Tesla and VW: The Competition of Marketing Strategists
Prof. Hans-Christian Riekhof: “The marketing strategies of Tesla and Volkswagen could not be more different: the VW Group largely relies on traditional media and what we call Paid Media. Tesla buys Bitcoins for 1.5 billion and thus achieves a very remarkable media attention. And above all, Tesla probably reaches exactly the target group with this kind of messages. Earned Media is the relevant currency in marketing.”
“Volkswagen spends about the same amount on marketing and advertising every year that Tesla is now risking with Bitcoin. The US car manufacturer has never spent a single dollar on official marketing. CMO and advertising machine is Musk, who achieves enormous attention with a few tweets about “Wallstreetbets” or Bitcoin.”
– Thomas Jahn, Team Leader Technology, Handelsblatt, in “Smarter Madness”, Handelsblatt, February 10, 2021, No. 28
