Marketing Lessons from Slate’s Truck Launch — And Why We Started a Podcast

A case study in positioning, clarity, and what happens when you skip the hype and build something people actually want.

There’s a new electric truck on the market, and it doesn’t look like any of its competitors. Slate’s new truck is different because of what it doesn’t say.

It doesn’t talk about being electric. It doesn’t flex its "American Made" badge. It doesn’t lean on the fact that its CEO is a woman.

Instead, Slate leads with simplicity: a cheap, gray, two-seat truck that you can customize yourself. It’s anti-luxury. Anti-prestige. And most of all, anti-performative.

That’s the quiet genius of its positioning.

Slate doesn’t sell a revolution. It sells a tool.

By stripping away the disruption jargon, Slate makes formerly novel features — like being electric, made in the U.S., and led by a woman — feel normal. These attributes aren't the pitch. They’re the default.

That’s the power of great marketing. Instead of shouting about values, Slate bakes them in. It’s the car for pragmatic car enthusiasts who are sick of the status quo. Roll-down windows. No infotainment system. Real, physical buttons (swoon!). Open-source customization. Under $20K after tax credits.

Slate CEO Chris Barman put it plainly: “The definition of what's affordable is broken. Slate exists to put the power back in the hands of customers who have been ignored by the auto industry. Slate is a radical truck platform so customizable that it can transform from a 2-seat pickup to a 5-seat SUV.”

It’s not just a smart product. It’s clarity in a chaotic market.

The Podcast We Wished Already Existed

Yes, this is where I hijack a truck launch to make it about me. Because I think the reason Slate resonates so deeply with me as a marketer is that it's doing the thing I always hope to do with my own work:

Don’t overexplain. Don’t posture. Just make something useful. Thoughtful. Clear.

And trust that people will get it.

That’s why Sonia Baschez and I launched Meme Team — a podcast about the marketing logic behind what goes viral.

We’re not trying to disrupt anything. We’re just making the podcast we wished already existed.

In our first few episodes, we break down the Slate launch, Star Wars nostalgia, bot farms, America’s obsession with protein, and yes, whatever the hell Katy Perry is doing in space.

Watch it on YouTube or consume it wherever you get your podcasts.