The Hip-Hop Endorsement: Part 1 (Tesla)
By now, it’s not an understatement to say that Hip-Hop generates immense value for brands that the culture chooses to endorse. Since the early 2000s, Hip-Hop has been the pulse for trends when it comes to lifestyle, technology and fashion. In fact, Hip-Hop IS a lifestyle. Uber, Vlone, Off-White, Versace, Polo Ralph Lauren and Snapchat are standout examples of companies who have benefitted from rappers shouting them out in their lyrics, helping their brand awareness skyrocket. In this series, I highlight and give an in-depth analysis on what these brands were before and after the co-sign. Let’s start with Tesla.
So where did Tesla come from?
While Hip-Hop is not the sole reason for Tesla’s success, it’s definitely a big contributor to its propulsion to the limelight, especially with millennials. To add to that, Tesla’s rockstar CEO is a focal point in media and a trending topic due to his crazy ideas (and even crazier antics). With that said, rappers and Tesla seem to have one thing in common — they both appear to have come out of nowhere.
While my previous statement is based purely on perspective, there’s typically a reason or an initiative that brings new products and musicians to the market (unless they organically go viral). Let’s get into some history so that more context can be provided:
- Other celebrities (Matt Damon & George Clooney, etc) were already on the Tesla wave back in 2008 when the roadster first released.
- Jaden Smith can be considered an“unofficial” brand ambassador to date, stemming from 2016 when he was able to cop a Model X that had a waitlist of three years.
- The rest is history, because you’ve probably heard heard about Tesla in some lyrics, seen someone talking about it OR you’ve been in one at the mall.
Jaden Smith and Tesla
Yes, I can go through every single rap line and say, “ohh guys, look who talked about the Tesla in their song” but nah, the Jaden Smith endorsement is something that will be a Harvard Business School case study 30 years from now. Like I said, Smith has been the young, fresh face for the brand in 2016, being able to rock the sleek, shiny sportscar in pretty much EVERY music video that he’s been in, specifically 2017’s “Icon” garnering 119M+ views on YouTube.
Tesla is not just an endorsement for Smith, it perfectly aligns with his brand as he’s been seen with a gray, pink, white and several other iterations of the iconic Model X. Overall, the relationship seems to be mutual as both parties are able to leverage their influence to bring their separate markets together.
The Jaden Smith Tesla endorsement in action:
How has this helped Tesla’s image?
- Jaden Smith and Tesla are trying to target the same demographic — Millennials. Even though a majority of millennials don’t have the wealth to purchase one now, they are looking for their opportunity.
- Free. Marketing. Companies typically pay a substantial amount of money to get the brand placement that Tesla is getting. Just pay attention in the next music video you watchand think about the amount spent to get the product there.
- Jaden Smith is the ideal candidate for this position. Outside of music, Jaden has started his own water company, fed the homeless with healthy vegan food and has taken several initiatives to ignite social change. Successful people want to be around other winners.
Closing Thoughts
Today, Tesla remains a source of controversy and inspiration among the financial elite, the tech enthusiasts, the average Joe and even the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission). In fact, it is currently a super hot stock to short (basically, people losing money to bet that Tesla will fail). As of August 5th, Tesla (the company) currently has a market cap (total value of a company’s outstanding shares) of $40.9B with the valuation predicted to skyrocket if Tesla is able to pull off the ridesharing self driving technology that it promises. With this momentum, Elon is currently the highest paid-CEO in history (on paper) with a complete compensation package totaling $2.6B (if he happens to meet intended targets). It seems that Tesla’s board is incentivizing him to focus his efforts on Tesla instead of his other endeavors (SpaceX, Hyperloop, etc). Seems like big bank is taking up little bank as we speak.
