Why Did Winning Electric Vehicle Messaging Lower Sales?

Joon Sung Park says a message that looked like a clear winner for a new electric vehicle also shifted how people saw non-electric vehicles and lowered sales across that whole market.

The study ran before Simile. He worked with a few automobile companies, some of the largest players in the field, and electric vehicles sat at the top of every conversation: whether to do it, when, and how. One simulation tested how people would react to different messaging for the entry of a new electric vehicle, and how to optimize that messaging so the company could convey its values. One strategy came back as a clear winner and looked ready to go. The same messaging then shifted overall perception of the non-electric vehicle and lowered sales within the entire market. The work ran in studies and later became an input.

Findings of that kind look past one narrow question and take the entire field as a whole. Simulation, at its best, surfaces an insight that is counterintuitive and surprising.