(Note: Loretta Hidalgo Whitesides' wrote the text below, which previously appeared in this post.)
In early August, NASA internally released its latest marketing campaign, designed to show its relevance and value to the American people. Its new slogan? “NASA explores for answers that power our future.” The campaign now seems to be aborted, but it did get me thinking, could we do any better?
I am no marketing genius, but I think that we could. I mean North Face’s has much more zing, "Never Stop Exploring;" Even Dow Chemicals did better, "The Human Element."
Now, I know that NASA does not have the massive budget that these companies do to hire super star advertising execs. I also know that a lot of people at NASA put a lot of time and thought into this new campaign and so I don’t want to criticize it without offering up some constructive alternatives. Therefore, I am turning to cyberspace and the power of crowdsourcing to come up with some alternatives to offer them. One of the issues they cite in their market research is a challenge being relevant to people 18-24. Maybe we could help. I will even throw in prizes.
The writer of the best slogan will get a DVD of the space movie of their choice, From the Earth to the Moon, Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica, etc. and will be interviewed for a follow up posting on what it takes to engage the public with space. Other noteworthy submissions will get other small space swag.
For reference, the previous NASA slogan, under the previous Administrator (new Administrator, new slogan) was “Explore, Discover, Understand.” Although it seemed a little dry at the time, it now seems light years ahead. It at least it honored the ‘under four words’ rule (ok there is not really an under four words rule).
The NASA plan is more then just a slogan however, it also includes a blue triangle and the equation "Innovation + Inspiration + Discovery = Future." I am not interested in mocking what was done, I am actually interested to see if in three weeks time, the collective power of the Wired set can create something that actually moves, touches and inspires people. To see if we can craft something that appeals to the public, that speaks to them and has them want to make sure that we Never Stop Exploring.
If you are on board say aye!
Submissions should be posted as comments here in the NASA Slogan Reddit tool (link fixed!) by Sept 28th. Please do not comment on each others submissions until after the winner is announced on October 1st. If you don’t like someone’s suggestion make your own! It is easier to destroy than to create. Spread the word, I am throwing down the gauntlet to the whole community -- we will need artists, PR experts, poets, marketing professionals and visionaries to capture the spirit of it. Let's show them what this crowd can do! Vote after the jump.
(Note to those who have already submitted in the comments on the previous post: We're choosing the best ones and entering them into the Reddit tool. If you don't see yours, feel free to add it!)
While you can submit as many slogans as you want, you can only submit one every 30 minutes. No HTML allowed.
