Elio Tv Commercial - 60 Second Tv Spots (link)

[floydv]

Awareness is familiarity. It has often been said by marketers and advertisers, that people buy products they are familiar with. I suspect this is to make people familiar (aware) with the Elio so when it becomes available later, people are more likely to buy one.

Paul Elio is smart and is doing long range preparations for future sales.

Exactly right. For folks who may be thinking of replacing a vehicle in a year or so -- or has a kid who will be graduating high school in that same period -- Paul's basically planting the seed in those potential buyers' minds that an alternative vehicle is coming up that they should consider.

 

[AriLea]

Exactly right. For folks who may be thinking of replacing a vehicle in a year or so -- or has a kid who will be graduating high school in that same period -- Paul's basically planting the seed in those potential buyers' minds that an alternative vehicle is coming up that they should consider.

So in that case, it indicates some kind of underlying confidence that that phase is coming. At one time in the past the trolls suggested this was all hype with no intension. Anyway, it seems there is viable evidence here of expectations to reaching the end-game.

 

[NSTG8R]

Just told by one of my co-workers that they saw an Elio commercial on TV [Elio wallpaper on my laptop might have let him know I was a fan]. Very cool! I then went into 'sales pitch' mode and started shooting him the specs and standard equipment list.

 

[Rob Croson]

Although my opinion is that EM should spend 100% of their limited $13 Million of Startengine funding on PRODUCTION and stop spending money on MARKETING..............

You know, it just might be possible that they are already working as fast as they can on what needs to be done for the E-Series. And it just might be possible that throwing more money at the process won't make it go any faster, but will just waste money. And it's just possible that they have already timelined all this out, and budgeted out all the money they have, and all the money they need, and that they already planned for the commercials in their budget.

... produced only to sell reservation interest in Paul Elio's Dream with no guaranteed production.

Which is exactly what it should be. No one has a guarantee of anything yet. Not even the people who plonked down $1,000 get a guarantee.

This advertising campaign isn't about selling cars, or reservations, or anything like that. It's about brand awareness. That is going to be critical. EM simply cannot wait until the production line is going full swing to start advertising. You know what would happen then? EM would have a lot full of cars with no one buying, because no one is going to know about it. Yeah, 50,000 cars on the road is a lot of cars. But it's a damn big country, and 50k is barely even a blip on the long range radar. (Think about this: How many Smart cars do you see on the road today? They sold 50,000 in the first two years, and almost 100k overall.)

What do you think the conversion rate is from people knowing about the Elio to people buying the Elio? Let's assume it's as high as 1%. (I think that's extravagantly high, but it's a start.) That means that in order for 250,000 to buy an Elio, that 25,000,000 need to know about it. You're not going to get 25,000,000 to know about the Elio by having 50,000 of them driving the roads. And that 50,000 won't be out driving around on Day 1. t will take months for that many to be on the roads. And there's the delay time between when people hear about it, to when they pull the trigger to buy one.

Elio simply cannot wait until the cars are rolling off the line to start advertising. They need to start building their brand now. Then once they start advertising in earnest closer to production start, people will be seeing ads and thinking "hey, there's that Elio we've been hearing about" and not "what the hell is that?"

We need to realize that there is a plan behind all this. And we're not privy to the details of that plan. That plan will involve things that you or I may not have thought of, simply because we're not the ones involved in planning this huge undertaking. That plan will include expenses and initiatives that are not directly involved in getting Elio #1 off the line. That does not mean they are not critical to the overall, long term success of the company.

We've got to stop thinking in the incredibly short-sighted vein of "do everything possible, sparing no expense, to get *my* Elio in *my* driveway, and screw everything else until that happens". That's a plan for disaster.

 

[JEBar]

We need to realize that there is a plan behind all this. And we're not privy to the details of that plan. That plan will involve things that you or I may not have thought of, simply because we're not the ones involved in planning this huge undertaking. That plan will include expenses and initiatives that are not directly involved in getting Elio #1 off the line. That does not mean they are not critical to the overall, long term success of the company.

We've got to stop thinking in the incredibly short-sighted vein of "do everything possible, sparing no expense, to get *my* Elio in *my* driveway, and screw everything else until that happens". That's a plan for disaster.

well said

 

[Rickb]

You know, it just might be possible that they are already working as fast as they can on what needs to be done for the E-Series. And it just might be possible that throwing more money at the process won't make it go any faster, but will just waste money. And it's just possible that they have already timelined all this out, and budgeted out all the money they have, and all the money they need, and that they already planned for the commercials in their budget.


Which is exactly what it should be. No one has a guarantee of anything yet. Not even the people who plonked down $1,000 get a guarantee.

This advertising campaign isn't about selling cars, or reservations, or anything like that. It's about brand awareness. That is going to be critical. EM simply cannot wait until the production line is going full swing to start advertising. You know what would happen then? EM would have a lot full of cars with no one buying, because no one is going to know about it. Yeah, 50,000 cars on the road is a lot of cars. But it's a damn big country, and 50k is barely even a blip on the long range radar. (Think about this: How many Smart cars do you see on the road today? They sold 50,000 in the first two years, and almost 100k overall.)

What do you think the conversion rate is from people knowing about the Elio to people buying the Elio? Let's assume it's as high as 1%. (I think that's extravagantly high, but it's a start.) That means that in order for 250,000 to buy an Elio, that 25,000,000 need to know about it. You're not going to get 25,000,000 to know about the Elio by having 50,000 of them driving the roads. And that 50,000 won't be out driving around on Day 1. t will take months for that many to be on the roads. And there's the delay time between when people hear about it, to when they pull the trigger to buy one.

Elio simply cannot wait until the cars are rolling off the line to start advertising. They need to start building their brand now. Then once they start advertising in earnest closer to production start, people will be seeing ads and thinking "hey, there's that Elio we've been hearing about" and not "what the hell is that?"

We need to realize that there is a plan behind all this. And we're not privy to the details of that plan. That plan will involve things that you or I may not have thought of, simply because we're not the ones involved in planning this huge undertaking. That plan will include expenses and initiatives that are not directly involved in getting Elio #1 off the line. That does not mean they are not critical to the overall, long term success of the company.

We've got to stop thinking in the incredibly short-sighted vein of "do everything possible, sparing no expense, to get *my* Elio in *my* driveway, and screw everything else until that happens". That's a plan for disaster.

Well said indeed, from a marketing perspective with lots of assumptions.

If my thinking that EM's very limited funding should be spent only on production goals and milestones rather than tv advertising (when there is no product to sell) then I'm incredibly short sighted, but feel fiscally responsible with my eyes wide open. Yes, there is a plan that has had ever changing production dates. We are privy to EM's millions of debt, the millions in production funding shortfalls, and have been asked for high risk investment support. I don't think that the limited funding resources are being spent wisely resulting in the "fast as they can" snails pace progress. It's only one opinion, creates this good discussion, and I could be wrong. I respect your opinion and hope your view gets our Elio's delivered in Q4 2016 according to EM's plan. I have an empty stall in my garage that is just gathering dust.

My advertising philosophy: Get it on the road and I feel the Elio will sell itself (free advertising), but I could be wrong. Perhaps the demand for such vehicles is limited or will be so wildly popular that competion floods the market. I hope EM tests that market soon and is wildly successful with their concept vehicle.

 

[Rob Croson]

Well said indeed, from a marketing perspective with lots of assumptions.

All that *any* of us have are assumptions.

If my thinking that EM's very limited funding should be spent only on production goals and milestones rather than tv advertising (when there is no product to sell) then I'm incredibly short sighted, but feel fiscally responsible with my eyes wide open.

The funds were budgeted in to the amount needed from the stock sale. Someone else posted the details. So spending this money does not, in any way, slow down development or production, nor take money away from those endeavors. They knew they were going to do it, and declared that they were going to do it in their public filing.

My advertising philosophy: Get it on the road and I feel the Elio will sell itself (free advertising), but I could be wrong.

If they were only selling 5k units like Arcimoto plans to do, then yeah that would probably work. But if you want to sell 250k, you've got to be more aggressive. Dropping $50k into buying a few TV spots (going by some rough numbers people have posted) hardly seems like make-or-break dollars.

 

[3wheelin]

You know, it just might be possible that they are already working as fast as they can on what needs to be done for the E-Series. And it just might be possible that throwing more money at the process won't make it go any faster, but will just waste money. And it's just possible that they have already timelined all this out, and budgeted out all the money they have, and all the money they need, and that they already planned for the commercials in their budget.


Which is exactly what it should be. No one has a guarantee of anything yet. Not even the people who plonked down $1,000 get a guarantee.

This advertising campaign isn't about selling cars, or reservations, or anything like that. It's about brand awareness. That is going to be critical. EM simply cannot wait until the production line is going full swing to start advertising. You know what would happen then? EM would have a lot full of cars with no one buying, because no one is going to know about it. Yeah, 50,000 cars on the road is a lot of cars. But it's a damn big country, and 50k is barely even a blip on the long range radar. (Think about this: How many Smart cars do you see on the road today? They sold 50,000 in the first two years, and almost 100k overall.)

What do you think the conversion rate is from people knowing about the Elio to people buying the Elio? Let's assume it's as high as 1%. (I think that's extravagantly high, but it's a start.) That means that in order for 250,000 to buy an Elio, that 25,000,000 need to know about it. You're not going to get 25,000,000 to know about the Elio by having 50,000 of them driving the roads. And that 50,000 won't be out driving around on Day 1. t will take months for that many to be on the roads. And there's the delay time between when people hear about it, to when they pull the trigger to buy one.

Elio simply cannot wait until the cars are rolling off the line to start advertising. They need to start building their brand now. Then once they start advertising in earnest closer to production start, people will be seeing ads and thinking "hey, there's that Elio we've been hearing about" and not "what the hell is that?"

We need to realize that there is a plan behind all this. And we're not privy to the details of that plan. That plan will involve things that you or I may not have thought of, simply because we're not the ones involved in planning this huge undertaking. That plan will include expenses and initiatives that are not directly involved in getting Elio #1 off the line. That does not mean they are not critical to the overall, long term success of the company.

We've got to stop thinking in the incredibly short-sighted vein of "do everything possible, sparing no expense, to get *my* Elio in *my* driveway, and screw everything else until that happens". That's a plan for disaster.

Well said! And it does make sense.

 

[Rickb]

All that *any* of us have are assumptions.


The funds were budgeted in to the amount needed from the stock sale. Someone else posted the details. So spending this money does not, in any way, slow down development or production, nor take money away from those endeavors. They knew they were going to do it, and declared that they were going to do it in their public filing.


If they were only selling 5k units like Arcimoto plans to do, then yeah that would probably work. But if you want to sell 250k, you've got to be more aggressive. Dropping $50k into buying a few TV spots (going by some rough numbers people have posted) hardly seems like make-or-break dollars.

Like I said I respect your assumptions.

EM detailed a 15 month outline for their March 2017 production schedule in the SEC filing. I hope EM is on schedule based on their current contract obligations and need for a second contract extension.

You mention the SRK. I have no idea if the SRK will make it to production or how many units will be pre-ordered over the next year if or when they do. Now that Arcimoto has finally started marketing the SRK reservation numbers could exceed the Elio's. Different business models and my hope is they both sell the maximum number of units they need to succeed. What they both need is a finished product to sell.

Our continued support will no doubt insure their success.

What would be cool is if EM gets their 25 E's and Arcimoto gets their 50 Beta's out at the same time since they both started about the same time back in 2007-08.

 

[AriLea]

My advertising philosophy: Get it on the road and I feel the Elio will sell itself (free advertising), but I could be wrong. Perhaps the demand for such vehicles is limited or will be so wildly popular that competion floods the market. I hope EM tests that market soon and is wildly successful with their concept vehicle.

I think you are basically right that it sells itself, but the issue suggested was the ramp-up rate. If EM has to wait over 60days for the flood of buyers, they would run out of storage space or have to restrict volumes to a small and expensive trickle. For example, if EM builds 1000 units/day, and it takes average of 120days for 1 person to buy an Elio after seeing one, the ramp up takes 126 days (the Golden Day) before new buyers each day matches the vehicles produced. But the Reservations were all consumed on day 70. So EM would have to store thousands of Elios until the orders caught up. And the stored vehicles aren't out there for people to respond to.

If that new buyer delay rate were
120 average, then the golden day is day 126, backlog consumed on 70, orders catch back up at day 179(or later)
100 average, then the golden day is day 105, backlog consumed on 82, orders catch back up at day 127(or later)
80 average, then the golden day is day 85, backlog never goes below 7500.

But here again I think RickB is right, before production day one, Elio would have sold itself and many-may more reservations would have materialized even with-out TV ads. In any case the more backlog there is, the less likely a shortfall can happen.

Therefore, I still think this 'public awareness' program is more about the 'leadership decision makers' than it is about reservations and backlog. Even though extra reservations now does help with public awareness. How much does 50k vs 75k reservations make in the minds of investors and government? At least a little. 100k plus? Even more.