Tesla and James Bond: A Match Made for Eco-Friendly Excitement

Executive summary 

Promoting multiple products through tie-ups between brands is an effective strategy that is often executed by big well-known brands. In this current report, the analysis of the tie-up scopes for Tesla and James Bond movies are analysed. The study revealed the high focus of the current society and government on eco-friendly vehicles. The report analysed the tie-up scopes, identified the benefits of accessing wide scale consumers, and generate sales for Tesla. The potential of the tie-up to generate revenues for the movie is also recognised. Simultaneously huge chances of attaining critics’ support towards highlighting the eco-friendly electric vehicles thereby driving people towards environmental conservation is also marked as a benefit for the movie. Brand placement strategy of cross-advertising, using social media and brand presentation on product packaging is identified to be beneficial for both the brands as well. 

Introduction 

The brand tie-ups are one of the most widely used and cost-effective strategy for promotion of brands. In the current study, tie-up of the luxury car brand Tesla and the classic movie series of James Bond is studied. It sheds light on the prevailing external environment, co-branding scopes for the brands and the appropriate brand placement strategy. 

Analysis of external environment 

The PESTLE analysis of the global automobile industry reveals strong governmental support towards the automobiles with low greenhouse gases’ (GHGs) emission rates (Mitchell, Wooliscroft and Higham, 2010). Rising temperature of the world due to the increasing levels of GHGs causes global warming. This is a serious concern across the globe. Thus, the governments of several nations are currently undertaking measures to reduce the GHG emissions. Tesla’s electric vehicles are thus at an advantage of receiving governmental support owing to their low emission features.

From an economic context, high levels of taxes are imposed on the luxury cars. On the other hand, the governments of the US and the UK are seen to provide subsidy for the low emission vehicles (D’arpizio et al. 2015). The recovering economic condition of the countries across the world is a driver to the sales of the luxury cars by increasing the disposable income level of individuals. 

Analysis of the social aspect of the automobile industry reveals the rise in trend of inclination of the youths towards the luxury cars with advanced features and attractive sporty looks (Gibson, 2008). The rising affordability of the youths with the increasing level of income in both the developed and developing countries contributes to the emergence of this social trend (Banerjee, 2010). 

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As asserted by Eckhardt, Belk and Wilson (2015), rapid advancement of technology drives innovation in the automobile market across the world. With a highly innovative products’ range, Tesla could be identified to hold a good amount of market share in the global market. Tesla could be seen to hold 0.2% market share of the US automobile industry in 2017 as compared to 0.3% in 2016 (Statista, 2017). 

Figure 1: Tesla’s US market share from September 2016-2017

(Source: Statista, 2017)

From the above figure, it can be depicted that in the US there is a strong coverage of the automotive industry. With an increased growth rate of the electric vehicle market in the UK, Tesla is able to increase the number of Tesla Model S registration in the UK since 2014 to 2016.  It is evident from their constant rise in the figures of registrations of Tesla’s cars in the UK (Lambert, 2017). 

Figure 2: Tesla Model S Registration in the UK 

(Source: Lambert, 2017)

The delivery of 2353 units of Tesla Model S cars in the UK in 2016 indicates the nation to be Tesla’s best European market for the car. However, the legal constraints as the imposition of the higher exchange rate on foreign automobile companies operating sales in the UK could be seen to raise the price of the cars of Tesla. It is evident from the 5% rise in the increase of Tesla Model S in the UK (Lambert, 2017). 

The growing environmental concerns regarding climate change could be seen to drive the consumers of the automobile industry to incline towards the use of electric vehicles due to their efficiency of releasing lesser amount of GHG into atmosphere (Kotler, 2011). The strict enforcement of environmental laws on lowering the carbon emissions from vehicles and with the features of low fuel consumptions is held eligible to receive tax subsidies from the government (Fetscherin and Toncar, 2010). This could be considered helpful for Tesla as they receive tax subsidies from the government owing to the fuel consumption features in their vehicles. The production of electric vehicles emitting low amount of GHG is also beneficial for Tesla to attract the crowds across the world towards their eco-friendly vehicles’ range.

The high price of the vehicles makes the products of Tesla inaccessible to all strata of people. 

However, the reduction in the prices of Tesla’s vehicles facilitated by the government subsidies for the electric vehicles is a significant news to spread among the masses. The consumers with increasing levels of disposable incomes and affordability needs to be made aware of the reduced prices of the cars of Tesla to attract them and induce purchase intentions in them (Sheth, 2011).  It is therefore beneficial for Tesla to tie-up with the James Bond film brand, as it would spread the message of Tesla’s low priced cars to a wide scale audience. 

The opportunity to access a wider range of consumers is a major factor contributing to the interest of Tesla to be a part of the Bond brand, even though it is expensive. The publicity of the James Bond film is widely spread (Kozinets et al. 2010). Thus, it could be stated that the tie-up of Tesla with James Bond film brand can spread the promotion of the vehicles of Tesla across all strata of public, as the film is famous among widespread crowds.  

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Benefit of the co-branding opportunity to the Bond brand and Tesla’ brand 

The co-branding of Tesla’s electric vehicles cars and other advanced technology equipped cars with the Bond brand could prove to be mutually beneficial for both the film and the automobile company. Cars have always been a major part of the James Bond films (Reijnders, 2010). In almost all the parts of the James Bond 007 film series, a special focus on the cars used by the protagonist of the film, James Bond is evident. It is thus expected that the selected car of Tesla would share a major screen space with the main lead of the film. This would provide a good exposure of the car and a scope of vividly promoting the unique features of the car among the audience viewing the film. As stated by Maxwell and Knox (2009), the use of a particular product by a well-known and famous celebrity increases the credibility of the product. James Bond being a widely known character among the masses and a favourite icon to be followed and admired by people of all ages can thereby act as an effective endorser of the Tesla car by using it in the movie. 

The James Bond movie could be categorized among classics. It could be analysed that the character of Bond is iconic among masses irrespective of demographic and geographic aspects of the audience. The movie has always been able to touch the psychology of the audience effectively through all its series (Reijnders, 2010). It is therefore important for the production and movie markers to ensure that the movie promotes social wellbeing and have a message for the greater good of the society and human kind. 

Endorsing the electric vehicles of Tesla with advanced technologies could serve the purpose of promoting social wellbeing through the film by creating an interest among the viewers towards usage of electric vehicles with low GHG emission rates. The movie could receive admiration form the critics for promoting the use of eco-friendly vehicles by the lead character of the film. Achieving good reviews from critics is advantageous for a film (Reijnders, 2010). It would further raise the bar for the standards of the film not only in terms of business and industry specific factors but also in terms of ethics and disciplinary message for the societal welfare. Thus, it could be stated that the tie-up of Bond brand with the Tesla brand would benefit the film considerably. 

As opined by Karniouchina, Uslay and Erenburg (2011), the representation and association of a product with media is of prime importance in driving favourable or negative publicity among masses. It is therefore important that the Tesla cars promoted through the Bond film be used by James Bond himself and for societal good, rather than being used by a conman for treacherous purposes. The technologies embedded in the vehicles needs to be well utilised by the lead character to execute actions that create interest among the viewers regarding the features. A visual placement of the product is intended to highlight the attractive features of the car. Simultaneously, the plot of the film can be modified to include the highlighting of the audio related features of the car through the film. 

Interest generation among consumers is a vital aim of the promotional strategies (Belk, 2014). It is therefore necessary that the vehicle of Tesla is used in the film in a way that highlights the features of the car clearly and interestingly to attract the masses. The ease of usage of the features and technologies of Tesla vehicle is significant to be highlighted without which, purchase intention would not be produced among the public. Since catch and run is an important aspect of each Bond movie, the cars used for the purpose are always an integral part of the plot of the Bond movies. Therefore, Tesla just need to ensure that the same is followed for the next Bond movie as well. 

Brand placement strategy 

The brand placement strategy of Tesla could be proposed to involve the cross-advertise concept. As per the concept of cross-advertise, two brands are promoted at the same time with the promotion cost shared between the two brands (Mogilner, Rudnick and Iyengar, 2008). It would thus provide economic benefits for both the brands by lowering the individual promotional cost for both the brands. However, the promotion of James Bond movie is executed at a very high scale. The tie up of the Tesla brand with James Bond movie could lead to increased promotional cost for Tesla but it can prove to be effective in wide scale promotion thereby overcoming the expense in the long-term by increasing the sales generation. 

The cross advertising of Tesla with the James Bond film brand can be executed through the incorporation of the “bundled” offers. For instance, if Tesla promotes their cars through the Bond film along with a clubbed offer of watching the movie premier with the cast of the film at the same charge for tickets as in movie halls, on advance booking of selected car models, huge sales generation might be expected for Tesla. At the same time, the film will also benefit in generating revenue in the initial phases thereby attaining greater monetary profitability. This strategy can thus benefit both the film and the automobile brand of Tesla simultaneously.  

Use of social media is a prospective strategy to promote the brands to a large number of audience at a time at low cost. The information about the cross-advertising strategy’s bundled offer could be spread among the public through social media sites. As pinpointed by Trusov, Bucklin and Pauwels (2009), spreading awareness about an offer to the public is necessary to reap the complete benefits of the offer by the company. Adoption of the strategy of publicizing the offer through social media could thus prove beneficial for Tesla to inform all the potential customers about the offer thereby driving them towards purchase of the concerned item. It would also inform the public about the release of the movie thereby encouraging them to watch the film thus generating revenue for the film. This again reflects the potential of the strategy to generate mutually beneficial effects for both the brand of the film and the automobile. 

Providing the customers of Tesla with an exclusive offer of customising the automobile for engraving a logo of James Bond 007 with the tag line of the next film of the Bond series and a signature of the lead cast (Daniel Craig probably) is also suggested for Tesla. This strategy reflects the brand representation on product packaging. As stated by Kotler (2011), representing a brand over the product of another brand is a highly effective marketing promotional strategy ensuring a long-term promotion of the brand. This strategy would thus spread the publicity of the Bond brand being represented on a premium brand’s automobile product thereby enhancing the popularity of both the brands. Simultaneously, the strategy of using the electric vehicles of Tesla in the movie would further improve the promotion of the USP of Tesla, which is their ability to build fully electric vehicles in-house. 

Tesla and the Bond brand are considered premium brands. Thus, the film can prove effective in inducing the target customers of Tesla, who are mainly the premium consumers with high level of affordability. Additionally, the tie-up of these two brands would further increase the access of Tesla to other customer segments as well. Increasing access to wider customer segments is a major benefit of cross advertising (Kozinets et al. 2010). The social media promotional strategy would be effective to retrieve significant information about the other customer segments that Tesla could target thereby increasing the customer base of the brand. Tesla can also use the social media medium to highlight the comparatively better features of Tesla’s electric vehicles helping the brand to attain the tie-up with Bond brand against the competitor automobile brands as Chevrolet, Honda, Smart Car, and Toyota, who operate in the international markets as Tesla’s competitors. 

Conclusion 

The study of the scope for tie-up between the James Bond film brand and Tesla the luxury car brand revealed the high potential of generating mutual benefits for both the brands. The study highlights the cost sharing for the promotional measures, access to wider customer base, effective generation of sales and revenue for the brands as the major advantages that the brands could expect through the tie-up. Cross-advertising, usage of social media and appropriate representation of the electric vehicle product of Tesla in the upcoming film of James Bond series is recognised to be beneficial for business of both the brands.