Why no Rivian TV commercials?

[NooterIA]

I’m in IT, not in finance or marketing, so I’m curious if those that understand that side of the business might know when we might see a Rivian commercial on TV? Or, maybe why haven’t we seen one to this point? Almost daily I have people ask what the heck this thing is..

Just a thought, but I don’t think I’ve seen a Tesla commercial either. What gives??

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[CommodoreAmiga]

Both brands have a backlog of orders and don't need to negotiate/discount their vehicles (in fact they keep increasing the prices). Why waste money on advertising?

 

[electruck4x4]

Aside from Elon's "The product should sell itself" philosophy, commercials are meant to drive awareness and increase demand. Rivian has more demand than it can meet right now and is also trying to save cash to focus on production.

 

[Aroohoo]

They don't need to market to the general market yet as they don't have capacity to fill new orders.

That said, it would be interesting to see if they take the Tesla route and rely on word of mouth for growth or go a more traditional marketing route. As much as I like RJ, don't think he can replicate the Elon PR machine (which is probably a good thing).

 

[NooterIA]

Hmm, I get they’re back ordered but a full sales funnel is a good thing. Like I said I don’t work in the marketing side of finance but to me too much demand for what I’m selling would be a good problem to have, especially if I were building a $1B+ facility to make more product.

anyway, figured it was all to save money and let it sell itself through word of mouth, just figured I’d ask to maybe learn something. ?‍

 

[PappaBolt]

Marketing creates demand. Rivian’s order books are filled. There are other (less expensive) ways to build buzz when you have a stand-out product.

There are some lofty growth numbers though so who knows.

 

[mikehmb]

Reformed Marketing-guy here.

Traditional advertising has been almost entirely supplanted by social media advertising. While there is still a sizable audience that watches broadcast television, the target demographic for the Rivian is far better reached through Social channels.

The return on investment for traditional TV advertising just isn’t there anymore, especially when a brand is in hypergrowth mode like Rivian and is generating all of their leads through Social.

And if they did get the oomph from TV ads, they can’t fulfill demand with what’s looking like a 2-year backlog.

 

[atebit]

Aside from Elon's "The product should sell itself" philosophy,

In our case, it’s “the owners should sell the product”.

“Hey, what is that?”
“A Rivian”
“Yeah? Who makes it?”
“Rivian”
“Huh. I was driving behind you and wondering…”

Even though it says

R I V I A N

Across the tailgate.

 

[rivian1800]

In our case, it’s “the owners should sell the product”.

“Hey, what is that?”
“A Rivian”
“Yeah? Who makes it?”
“Rivian”
“Huh. I was driving behind you and wondering…”

Even though it says

R I V I A N

Across the tailgate.

If I get 1 penny every time someone asks me that…..

 

[Riviot]

The return on investment for traditional TV advertising just isn’t there anymore

There's something to be said for "traditional" AKA older versions of media and advertising, e.g. TV via Neilsen's and radio via iHeartMedia. I've a sibling in the digital arm's senior leadership of the latter and met with Rivian about a year ago. Ultimately, it was a "we'll get back to you, we can't keep up with demand right now."

so... S00n.

 

[atebit]

If I get 1 penny every time someone asks me that…..

At that rate, I would’ve exceeded my current 401(k) balance from just this past Sunday’s errands.

 

[Zoidz]

A single 30 second National TV ad costs $100k to run. And that does not include filming/production costs which can run easily $100k. With a full pipeline for two years and no real competition shipping in volume yet, why should they spend millions of dollars?

If anything, I think you will see a Rivian in a movie or TV show before you see a commercial.

 

[the long way downunder]

TV doesn't reach any more. A youtuber or influencer can reach a million views and cumulatively tens of millions of views in context, on topic. A TV ad would have to run a thousand years …
Far better to set up forums and Facebook groups and let the social media phenomenon self-replicate. Twitter and Instagram are real time self-serve and the work is done for free or paid in fractions of a penny.
TV ads have to be composed and fit a brand and theme. Social media presence is amorphous and multi-faceted (some will see Rivian as "Adventure" and some will see it as "First kid on the block cool status" and some will see "rocket sled" and some will see "never buying another f-ing Tesla" … etc.)
Come to think of it, a Rivian ad that simply said "I'm never buying another f-ing Tesla" could work. : )

 

[crashmtb]

Rivian does zero paid advertising

 

[moosehead]

Rather they spend the money on redesigned tonneau, FS spare for S, PaaK punch up, Nav updates, text function, half shaft improvements, RAN buildout.

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