Ather… dont make the mistake to hide behind dazzle prints or camouflage… EVs as of now due to their scarcity in India and also due to the fact that most EVs (E2O or chinese scooters) are first generation do not need to hide from cameras…even if the vehicle would go through a future change in design… keep the ev folks informed… like the one where the scooter took had a fall and scratched… thats the kind of news the EV lovers are looking for and these kind of incidents get carried over the Social Media… depending upon how you put it out in the social media…
The biggest problem that EVs ever have in India is VISIBILITY… VISIBILITY…VISIBILITY… even today the biggest problem with E2O is VISIBILITY… VISIBILITY… VISIBILITY… there are hardly any electric vehicles on the road for people to know what is an electric vehicle and what are its advantages. People have never seen a made in India Li-Ion scooter… pictures and videos would help a lot… in Mumbai its said “Jo dikhta hai… wo hi bikta hai“… Celebs have proved this to be true…
But following in the footsteps of a petrol vehicle would be the biggest mistake EVER!
In an EV scenario… creating the vehicle is just half the story… setting up the charging infrastructure is the other half. Petrol vehicles are unfamiliar with such a scenario. Also any company who comes to create the vehicle irrespective of the lack of existence of either electricity or charging infrastructure in that area are definitely trying to climb up a greased pole.
Flaunt the bike… get it across… let it be commented or discussed… dont hold back… let the vehicle industry be shocked with a Bike Company promoting its test Mule… Let There are no Rules…
Dont do it like a Petrol Car/Bike company does… most of them deal and do business in traditional way of how a refrigerator was sold 20 yrs ago… They usually pull off a silk cloth over the vehicle and hoist the scooter one final day… and then say ok we have opened the bookings let the money roll in…
If an EV company does this then people usually go… “I was not expecting this”, “expensive”, “do you have pink?”, “too powerful”, “we have power cuts in our area in our areas”, “I cant take it on vacation to the next state”, “I was going to order, but I have to pay my rent” & 101 excuses… but these are people who will not be buying the vehicle.. but have a lot of time to kill on the Internet.These could also be of people who have liked your Facebook page…
What about those people who would be interested as they find the vehicle useful and convenient but is not aware of the bike. In case of such people the news of the scooter will reach him probably 300 days after the bike is showcased in the Dealer showroom. To enable faster reach and wider publicity Ather Energy will have to use every energy of the Social Media and Indian EV websites mainly. And to make this happen they have to stat putting out interesting images & videos of the scooter…
So dont undermine Social Media… it would sell much more vehicles EVER than TV, Radio or Newspaper advertisment TOGETHER!!! Put out as many images and videos of the vehicle but make sure each is different and unique and never repetitive like the NanoGenX “Factory Visit” campaign.
