Marketing the Moon: The Selling of the Apollo Lunar Program

Citation

Kirk Hazlett (2015), "Marketing the Moon: The Selling of the Apollo Lunar Program", Journal of Product & Brand Management, Vol. 24 No. 1, pp. 91-93. https://doi.org/10.1108/JPBM-09-2014-0699

Marketing professionals the world over inevitably find themselves confronted with the agony of “How do I market this?” or “How do I persuade upper management that this is a marketable product?”

“Marketing the Moon: The Selling of the Apollo Lunar Program” by David Meerman Scott and Richard Jurek is a fascinating insider’s look at how NASA built a global communication program from the ground up. The risks and the rewards of marshaling support from staffers manning the typewriters to the incumbent occupant of the White House Oval Office are examined in intense detail, and even the most senior of marketing professionals […] as well as their bosses […] will benefit from challenges encountered and lessons throughout the decades-long space program.

It certainly does not hurt one’s case to have the President of the USA, Lyndon B. Johnson, champion your case […] “Now, would you rather have us be a second-rate nation or should be spend a little money? (p. ix)” But how about the media, without whose support the public would be unaware of your efforts?

As NASA learned over the years, seamless melding of marketing and public relations efforts is vital for successful communication of the massive efforts comprising a program with national as well as international ramifications. And those lessons apply equally to companies large and small that are faced with the challenge of promoting their products or services.

For those marketers who have met with resistance from upper-level management, the authors point out that this was the case as well for NASA communication professionals. “NASA’s presidential mandate to be an ‘open program’ – unlike the secretive Russian space projects – was resisted by many, especially those whose custom was to work in secrecy (p. xii).”

A lesson learned is that perseverance, along with creative thinking and calculated risk-taking, can often diffuse resistance. As shown in Chapter 1, “A Modern-Day Columbia: Fiction Makes a Giant Leap”, in the case of NASA’s mandate to generate public support of and interest in the space program was initially reinforced by external events including the “increasing influence of science fiction literature, and Hollywood’s expanding interest in stories set in space (p. 5)”. Then, fortuitously, the “second turning point in the 1950s’ marketing of the Moon came when American families switched on a relatively new living room appliance on the evening of March 9, 1955 […] to view an entertaining prime-time program [Walt Disney’s “Man in Space”] about the history of rocketry that climaxed with an animated trip to a manned orbiting space station of the near future (p. 11)”.

The end result marking America’s definitive commitment to its nascent space program was that “When the launch of Sputnik 1 shocked the world, marking the dawn of the space age, the USA was far better equipped for the challenge than it realized […] In less than a decade, space travel had emerged from the realm of children’s adventure stories and the domain of rocketry and science fiction hobbyists to the world of front-page headlines. And just as [Jules] Verne had imagined nearly one hundred years earlier, an unprecedented public-private partnership between government, contractors, and the media would launch a three-manned crew from Florida destined for the Moon (p. 15)”.

As marketers worldwide know, cementing your brand’s name and image in the public’s mind is no small task. NASA’s challenge was monumental, and Chapter 2, “NASA Brand Journalism: Finding a Voice”, lays out the seemingly infinite steps needed to establish and maintain not just the media relationships required to build and sustain public awareness and approval, but the governmental support that would assure continued funding of its programs […] and communication staffing.

This was, indeed, no mean feat when one considers NASA’s genesis […] “the public affairs function – originally called ‘public information’ – had its mission and roots imbedded in the National Aeronautic and Space Act of 1958, which required the agency to ‘provide for the widest practicable and appropriate dissemination of information concerning its activities’ and results […] In practice it was a heavy task to juggle the conflicting and often contradictory public affairs agendas of Washington, the military, NASA’s headquarters and field offices, the astronauts, and the press (p. 28)”.

Meticulous planning and coordination paid off, though, and as shown in Chapter 3, “An Unprecedented Public Relations Partnership: NASA and the Industry”, most of those directly involved in the program recognized the value of wholehearted cooperation. “Indeed, the fact that one’s paycheck was issued by NASA or came from a private company made no difference when an issue arose; they worked together as a team to solve a problem (p. 35).”

This cooperative mindset made possible a far-reaching marketing program encompassing both public relations and advertising, the latter of which was not included in NASA’s promotional budget. As a result, NASA wisely and logically relied on private sector contractors to supplement the agency’s efforts. “Naturally, every Apollo contractor hoped their PR efforts would result in positive coverage about their company in the thousands of news stories about the lunar landing (p. 37).”

As marketers around the globe know all too well, getting the public’s attention is one story. Maintaining that interest, along with the support of the media, is another. Chapter 4, “The Whole World Is Watching: Live TV on Apollo”, examines the ebb-and-flow of public and media interest in succeeding Apollo missions.

Inevitable “bumps in the road” presented challenges as well as learning opportunities both for NASA communicators and for the astronauts themselves. “While NASA did a fine job giving the astronauts technical training about the basic operation of the [on-board] television system, its switches and cable connections, making them comfortable with the creative side of the process and suggesting how to conduct a successful television broadcast had been ignored completely by the staff in Public Affairs (pp. 61-62).”

Due in part to this lack of training […] of providing visual support, public interest continued to wax and wane like the Moon that was the focal point of NASA’s activities. “The subliminal message conveyed by network television’s coverage and the public’s lack of interest was clear and consistent: in the course of less than three years, an achievement that, when first accomplished, was acknowledged as a monumental turning point in human history, was slowly reduced in scope, magnitude, and importance into something commonplace. It was no longer major news (p. 76).”

Every marketer dreams of the signature event that will cement his or her brand indelibly in the public’s mind. For NASA, that event will forever be the Apollo 11 lunar landing on July 20, 1969. Chapter 5, “Lunar Day: Broadcasting, the Press, and Apollo 11”, captures the excitement, the drama and the immense national pride surrounding man’s first physical contact with the Moon.

Once again, having the unequivocal support of everyone from the stenographers who meticulously recorded conversations and events to the President of the USA was a godsend. “The Eisenhower White House’s bold decision to place the American space program under civilian control and institute an open-press policy (p. 79)” dramatically increased NASA’s ability to marshal media and public support.

One interesting side note […] a lesson for all marketers […] was the financial risks of committing resources to a first-time-ever project. “Despite the excellent Nielsen ratings and the fact that all sponsorships had been sold […] CBS News’s Apollo 11 coverage resulted in a $2.5 million loss for the network as a result of the extensive production costs (p. 83).”

Branding is a careful combination and application of resources, and NASA was blessed with the human resources embodied in the astronauts who, to the American public, were the space program. While NASA never intended to capitalize on this adulation, “the men chosen to be the first Americans in space were raised in a culture that revered the stoic aviator, and many saw themselves as the latest members of that select spiritual brotherhood (p. 91).” As a result, the astronauts were catapulted into the public eye, and NASA found itself both blessed and burdened by the equally adoring public […] and media.

The public’s infatuation with all things Apollo peaked at the end of the 1960s, and NASA found itself scrambling to maintain awareness and support for its ongoing initiatives. As with any marketing program, NASA Public Affairs “tried a number of different strategies to reignite enthusiasm, while striving to position the country’s recent achievements and Apollo’s scientific discoveries forefront in the national consciousness (p. 101).”

Chapter 6, “The Apollo Roadshow: Moonwalkers and Moon Rocks”, details the extraordinary efforts undertaken to reconnect the American public with all things Apollo, including “taking Columbia on the road like a traveling rock band promoting an album (p. 101).” Everything from the command module itself to a display of actual Moon rocks travelled the globe, seen by millions and covered extensively by the media.

That this massive effort was worthwhile is borne out in the fact that, according to NASA officials, “by the end of 1970, more than 41 million people had viewed an Apollo 11 or 12 Moon rock. Three quarters of this number were people from 110 countries who saw lunar samples sent on tour by the USA (p. 107).”

As marketers, the world over know all too well, all good things must ultimately come to an end, and Chapter 7, “So, Where to Now, Columbus?: The End of the Apollo Era”, provides a fitting closure to the space program that had captivated Americans for more than a decade. Perhaps nothing was more telling than a statement by then-President Richard Nixon: “This may be the last time in this century that men will walk on the Moon, but space exploration will continue (p. 111).”

Support from the top had diminished drastically, spelling the ultimate end of the lunar space program. “During the immediate post-Apollo years, the three manned Skylab missions (1973-1974) and the Apollo-Soyuz project of 1975 generated little public interest. Once again, television coverage was minimal, even during the initial days of the first manned Skylab flight, when the crew performed spacewalks to repair the vessel itself […]” (p. 124).

“Marketing the Moon: The Selling of the Apollo Lunar Program” is a comprehensive look at the successes and the challenges of launching a massive marketing program. Marketing and communication managers will find countless insights into the pitfalls as well as the rewards of creating and nurturing their own initiatives […] perhaps not as vast as NASA’s […] but, for them, equally important.