Tesla Rolls Out “Drive To Believe” Video As It Tries Its Hand At Advertising

Tesla has published a video that some people are calling the brand’s first attempt at real advertising, with Elon Musk’s aim to create ads that look like “content” looking closer than ever.

Published on the official Tesla Asia Twitter account, the two-minute long video is called “Drive to Believe” and is basically the testimonial of a Singaporean Model 3 customer who outlines her buying experience and what she believes are the best features of the all-electric sedan.

The main takeaways are that the American EV makes her and her family feel safe while traveling, the kids have a lot of entertainment options, and driving an electric car eliminates the need to go to a filling station where there are nasty smells and fumes.

It’s a first step in the direction indicated by Tesla CEO Elon Musk less than a week ago during the company’s shareholders meeting in Texas, when he made the unscripted decision to “try a little advertising and see how it goes,” in a reply to an investor from the crowd.

During an interview with CNBC after the meeting, Musk said that he believes in taking suggestions and that ads would need to be truthful and aesthetically pleasing, adding that if they’re “informative and entertaining, it approaches content.”

To Tesla Asia’s credit, the video checks all the boxes outlined by Musk, but there is something that’s missing: it’s still an official Tesla video, published on one of the company’s official Twitter accounts.

When replying to the question about advertising at the company’s meeting, Musk said that there are already a lot of people following his and Tesla’s Twitter accounts, so publishing flattering things about the American EVs on these spaces would mean “preaching to the choir and the choir is already convinced.”

In other words, to get the message across to those people who are unconvinced or don’t even know about EVs, Tesla would need to publish its ads where these people would see them, be it through a Google Ads campaign which would include YouTube or maybe more traditional outlets like TV.

But what are your thoughts on this latest video from Tesla? Let us know in the comments section below.