannequin Y turning into the best-selling imported automobile in Korea in the course of the first half of 2024.
Though, it amounted to simply over 10,000 models.
Electrek’s Take
It’s a change of technique, and Elon definitely can’t declare that Tesla doesn’t pay for celebrities to endorse its merchandise, however it’s most likely a wise transfer as a consequence of the truth that Koreans want home manufacturers.
Kim may assist create a deeper degree of attachment to the Tesla model, however I don’t actually know. I’m simply speculating.
