Marketing on the moon: branding opportunities abound for IM-1 Nova-C lunar mission
Marketers can soon stamp their logo on the surface moon, beam live imagery from their very own sponsored satellite and send NFTs from space. Here’s a look at real media options, now offered by Gravity Marketing, that just sound like science fiction.
Place your lunar logo here. / Illustration by Rose Hein
The fact that William Shatner actually traveled into space is proof of just how much easier it is becoming for humans to leave the Earth’s atmosphere. And where humans go, marketing follows.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX has already blasted a Tesla Roadster into space. Under Armour inked a deal to become Virgin Galactic’s official ‘spacewear’ provider. And Estée Lauder sent its Advanced Night Repair serum to International Space Station for a photo shoot with the planet Earth serving as the backdrop. There are many more examples to follow especially if Gravity Space Marketing has anything to with it.
The company, which deems itself the first space marketing and metaverse company, is in the process of actively pitching companies the opportunity to market on the moon and beyond. At the core of its offering is sponsorship rights for the Intuitive Machines Lunar Landers. There are three missions in total. The first of which, IM-1 Nova-C, will launch in March and be the first US craft to land on the moon in 50 years.
Given that the IM missions are separate from NASA, there is a bevy of commercial opportunities available. This includes:
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Spacecraft naming rights. Gravity will affix a brand name before IM-1 Nova-C insuring brand attention amid all of the news associated with the mission. They are also offering partner titles.
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Prominent logo placement as close as possible to the Intuitive Machines logo as well as placements on foot, leg and tank of the craft.
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Digital live-feed branding, photoshoots from the control room and craft replicas.
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Opportunities to bring products to space. For example, Columbia Sportswear’s new Omni-Heat Infinity reflective technology will be aboard the lander to show off its new material which is tough enough to survive in space.
Then there are the digital payload activations via the IM lunar landers — meaning a signal can be sent to the moon and back or preloaded onto the lander and sent back to Earth. Gravity is in talks to offer brands the chance to be the first to do a series of actions from the moon, like:
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Be one of the first NFTs purchased from the Moon
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The first bank transaction from the Moon.
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First delivery ordered.
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And first bet placed.
“We are a space agency that will help with marketing activations, content creation and some general business development as well,” says Zach Zeurcher, founder, Gravity Space Marketing. “We’re trying to combine these two opposite worlds, the creative side and the hardcore engineering side to make these marketing activations successful for brands in space.”
Other potential activations, Gravity is working on include:
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Stamping logos into the moon’s surface.
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Placing a brand’s flag on the surface of the moon.
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Building out 5G from the moon for communications purposes.
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Offering VR 360 experiences from space in real-time.
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Instead of a blimp, offering a satellite from space that beam live during a major event like the Super Bowl or World Cup.
And there’s more to come says Zeurcher. “We’re going to be building out different commercial opportunities on the moon because it’s coming. Colonies are coming. Bases are coming. All of these lunar developments are coming over the next decades.”