Imagine you have just been hired by the Marketing department at Tesla. They are in dire need of help improve their brand image and reputation in the aftermath of two highly publicized events: one, the recall of 123,000 of their Model S cars (M.S.R.P. of $75,000 each) due to and the death of the driver of a Tesla Model X (SUV) in California, while the vehicle was in auto-pilot mode. The NTSB has stated publicly that Tesla is not cooperating with their investigation. It is believed this lack of cooperation is due to fears that the government may shut down not only their testing, but their plans to release more vehicles with auto-pilot self-driving capabilities.
Also, this was the second time someone had died driving a Tesla while it was in auto-pilot mode. Making things worse, the death of this Tesla owner comes just days after a self-driving Uber vehicle killed a pedestrian in Arizona, resulting in Uber being banned from any further testing in that state.
Write a two-part report discussing the marketing impact these events may have and how you propose they be handled. The first part should be based on what you read in Chapter 10 of “McDonald, M., & Kolsaker, A. (2014). MBA marketing. Palgrave Macmillan.”
And what you can find via your independent research online, discussing the Tesla brand, its history, ownership/management, and its strategy BEFORE these unfortunate events occurred. What are their strengths?
What advantages, if any, did they have over market competitors? How would they be mapped on the BCG matrix?
In the second part, use the concepts discussed in chapter 12 of “McDonald, M., & Kolsaker, A. (2014). Mba marketing. Palgrave Macmillan.” to discuss what mix of communication options do you think would best help Tesla reverse any damage to their image that they may experience as a result of these public relations nightmares.