Slate Marketing is making me lose interest.

[Nivek]

I'll be honest, I jumped to reserve the slate as soon as I heard of what it was. It peaked my interest immediately with its highly customizable nature, keep it simple stupid design. But does anyone else feel put off by the marketing? All of the ads are some highly metro version of this little truck. I have a little homestead and am planning on getting it to commute to work as well as pick up bags of grain, hay, chicken feed, whatever else I want to put in the back. I plan on putting some grippy tires on it and making it look more offroad than a starbucks runner. All of the advertisements I see are catered towards artsy, city dwelling people. I want to see it do a little work. Get a little dirty. It's starting to feel like I'm not a part of audience.

Edit: I still plan on buying one and I have the cash set aside. But its discouraging.

 

[Driven5]

That's like somebody with no kids but wants a minivan to haul all their stuff, not wanting to buy one just because the ads all show it with kids in the back. LOL.

 

[Nivek]

That's like somebody with no kids but wants a minivan to haul all their stuff, not buying one just because the ads all show it being used by families. LOL.

Except its a little truck... And I want to use it for truck things, what are you on about?

 

[Driven5]

If you haven't noticed yet: Slate is more an EV with a cargo bed than it is an electrified 'truck' in the classic sense of the term.

If marketing and target demographics influence you that much, there's little anybody can do to help you.

 

[TPL]

Slate will be good at the things that you want to use it for.

They're just marketing to what they think will be the most lucrative group.

Maybe they figure people like you already know how great it will be.

 

[Nivek]

If you haven't noticed yet: Slate is more an EV with a cargo bed than it is an electrified 'truck' in the classic sense of the term.

If marketing and target demographics influence you that much, there's little anybody can do to help you.

Yeah, it doesn't influence me that much, because like I said I still plan on buying it. But the marketing is kinda killing the excitement. It would be cool if they showed it actually doing some some other things than cruising the city. The truck is being engineered in the Midwest and built in country in the Midwest, but all of the marketing has been it running around California doing artsy city things. They did take it to the rodeo, but it had livery that would suit the Beyonce country album or Croc cowboy boot.

 

[RedJoker]

Except its a little truck... And I want to use it for truck things, what are you on about?

I've seen several ads where they are putting things in the bed to haul. Is that what you're looking for or do you want the ads to show the same things you want to haul? Or are you looking for ads where it's driving in a more rural setting like a gravel road?

I think I'm missing the point of your question, maybe...

There are two types of people in the world: Those that can extrapolate from incomplete data

 

[Nivek]

I've seen several ads where they are putting things in the bed to haul. Is that what you're looking for or do you want the ads to show the same things you want to haul? Or are you looking for ads where it's driving on a gravel driveway?

I think I'm missing the point of your question, maybe...

There are two types of people in the world: Those that can extrapolate from incomplete data

It was more of a statement than a question. Usually marketing drums up excitement around a product. I simply stated it did not for me, and was wondering if anyone felt the same way. But I suppose I've got that answer.

 

[KevinRS]

There are a lot more city people than homesteaders. A LOT. So of course many of their ads are going to target city people. They could probably sell one to everyone with a homestead, and 1. for half of them it wouldn't be a good fit, and 2. that wouldn't be enough sales to keep them going.
It's also still basically really early. I'd expect to see more advertising once they are actually ready or close to ready to deliver trucks. At that point they will probably have more targeted ads on different audiences, like hauling outdoor stuff, during a show about outdoor stuff.

 

[E90400K]

I'm with you on this. Its 12-second advertisement videos are little bit too man-bun'ish for me too. I just need a pickup truck that will get occasional local (rural) use, mostly to haul my homestead (lol) trash to the county dump, pick up liquid fuels for my equipment, and occasionally tow rental equipment. I like the idea Slate is offering a 2" lift kit for the suspension, and some ORV tires, like BFGoodrich K03, will provide plenty of off-road clearance and traction for my needs. To be a broken record, Slate needs to bump the tow specs by 1,500 to 2,000 pounds to attract a broader audience. EV efficiency is great, and also great is the scar-absorbing MIC plastic body and simple industrial-grade interior. Perfect.

Not sure what city people need a pickup truck for...

 

[Nivek]

There are a lot more city people than homesteaders. A LOT. So of course many of their ads are going to target city people. They could probably sell one to everyone with a homestead, and 1. for half of them it wouldn't be a good fit, and 2. that wouldn't be enough sales to keep them going.
It's also still basically really early. I'd expect to see more advertising once they are actually ready or close to ready to deliver trucks. At that point they will probably have more targeted ads on different audiences, like hauling outdoor stuff, during a show about outdoor stuff.

Yeah, I get that the country people are vastly outnumbered. But they also buy allot of trucks. Urban /Suburban people are probably going to own the demographic of any vehicles sales based purely on numbers. I dont expect my exact use case to be thought of, just that rural people are thought about too.

 

[ScooterAsheville]

I see the current online marketing techniques as a placeholder. Kind of a "hey, we still exist" sort of thing.

I see a Slate timeline kind of like this - I'm just making this up out of thin air, so poking fun at it is fair game...

• April 2025 - public reveal of the Slate.
• fill this space with a whole lot of nothing pretending to be something. Remind people you are there. Show progress with little teasers. Keep it light and trivial, but don't make any promises you might not be able to keep.
• June 2026 - prices, specs, regional availability dates, real orders.
• Late summer 2026 - hopefully some news on Repair Pal shop signups?
• Fall 2026 - I'd almost bet real money you'll see some early automobile press road test reviews
• December 2026 - a few Slates roll off the line and are delivered to employees. A loud very press campaign shouts at full throat: "First Slates delivered".
• 2027 - Slates come off the line, slowly at first, but then a constant ramp. I personally can't wait for early 2027, which is when I expect some of us to be posting our own photos and early ownership reviews.
• 2028 - Volume production is happening. Now we're starting to get a look at sales figures. Maybe? Because Slate is a privately held company and does not have to release anything unless they want to.
• 2029 to 2030 - If Slate is a hit, I betcha we see the IPO at this point.

 

[Kopsis]

Marketing a small pickup is hard. As soon as they show it doing "rural" things, they get hammered with complaints from the "it's not a truck if it doesn't have 4WD, 9 inches of ground clearance, and can tow my two ton boat" crowd. As soon as they show it doing "urban" things, they get hammered with complaints from the "I'm not an urban hipster - Slate obviously doesn't care about me" crowd.

Perhaps I should be disappointed that none of their adds show a retired 60-something nerd 3d-printing custom bolt-ons? Dammit, Slate should be catering to ME and MY use case!

 

[sodamo]

I have a reservation, guess that means they put something out there that appealed to me. Are they allowed to put other stuff out there hoping to appeal to folks other than me? Do I feel neglected? They scratch my itch, let than scratch others and be a great succes.

 

[Bayfire2441]

I agree, I have stopped paying attention to the Slate YouTube channel entirely. I imagine a part of it too is them not wanting to risk their prototypes.