Tulsa for Tesla
2020
For four months in 2020, Oklahoma leaders did all they could to recruit Tesla's Elon Musk to build a new factory in Tulsa that would generate 10,000 jobs. There were websites created and our resident giant Golden Driller got a temporary face swap that generated international news.
Behind the scenes, Atento was a key part of the campaign, working with the city, the Tesla Owner’s Club of Oklahoma, our longtime partner the George Kaiser Family Foundation, and another key Atento partner, the Tulsa-based marketing agency Gitwit.
While Musk ended up choosing Austin, Texas, as the home for his new plant, the campaign shined a global spotlight on Tulsa and resulted in Musk visiting Tulsa on a summer day to sit in a field and chat with state and city leaders.
It all started on March 11, 2020, when Elon sent this tweet: "Scouting locations for Cybertruck Gigafactory. Will be central USA." That tweet sent cities across the midwest, including Tulsa, scrambling to get Elon's attention. Atento and Gitwit got a few Tulsans together to brainstorm how we could stand out from the crowd of cities vying for the bid.
First we launched the “Big F***ing Field” website and a corresponding Facebook page, inspired by Elon’s “Big F***ing Rocket” and the potential space for the factory. The site went viral with more than 50k visitors in the first week. In May 2020, we learned that the search had been narrowed to Tulsa and Austin.
While also practicing social distancing in the midst of the Covid pandemic, we executed a huge “Tulsa for Tesla” campaign, including:
A message created by volunteers on the field of a local football stadium, spelling out “Tulsa 4 Tesla”
Lights in our tallest tower downtown spelling T4T
A new look for Tulsa’s iconic statue the Golden Driller, with a Tesla-branded belt and shirt, along with a news conference featuring the mayor and a Tesla car rally
“Everyone in Tulsa is involved in this initiative. Tulsa for Tesla is an entire effort for an entire city so we are just happy to be a part,” said Tony Moore, executive director of Tulsa’s Gathering Place. “We are just cheerleaders shouting and getting the word out, hoping we can get this plant here.”
Our marketing partner Jacob Johnson said, “At the end of the day, this was about putting Tulsa on the map for companies that likely would have overlooked us in the past, and making it clear to the rest of the country that we're a city perfectly poised for innovation. And we're willing to try some tactics that no other city has tried to get that attention. We have no problem being the underdog. People who are worried about looking ‘thirsty’ typically don't do bold things.”
Atento founder and CEO Michael Basch said, "While we ultimately did not land Tesla, this project gave Tulsans the confidence to know we could compete nationally; and showed the country (and world) we should be considered for top notch manufacturing sites--and since then, Tulsa has been awarded several!”
For four months in 2020, Oklahoma leaders did all they could to recruit Tesla's Elon Musk to build a new factory in Tulsa that would generate 10,000 jobs. There were websites created and our resident giant Golden Driller got a temporary face swap that generated international news.
Behind the scenes, Atento was a key part of the campaign, working with the city, the Tesla Owner’s Club of Oklahoma, our longtime partner the George Kaiser Family Foundation, and another key Atento partner, the Tulsa-based marketing agency Gitwit.
While Musk ended up choosing Austin, Texas, as the home for his new plant, the campaign shined a global spotlight on Tulsa and resulted in Musk visiting Tulsa on a summer day to sit in a field and chat with state and city leaders.
It all started on March 11, 2020, when Elon sent this tweet: "Scouting locations for Cybertruck Gigafactory. Will be central USA." That tweet sent cities across the midwest, including Tulsa, scrambling to get Elon's attention. Atento and Gitwit got a few Tulsans together to brainstorm how we could stand out from the crowd of cities vying for the bid.
First we launched the “Big F***ing Field” website and a corresponding Facebook page, inspired by Elon’s “Big F***ing Rocket” and the potential space for the factory. The site went viral with more than 50k visitors in the first week. In May 2020, we learned that the search had been narrowed to Tulsa and Austin.
While also practicing social distancing in the midst of the Covid pandemic, we executed a huge “Tulsa for Tesla” campaign, including:
A message created by volunteers on the field of a local football stadium, spelling out “Tulsa 4 Tesla”
Lights in our tallest tower downtown spelling T4T
A new look for Tulsa’s iconic statue the Golden Driller, with a Tesla-branded belt and shirt, along with a news conference featuring the mayor and a Tesla car rally
“Everyone in Tulsa is involved in this initiative. Tulsa for Tesla is an entire effort for an entire city so we are just happy to be a part,” said Tony Moore, executive director of Tulsa’s Gathering Place. “We are just cheerleaders shouting and getting the word out, hoping we can get this plant here.”
Our marketing partner Jacob Johnson said, “At the end of the day, this was about putting Tulsa on the map for companies that likely would have overlooked us in the past, and making it clear to the rest of the country that we're a city perfectly poised for innovation. And we're willing to try some tactics that no other city has tried to get that attention. We have no problem being the underdog. People who are worried about looking ‘thirsty’ typically don't do bold things.”
Atento founder and CEO Michael Basch said, "While we ultimately did not land Tesla, this project gave Tulsans the confidence to know we could compete nationally; and showed the country (and world) we should be considered for top notch manufacturing sites--and since then, Tulsa has been awarded several!”
