Tesla and Uber Unlikely to Survive (Vol. 2)
Discussion
skwdenyer said:
Actually I think this part is inspired, not absurd. Too many firms feel they have no option but to keep spending more and more money in servicing the needs of journalists. If that is what you need for your business, go for it; but Tesla clearly believe (and with some justification) that they do not need to spend that money right now.
How you utilize your PR team is down to how the company wants to operate, but to abandon them completely is stupid IMHO. Do you have to spend millions on servicing journalists needs and whims? Nah, you dont. But a good PR team is worth their weight in gold. PR is such a wide term and capability and when done right, can really help any company and their projection of what they want to do and where they want to go.Its so much more than journalist handling and appeasing a limited number of people. Does Tesla need to do that today? I would say yes. From the recent debacle around cars getting delivered without USB charging ports and wireless charging pads - this would be an ideal place for PR to step in and manage the issue. Explain the problem, reach out to customers, interface with customer services etc - you know, manage the press around this?
But hey, what do I know? Elon knows best because he's a genius and the cars are perfect, right?
RobDickinson said:
off_again said:
But hey, what do I know? Elon knows best because he's a genius and the cars are perfect, right?
When they had a PR team and press cars we had journalists lying about cars breaking down etc, the FUD was endless, why should they feed that beast.Like I said, PR covers a lot of areas and it doesnt have to be managing a test fleet. They could decide to not have one, but to justify a lack of any PR team because "you dont like the reviews" is more than strange.
RobDickinson said:
Its not running away its stopping wasting time and effort that could be used elsewhere.
what else would they be doing other than now collecting their unemployment benefit?The people who work in various departments, for example customer relations or press relations, don't all do the same job, they aren't now on the production line or designing FSD.
jsf said:
Burwood said:
But what this tells you is JPM did make 1.2B from the deal and are crying over a few crumbs. I doubt they will succeed because they unilaterally changed the strike price down (initially) when Musk made the funding secured $420 tweet and they had a point about that issue. However it was clear this wasn't the case and JPM changed the strike again but not back to the pre tweet strike. They are arguing over the difference(pre split) between the original strike of $568 and a revised $487 which was subject to a split of 5:1. So the strike is now $113 revised down to $97. And the stock price was what in July 21? Late $600, close to $700. That is how much they profited, the spread. they made $580 per share but are whinging they didn't make $16 more. Greedy bankers being greedy
If the contract allows them to act the way they did and they have a legitimate claim, then what are you arguing about?Just because banks make money, doesn't mean they therefor cant use the law correctly. If that were the case the whole system will collapse and that's all our lives screwed.
Musk not talking to them is playground stuff, his shutting down of the press department so no journalists can ask difficult questions is also absurd. The bloke is a cult, it's likely not going to end well for him or people in the cult.
k them.RobDickinson said:
Its not running away its stopping wasting time and effort that could be used elsewhere.
Sorry, have to do this.... like cutting the staff around the HR department so that employee complaints get handled correctly? Or cutting the teams that handle the production processes and environment legislations? Those two went well as well....Running a business is complex and difficult - running a large one even worse. Justifying knee jerk actions as cost saving is bizarre - but then again, Tesla has a track record in this area too.
And you know what is so totally stupid about this whole thing - if the cars were crap, there could be a degree of justification for it. But they arent. Just imagine how much better things could be? Customer complaints handled well. Or issues with customer cars on delivery communicated correctly? Or quality defects handled pre-delivery? Or a PR team that manages corporate communications for a consistent story and strategy? Or a IR team that works with the CEO and board to not pull stupid stunts.... you get the idea. Imagine a world where none of this happened and the cars shined in their electric glow for what they are? A really good car.....
RobDickinson said:
off_again said:
Customer complaints handled well. Or issues with customer cars on delivery communicated correctly?
None of that would be handled by a PR department, that is sales and service.Could Tesla handle PR better/ yeah probably but would it make a difference? Not really.
So yeah, taking the missing USB ports as a good example - you could (dont have to) have got ahead of the issue, had some information ready and helped in the coordination across the customer service teams. Then, reached out to those affected and made sure they were being handled correctly by the customer service team. Of course, CS is key here too, but PR absolutely can assist and help.
off_again said:
How you utilize your PR team is down to how the company wants to operate, but to abandon them completely is stupid IMHO. Do you have to spend millions on servicing journalists needs and whims? Nah, you dont. But a good PR team is worth their weight in gold. PR is such a wide term and capability and when done right, can really help any company and their projection of what they want to do and where they want to go.
Its so much more than journalist handling and appeasing a limited number of people. Does Tesla need to do that today? I would say yes. From the recent debacle around cars getting delivered without USB charging ports and wireless charging pads - this would be an ideal place for PR to step in and manage the issue. Explain the problem, reach out to customers, interface with customer services etc - you know, manage the press around this?
But hey, what do I know? Elon knows best because he's a genius and the cars are perfect, right?
There are people at Tesla updating their social media accounts regularly and so on so PR does exist.Its so much more than journalist handling and appeasing a limited number of people. Does Tesla need to do that today? I would say yes. From the recent debacle around cars getting delivered without USB charging ports and wireless charging pads - this would be an ideal place for PR to step in and manage the issue. Explain the problem, reach out to customers, interface with customer services etc - you know, manage the press around this?
But hey, what do I know? Elon knows best because he's a genius and the cars are perfect, right?
It probably quite suits Tesla to have a blanket "we don't reply to Journo's" as most of Tesla is just Elon lying
If they had a PR department, they would be bombarded from a journo's around the world every hour, 24/7 wanting updates on their promises. This way the Journo's are left to monitor Elon's twitter and all his many interviews and know the score.
Tesla is also never going to spend the money to cultivate the relationships that the others do, flying them out to scenic places and throwing parties and so on.
And importantly, they don't spend on Adverts. So if you aren't advertising and spending big bucks, you are more likely to get an 'honest' piece written.
hyphen said:
There are people at Tesla updating their social media accounts regularly and so on so PR does exist.
It probably quite suits Tesla to have a blanket "we don't reply to Journo's" as most of Tesla is just Elon lying
If they had a PR department, they would be bombarded from a journo's around the world every hour, 24/7 wanting updates on their promises. This way the Journo's are left to monitor Elon's twitter and all his many interviews and know the score.
Tesla is also never going to spend the money to cultivate the relationships that the others do, flying them out to scenic places and throwing parties and so on.
And importantly, they don't spend on Adverts. So if you aren't advertising and spending big bucks, you are more likely to get an 'honest' piece written.
If it suits their business, great. I am merely suggesting that not doing this out of spite is dumb. A good PR team can work wonders for the brand, messaging and effectiveness across multiple teams. Its not as if Tesla as a company is a perfect embodiment of efficiency and perfection! But, if they feel that its perfect for them to not have a PR team, great. I will let them run with that. Of course, that doesnt stop me pointing and laughing in future when a small insignificant thing gets blown out of all proportion because they didnt manage things well...It probably quite suits Tesla to have a blanket "we don't reply to Journo's" as most of Tesla is just Elon lying
If they had a PR department, they would be bombarded from a journo's around the world every hour, 24/7 wanting updates on their promises. This way the Journo's are left to monitor Elon's twitter and all his many interviews and know the score.
Tesla is also never going to spend the money to cultivate the relationships that the others do, flying them out to scenic places and throwing parties and so on.
And importantly, they don't spend on Adverts. So if you aren't advertising and spending big bucks, you are more likely to get an 'honest' piece written.
If demand continues to vastly exceed supply, which it seems to and has done for some time, then what tangible benefit does a PR department bring to Tesla?
People who are concerned about the USB thing (it’s a legitimate thing to be concerned about) are I’m sure contacting their service centres, who have no doubt been told what is going to happen, etc and are being managed and reassured by them. Would a blanket PR message about it improve that experience? Perhaps. Would a public PR statement be treated with derision and scepticism (“you’re just trying to save face!”) by non-customers and people who just want to give Tesla a kicking anyway? Almost certainly.
I’m not saying PR itself is bad, or that these things don’t look great when they’re reported on and there’s no public response to it, but clearly it doesn’t seem to affect sales or a sufficiently positive brand image. So, it is fair to say that - at least in the here and now - it appears that they were correct to say that they didn’t need a PR department.
People who are concerned about the USB thing (it’s a legitimate thing to be concerned about) are I’m sure contacting their service centres, who have no doubt been told what is going to happen, etc and are being managed and reassured by them. Would a blanket PR message about it improve that experience? Perhaps. Would a public PR statement be treated with derision and scepticism (“you’re just trying to save face!”) by non-customers and people who just want to give Tesla a kicking anyway? Almost certainly.
I’m not saying PR itself is bad, or that these things don’t look great when they’re reported on and there’s no public response to it, but clearly it doesn’t seem to affect sales or a sufficiently positive brand image. So, it is fair to say that - at least in the here and now - it appears that they were correct to say that they didn’t need a PR department.
Durzel said:
If demand continues to vastly exceed supply, which it seems to and has done for some time, then what tangible benefit does a PR department bring to Tesla?
Isn't a good part of the PR team's job to answer questions from the media? You know, like "When's the Cybertruck going to arrive?", "Where's my Robotaxi?", "What level FSD will you be at next year?", "How are sales going in China?", "Has the Model Y effectively replaced the Model 3 in the US?"Musk got rid of them because he doesn't want to answer questions. He made that clear.
No questioning Tesla.
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