Why no Rivian TV commercials?

[R1Sky Business]

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.

Extremely confusing right....

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[R1Sky Business]

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

Agreed completely

 

[R1Sky Business]

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.

Maybe a superbowl commercial in 3-5 yrs

 

[CommodoreAmiga]

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

like A Long Way Up.

 

[virgnia_rivian]

As someone who works in marketing, advertising works short term. A typical car commercial runs for a specific promotion when a manufacturer needs to move inventory. Rivian doesn’t have that. Why advertise to an audience that can’t buy your product right now.

Also, it’s not a small cost. Effective nationwide television advertising is a big dollar investment. Last year Ford spent nearly $2 Billion on advertising. Billion with a B. GM nearly $2.7.

 

[COdogman]

We used to use a very popular online recruiting platform that rhymes with “DipRecruiter” and it worked just ok - nothing great. So when they tried to raise our price by almost 50% and use their upcoming super bowl ad as the justification (vs anything that would actually help us find people), we said no thanks and went somewhere else.

To me spending tons of money on expensive TV ads is not a sign that you know what you are doing. I truly dislike Elon Musk at a cellular level, but I do agree with him that your product will sell itself if you are doing it right. People will find you.

 

[Dark-Fx]

As someone who works in marketing, advertising works short term. A typical car commercial runs for a specific promotion when a manufacturer needs to move inventory. Rivian doesn’t have that. Why advertise to an audience that can’t buy your product right now.

I don't really watch TV, just happen to catch some commercials occasionally at restaurants when I'm not really paying attention to the TV. I've seen quite a few of the Chevy Silverado EV commercials at this point, but the blue is pretty eye catching.

 

[Blueassassin]

Rivan people are all outdoors or at a Patagonia shop?

Hey there we go they should advertise in the Patagonia store.

 

[Kidentist]

They have their own dedicated/independent "blog" and reddit threads (Hello, we're here talking about these cars 24/7). As a comparison, I use the Audizine/Audiworld blogs for my other cars and frankly their EV sections are pathetic and with little to no involvement from users. I other words, the other EV makers (except for Tesla) have no "buzz".
As others have said, their marketing seems to be social media driven.

 

[AdamsFan1983]

advertising is grotesquely expensive to begin with. Its even more so this year with political spending driving ad prices higher. Rivian is backordered for at least 2 years. It would incredibly dumb to waste capital on ads right now, when that money is needed for the new plant, capital improvement projects in Normal, and R&D on new products. Advertising doesn't get them cash positive. The other line items can.

 

[Trandall]

Slightly off topic but comment I have heard from a few people now is "if EV's are better than why do they have to be incentivized and mandated". I do not have a compelling answer other than to say "if you want to take a ride I can show you that it is better".
I believe Rivian is smart to forego traditional marketing. Right now they need to spend bundles on sales not marketing... that is to say delivery and service centers.

 

[DaveA]

3.5 million people saw Doug Demuro's R1T review....1.7 million have seen the R1S review....free advertising. 4.7 million have seen Marques Brownlee's initial review. Lets save all that advertising money for the tonneau recall and tick/tocking.

 

[thrill]

Slightly off topic but comment I have heard from a few people now is "if EV's are better then why do they have to be incentivized and mandated". I do not have a compelling answer other than to say "if you want to take a ride I can show you that it is better"...

That's usually when I ask why if the fossil fuel industry is so great then why is it subsidized at $20 billion *per year* in the US alone, and twice that in the EU. https://www.eesi.org/papers/view/fa...-closer-look-at-tax-breaks-and-societal-costs

In an article intending and succeeding to be negative towards EVs, the Manhattan Institute mentions that the *total* EV tax incentives if *every* manufacturer sold their 200,000 would still be less than the fossil industry's single year of subsidies. https://www.manhattan-institute.org...gh-cost-electric-vehicle-subsidies-11241.html

 

[the long way downunder]

Rivian does zero paid advertising

I assume so, at least I've not seen conventional media presence.

I imagine if you dig into their financial reports, there's a modest budget of a few million per quarter.
From investor relations to sales and marketing, there's a number of people in Rivian under the VP of marketing with all their various clever "chief whatever officer" getting paid to get review cars to influencers, run the Transamerica tour (which I think was money well spent) and the Breckenridge youtuber drive (also effective and well executed, in my humble) and the various "experiences" (First Mile) and the marketing and brand location in L.A. The Rebelle Rally was money well spent, though I think a little lackluster and should have been a much better coverage. Great that they were in the race, but as someone who actively looks for Rivian content, they were almost stealthy.
These are the stuff of marketing today.

Rivian doesn't need more of this at all. I'd say thanks to those teams and those initiatives and no more. If the executive team insisted on sales and marketing, I'd focus on evangelists and brand ambassadors – creating awareness (e.g. taking fully kitted out overlander demo vehicles to shows, engaging third party manufacturers, OEMs, solution providers, outfitters. I'd ask WARN "what will it cost for you to put your best winch in the front of the R1T and R1S, you can move the radiator, we'll supply 12V, 24V, 48V or 400V at any amps you want, we'll support you with R&D tech and field testing, here's the schematics on our prototypes, and how soon, is Tuesday do-able?")

The focus is purely on execution. Setting expectations and exceeding expectations. I'd use RJ as the (goddamn handsome…) face of Rivian. Most CEOs like most politicians are not camera ready and when they get in front of a camera, like the current top politician, what comes out of them is bewildering and not on message. Rivian has a great story: The quiet over-achiever.

Until they get Clark Kent to come in front of the people a little more often (which he has been doing) we won't know if he has the star power to be a celebrity CEO. Not that I want another Elon Musk, but Wall Street loves a story and a hero in that story just as much as they love a villain like Lizzy Holmes or Trevor Mills.

Rivian has a great story, but the measure of a public company is its stock price, and $RIVN has been dragged under its IPO by the biggest downdraft in the stock market in years. The insiders were buying at $25 recently. I'm optimistic they'll double their money (and I'll more than double mine) in the next 12 months. That doesn't require marketing, it requires execution.

As far as I can tell, their homework is written with a large sharper on the wall of every office in the C-suite:
1) Features, performance, and content: get the Max Pack done and bring with it a heat pump
2) Competitive feature road map:
e.g.
onboard power (say 10kW with 240V)
a winch
3) business partners (OEMs, aftermarket)
4) software!
e.g.
Driver+
app features for mobile devices
plug-n-charge
road trip energy management interface
passive proximity key/device detection
beta software like Tank Turn Mode
retrofit a better wireless phone charging pad
work on the obstacles to allow Android Auto and Apple Car Play into a sandbox in the touchscreen.

Whatever they choose for that list, this is just my "non-stretch" list, they really need to bring their software game up to the major leagues. They're tinkering around and it won't do. The user experience is the software user experience. The vehicle touch and feel is already far exceeding what the buyer expects (and it's far too expensive to change in the first model cycle, which is probably about 5 years.) They need the software UX to be as good or better than Tesla. They need the Driver+ experience to be at least as good or better than Ford BlueCruise or GM SuperCruise or HyperCruise.

So I'd say the die is already cast. Either RJ has already solved the logistics and supply side to ramp up, or he hasn't. It's been over two full years now. So if I was in marketing at Rivian, I'd ask if we're at that point where we can confidently say "here's our new number for production units to be delivered for each vehicle type" … I expect Rivian will make that kind of announcement and have "drum beat" marketing to deliver on those expectations. Wall Street (and I) love to see achievable expectations met and exceeded by nominal margins.

 

[the long way downunder]

Maybe a superbowl commercial in 3-5 yrs

The day Rivian announces a Super Bowl ad or naming a sports arena, sell your stock. : )

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