Tesla motors is a California based automobile manufacturer that produces luxury/sporty electric cars. They aim at redefining the automobile industry by completely eliminating the fuel consumption and charging cars as one charges his/her mobile phone. Apart from being environmentally sustainable, Tesla motors claims that their cars can from 0-60 mph in 4.4 which is astonishing for an electric car especially when you compare it’s performance from it’s existing competitor Toyota Prius.

Talking about sustainability, Tesla cars can be charged at an conventional 120 volt power outlet and charges at rate of 62 miles per hour. It’s like charging charging your mobile phone overnight and you’re good to go for the next day. I personally it’s an amazing innovation and has raised the bar really high for its upcoming potential competitor’s.

Here is what the company says about itself.

The unique selling point about tesla motors is that its an amazing sports luxury car which fun to drive, quick and great to watch and also happens to be electric. Here’s a picture of another model.

Developing from Hongsheng’s and Alan’s blog, i will be commenting on the new trends observed in today’s Marketing age. It’s true that advertisement tactics have become complex as compared to our childhood days. However, i believe this is directly connected to human psychology. As we develop over time, our mind requires something different from the conventional strategies in order to get attention attention. I personally think that the soap commercial marketing it’s product based on sex appeal is a wise idea as most of the other soaps are marketed on their fragrance. Marketing a soap just on it’s fragrance is old and futile and is not that effective anymore.

This change was in the marketing era was inevitable and i believe that marketing strategies would continue to evolve as the time demands.

Inspiring from Ryan Abushinov’s blog i wish to raise the point that, ‘ Is marketing strategy based on celebrity endorsement an effective method in today’s fast paced world’?

Earlier ‘Celebrity Endorsements’ were thought of as a tool of providing a distinct differentiation but in the recent past many brands have adopted similar strategies and hence loosing the differentiation focus of celebrity endorsements. I believe in the present era of marketing, companies think beyond celebrity endorsements for the brand building process. Consider companies like ‘Apple’ and ‘Abercrombie & Fitch’ have achieved tremendous amount of success by achieving a marketing strategy that did not involve any kind of celebrity endorsements.

Firstly,It is true that celebrities act as role models for the specific target audience of a particular product but a shift in this trend has been observed in the recent past. These days, rather than relating themselves to celebrities, people prefer to relate themselves with other common people with similar characteristics. For example, Hollister hires young people to wear their brand of clothes and do word of mouth advertisement rather than just putting up a poster of a celebrity. I believe following this strategy of marketing increases communicability among the consumers and gives a personal touch.

Secondly, celebrity endorsement relies heavily on the credibility of the celebrity. This point is evident from Accenture’s decision to end maketing relationship with Tiger Woods after his recent controversy. At the end of the day, endorsers are still humans and they are bound to make mistakes at times.

Finally, i would say that the method of ‘Celebrity Endorsements’ is still effective in spreading the brand name but it may not be a sustainable marketing strategy in the long run.

Is community based marketing the most effective method in the present day situation?

Lululemon, a vancouver based multinational sportswear brand correctly followed community based marketing strategy for building customer loyalty. Lululemon follows a grassroot startegy and relies heavily on word of mouth advertisement. Its interesting that it does not even have a marketing division, instead it only has a ‘Community Relations’ department. They generally target the local community as they only advertise in ‘Yoga Journal’ and ‘Runner’s World Magazine’.

I personally believe that they focus on creating an inviting and educational store environment that encourages product trial and repeated visits. Even when you are shopping at a lululemon store the salesperson would be interested in talking about yoga rather than just focusing on selling the product. I think this is an innovative and a unique way of developing long term customer relations.Moreover, they also hold free yoga classes in schools or in their stores to market the brand using the word of mouth strategy. One of the driving forces for lululemon has been the changes in the cultural environment with more people practicing yoga and becoming health concerned.

I  think the biggest thing Lululemon has done right is choosing its target market consisting of people that have money and also want to be trendy. Otherwise, there is no point in buying a yoga pant for over $100 which you can get for $30 any regular apparel store. Not to ignore the fact that they have the best quality yoga pants that gives highest level of comfort to its loyal customers.