Elon Musk is a man of his word.
The self-made billionaire (16 times over) has a lot of demands on his time running the electric car company Tesla, aerospace company SpaceX and his new venture, Neuralink, which aims to connect the human brain with computing power.
Yet when Musk he received a letter from a 10-year-old girl, Bria Loveday, suggesting that his electric car company, Tesla, ought to run a contest for the best homemade commercial, Musk agreed.
"I have noticed that you do not advertise," writes Bria, whose father is an auto industry journalist. She and her dad have had many conversations about Tesla, she says. (This is true, Tesla does not do traditional advertising.)
"Many people make homemade commercials and some of them are very good, they look professional and are entertaining. So, I think that you should run a competition on who can make the best homemade Tesla commercial," says the letter.
Thank you for the lovely letter. That sounds like a great idea. We'll do it!
Tesla did run the contest, which it called Project Loveday, named after Bria. On Wednesday, Musk announced the top three winners via Twitter.
Marques Brownlee, "Project Loveday Contest Entry"
Everyday Astronaut, "Spaceships. For Earth."
Sonja Jasansky, "Sonja's SUPER QUICK Tesla Fan Video!"
Some Twitter users expressed skepticism over the selection of the first place winner because Marques Brownlee is a YouTube star who has almost 5 million followers.
It didn't sway Musk. "Watched them personally to make sure and I agree with the outcome. Wouldn't have judged differently," Musk says.
Watched them personally to make sure & I agree with the outcome. Wouldn't have judged differently
Tesla said it had received hundreds of submissions and it picked the top 10. Then, it tweeted out each one individually. The three videos that received the most tweets were featured in the webcast of the Tesla Model 3 "handoff" event Friday night, where Musk, cheered on by an audience, announced the delivery of the first 30 Tesla Model 3 vehicles.
Brownlee's video received more than twice as many favorites as any other video.
But all the contestants got a nod of approval from Musk himself. "Couldn't believe how incredibly inspiring and creative they were!!" he tweeted.
Couldn't believe how incredibly inspiring and creative they were!!
See also:
A 5th-grader wrote a letter to Elon Musk about a business idea—here's how the billionaire responded
A 7-year-old wrote a letter to Google asking for a job—here's how the CEO responded
What it's like being an intern at Elon Musk's Tesla and SpaceX
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