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News August 30, 2018

Case Study: Tesla-Branded Smartphone Charger Has 007-Styling

The story around the charger itself and its release holds a few compelling lessons for the promotional products industry.

By  Christopher Ruvo

From unique hats to flamethrowers to surfboards, Elon Musk has a knack for hyping his companies with unexpected branded merchandise. The billionaire was at it again this week with a new portable wireless smartphone charger that’s so sleek it looks like a James Bond accessory.

Image from Tesla.

As you can see, the charger is branded to Tesla, the electric car company that Musk founded. It came in white, too.

Image from Tesla.

Notice that above we said “came,” not “it comes.” Reason: The charger was no longer available as of this writing. Press reports on the matter were a bit conflicting. HYPEBEAST, for example, reported that Tesla accidentally posted the lifestyle product for sale, but then pulled it down before anyone could complete a purchase. Other media outlets said the chargers sold out. Looks like someone at least tried to buy the item:

Regardless, perhaps a third possibility is that Tesla was teasing the product to the public to generate a bit of buzz about its upcoming release – and thereby also earning additional media coverage. That wouldn’t be unlike Musk, who is a genius at generating interest in his brands. HYPEBEAST indicates an official release date is in the works.

Image from Tesla.

While the Tesla wireless charger’s styling would no doubt please Bond, The Verge and others noted that there are faster, less expensive wireless charging banks available. Still, those aren’t branded to Tesla. And, you guessed, it’s that branding that holds the appeal – an interesting point for promotional product pros to ponder. One takeaway is this: A powerful brand image can elevate the perceived value of a product above competitors with weaker brand images whose products are comparable or even superior. Creative promo pros can play an important role in helping clients build such brands.

For the techy folks: The portable charger has a 6,000-mAh power bank. It supports 5W wireless charging and 7.5W wired charging. The item was/is/will be the freshest offering in Tesla's collection of branded smartphone chargers. Interestingly, Tesla says those chargers are "powered by the same cell found in many of the batteries of our vehicles." Good for USB-A or USB-C, the charger offers 21 hours of additional talk time or 18 hours of extra web browsing.

Keep your eye out for a future full release.