On page 25 of the revised SEC document, it spells out allocation of money to be spent during the 15 month period. Included is $6,450,000 for advertising.
Why? I would think they would advertise to the general public when they have something to sell to the general public, and that will not be until the reservations are filled, which will be 5 to 6 months after production begins. This money is to be spent during the 15 month period. Who are they targeting?
Good catch on that line item. If I understand your question, my two cents: gotta get the public knowledgeable about what's coming before it arrives. We all assume that there's 4-5 months of production taken up by the current 46,700+ reservations. So why not wait until production starts? That's what companies do, especially for large-priced items: get the word out early, so people jump at the chance to buy 'em.
Who are they targeting? Anyone that hasn't made a reservation yet.
We can say that we don't agree with the need to spend $6.45 million at that time on advertising, but I think any marketing employee would say it's a must-have, continue to get the word out early.
Remember that not much money has been spent by Elio on advertising so far, relatively speaking. Social media, the prototype tour, a few videos including that professionally done one, internet ads, and some others. And again, we can argue that how much they've spent is too much or not enough or not the right timing, but you've got to get word out on the autocycle before production starts, and you do that through advertising. Plus we can debate over what exactly "advertising" is... is it going to the auto shows and events? Is it having the fireside chat with the StartEngine CEO? Going on the radio show with the Infinite Skyz person?
One last aspect... has there been too much advertising up to this point? I'd say no. Timing is everything, and for years the Elio was considered a scam. Advertising something that some folks consider a scam, well that's not "advertising" at that time to them. Now that it's clearly not a scam, it's important to advertise.