When Elon Musk was on stage on the Dealbook convention final November, he had a message for advertisers who had left his X platform (previously Twitter) after he clattered out quite a few antisemitic posts.
“I hope they cease. Don’t promote,” Musk stated. “If anyone goes to attempt to blackmail me with promoting, blackmail me with cash, go fuck your self. Go fuck your self. Is that clear? I hope it’s.”
Seven months later, Musk discovered himself on stage at Cannes Lions—the world’s greatest gathering of the promoting, advertising and marketing and model world—the place he was interviewed by WPP CEO Mark Learn.
Musk’s look on stage with the CEO of the biggest promoting holding firm was half apology tour, half spectacle. It was successfully his try to make good and do some advertising and marketing for X in an surroundings the place opponents like Meta, Reddit, and Snapchat all have huge model installations and are vying for consideration.
The lengthy strains to get into the Palais’ Lumiere Theater (and the raucous ovation when Musk strolled onto the stage) felt like a paean to the advert trade’s thirst for Musk’s consideration. Quick Firm talked to a handful of attendees ready in line to see the interview beforehand.
“I feel it’s extra about his persona, having a celeb like him present up right here. I’m not anticipating any detailed advertising and marketing data,” stated one Cannes attendee.
“He needs the cash, and that’s honest. I feel his fashion is to be dismissive so folks need extra of him and extra of what he provides, as a result of it turns into barely extra elusive,” stated one other.
“I’m not fairly certain if it’s what he has to say, however the character we’re about to see. That’s the principle level.”
And it was.
Learn opened by asking Musk to make clear his feedback to the advert trade. “To start with, it wasn’t to advertisers as an entire. It was with respect to freedom of speech,” Musk stated. “You will need to have a world free speech platform the place folks with a variety of opinions can voice their views. In some circumstances, there have been advertisers who have been insisting on censorship.”
As with every model pitch, entrepreneurs should set up a model positioning. On stage, Musk positioned X as he typically does: as a public service slightly than a non-public publishing firm. That premise views manufacturers’ security issues as a freedom of speech subject, slightly than considered one of selection in a free market. “After all, advertisers have a proper to seem subsequent to content material that they discover suitable with their manufacturers. That’s completely positive,” Musk stated. “What isn’t cool is insisting that there will be no content material they disagree with on the platform . . . I consider in kind of freedom of selection. Advertisers have a proper to seem subsequent to content material that they suppose is suitable to their model.”
The closest Musk got here to a gross sales pitch was touting X because the platform the place manufacturers can attain essentially the most influential folks on the earth. “For those who’re making an attempt to succeed in senior decision-makers, the folks making choices on the earth, not social media influencers, however truly individuals who run firms, run international locations, and intellectuals of the world, then the X platform is by far the most effective,” he stated. “For those who’re making an attempt to succeed in Marc Benioff or Michael Dell, they really use the platform. It’s virtually the one option to attain them. They don’t do TV, they’re not doing TikTok movies.”
Total, the interview was extra notable for what wasn’t mentioned than for what was. Regardless of taking place at a gathering of entrepreneurs, advertisers, and types, there was no point out or curiosity about Musk’s underinvestment in model promoting for Tesla (Musk laid off Tesla’s complete 40-person advertising and marketing and development content material workforce barely two months in the past).
Right here we’re at a “Pageant of Creativity,” however there was no point out of the strategic and artistic strategy to current Tesla work that—as I’ve written before—has ranged from someplace between a generative AI experiment with the immediate, (“Make a generic automobile advert that feigns subversive however is definitely corny”) and an insult to pupil spec advertisements.
At one level, Musk outlined what sort of promoting he likes. “I’m truly a fan of promoting that’s artistically attention-grabbing, that’s entertaining. Actually the acid take a look at being, after you see the advert, do you remorse seeing it? Would you like these seconds again out of your life or do you prefer it?”
For this piece of reside advertising and marketing, it was extra the latter.