In today’s world, Luxury brands spend tons of money on their Brand Ambassadors.
But is it worth it?
According to Digital Luxury Group’s Demand Tracker Technology. Tesla’s Elon Musk was the most searched for CEO in the luxury industry in 2014.
Steve Jobs. Who doesn’t know the name? Why do you think why he is so famous?
Answer: FACE BRANDING
What is Face Branding?
“If any particular face/personality promotes any respective brand and expresses the vision of the Brand in order to bring in more trust all across is called Face-branding” – Harsh Mann
The author interviewed people from 15 different nations in a survey and one key one key question answered by all was:
Who would you trust more for establishing brand’s reliability?
A– CEO of the brand.
B– Celebrity
C– None of above.
Result:
Option A– 77%
Option B– 20%
Option C– 03%
The results depict that people will show more trust in the words of a CEO. But if you see, most CEOs of the brands are lagging on the right mix of face- branding and are losing the chance on making themselves more effective like Steve Jobs, Elon Musk and many more.
Let us move forward into this and talk about Elon Musk’s right mix of Face Branding.
After watching Elon musk’s interviews with different media persons (most of them available on YouTube) depicts a certain pattern in his every interview.
Elon Musk, Tesla and SpaceX CEO
Vision:
He has always spoken about his vision and what sustainability means to him. But other CEOs could be seen differentiating themselves based on business perspective. Elon musk has the courage to tell the world that there could be a colony on Mars, a hope for humanity to revive, a whole new concept of life. World has never seen anything bigger than this. His vision is to make impossible things possible. His vision of ease of transportation can be seen from autonomous driving in his cars and Hyperloop which was seen by the world to embark on as the fastest mode of transportation. This is how Elon Musk seeks and brilliantly expresses through his vision.
He thinks about our planet, he has given free patents of Tesla to the world to increase electric cars on our planet.
So, if I were to buy a car, I would definitely go for a brand that knows the technology of sending things and even people to the space and has built Hyperloop winning over companies who up till now just know the technology of Cars, Jet Engines and Yachts.
So, if you were to buy a car and have to compare in terms of technology. Which brand you will choose?
A) Automobile brands that also deal in space exploration and supersonic transportation.
Automobile brand that also deal in Yachts and Jet engines.
Emotional Aspect:
In many Elon Musk’s interviews there is always some emotional aspect about his hard time in the past during the 2008 crisis. He fought during that time and this emotional experience is what reaches directly to the hearts of the listeners.
In the 2008 crisis, even big company like General motor was bankrupt. So, he shares his hard time in 2008 in his interviews how he didn’t give up.
Social life:
Being a CEO, Elon Musk is no doubt a busy professional, but he is known to be available to personal complain addressed to him and for taking actions right away personally to those issues.
In an incident where a customer complained to the company that Tesla owners had to keep waiting for their turn because of the people who already kept their cars on charge at one of the Super Charging Stations and leaving them unattended for hours. Elon Musk figured out a solution to the problem and had personally reverted to the customer, all within a week.
CEOs have a huge take in Brand reliability. That reply from Elon got a great round of applause over Social Media after the complainant had posted a screenshot of the same online. Isn’t it amazing for any brand to give such a personal touch?
The Perfection:
Elon musk has always addressed perfection as being the core of his brands. When somebody asks him during an interview about competitors in electric cars. He laughs and says it’s good that other brands are also making electric cars and I am happy they are working for the climate together.
The perfection in his cars in terms of Safety and performance has also been applauded over the time where Tesla received 5-star safety rating and has been compared eve better than various performance sportscars on YouTube.
Personal life:
Not every business person is comfortable in sharing his/her personal life. But people have been curious about such a person who has done such amazing work in his life not just for him but for the world.
But Elon Musk has been open about his personal life in a lot of interviews over the time and has spoken about his family and the kind support they are to him. When Tesla became a public limited company, he received a good investment from people who believed in his vision even though during that time market was not good.
Through this article what we mean to convey is the importance of such a strategy and the way it can benefit the industry culture and be win for both the Industrial professionals and the consumers.
So, in a crux, if any particular CEO has the right mix of face-branding then they have more chance to build a trustworthiness among the market.
