Putting Brands on the Moon: What’s Next for Space Tech

Since the dawn of time, humanity's gaze has been fixed on the stars, seeking answers and inspiration from the cosmos’ many mysteries. From the early days of mysticism to the later rigor of astronomical science, our quest to understand has only deepened. 

Today, as we stand on the cusp of the new Space Era, the dreams once reserved for science fiction are edging closer to reality. Space tourism is becoming more accessible, satellites orbit our planet in ever-increasing numbers, and the prospect of Mars colonization is no longer a fringe conversation but a mainstream ambition. 

For investors, this new frontier opens unprecedented opportunities for engagement, awareness and revenue growth as we accelerate deeper into space. And many of these opportunities are outside of what would be traditionally construed as “space tech.” Namely: bringing brands into space and expanding the total addressable market. 

The New Marketing Frontier: Branding in Zero Gravity

In this emerging space era, brands have an entirely new stage for innovation, engagement, and visibility that transcends the limitations of Earth. Here are a few ways that space is blossoming into a marketing opportunity of massive proportions. 

Unique Brand Experiences

Imagine offering your audience an experience that defies gravity — quite literally. Brands like Zero G Corp have already started offering weightless flight experiences, which create shareable moments that become the “first step into space.” These types of experiences are just the starting point for how brands engage with the space era.

Over the longer term, ambitious efforts from the likes of Blue Origin promise to expand access to space travel, gradually becoming more affordable over time. These flight experiences will shape perceptions of “bucket list” experiences and drive brands to align with the trend toward space travel. 

Visibility Beyond Earth

As space technology is evolving to become modular and reusable, it opens new branding opportunities. Similar to F1, where brands can gain high-value visibility sustained over time, the increasing number of rocket launches and satellites in orbit unlock a new era in branded content.  

The potential to elevate brand visibility on an interplanetary scale is immense. Picture a scenario where satellite branding, equipment sponsorships, or even naming rights for spacecrafts and lunar bases become common. A brand logo, visible from orbit or streamed to millions of screens globally, is a testament to a brand’s pioneering spirit and boundless ambition.

Consider Red Bull Stratos, an ambitious effort to send a human freefalling back to Earth from space at over 800 mph. The bold campaign saw 52 million people watch live, shattering YouTube’s live view record at the time – and capturing the global zeitgeist. Even though the jump was a decade ago, the brand continues to leverage the campaign, with a recent documentary that continues to bolster the legend.

So what’s next? As emerging multimedia channels like Las Vegas Sphere sell exosphere ad space to brands for $450k, the demand for fresh brand marketing channels is only increasing. 

The Technology Fueling Space Branding Opportunities

From the democratization of space access facilitated by cutting-edge spacecraft design to the revolutionary potential of artificial intelligence and robotics in outer space, space tech is evolving to engage with audiences in profound and previously unimaginable ways. 

Space-as-a-service

Space exploration is rapidly becoming more accessible thanks to reusable rockets that spread overall launch costs across many missions. Thanks to these cost savings, space companies can rent space to multiple companies on a single rocket. You don’t need your own rocket to send payloads into space!

This space-as-a-service business model dramatically reduces the barriers to entry by lowering the cost of sending something to space and makes the most creative missions possible. Our agency INVNT GROUP recently took advantage of this increasing accessibility for Fallen Gravity, a new art collection from Canadian artist Mad Dog Jones. We worked with Artemis Space Network to enable collectors to send a personalized message to space. The messages will be beamed to the ISS and orbit over 100,000 miles around the Earth before being beamed back to Mission Control. 

This is just one early example of creative applications enabled by space-as-a-service companies. As costs come down, the most imaginative ideas are possible!

Lunar Robotics 

By spreading costs among many entities, the space-as-a-service business model also drives innovation around lunar rovers and lunar terrain vehicles. Companies such as Lunar Outpost are offering advanced spacecraft and robotics solutions that outsource the technological and operational aspects of a space mission so that brands can focus on their mission objectives. 

These vehicles are more than just branding opportunities; they can become the conduit for creativity that creates excitement and engagement in space exploration. Payloads can be combined with robotic systems into high-touch campaigns that generate buzz for brands. 

Imagine a brand investing in STEM awareness by co-creating a remote experiment alongside high school students that delivers valuable scientific research – and hands-on space experience for those students. There could also be branded autonomous drones for planetary exploration that can beam content back to a TikTok channel, AI-driven data collection missions sponsored by corporations, or robotic manufacturing in space featuring branded products. The universe is vast! 

In a galaxy (not so) far away

As we embark on this unprecedented journey, the potential for brands to pioneer new territories—both literally and figuratively—is immense. 

From creating zero-gravity experiences that capture the human imagination to forging partnerships that pave the way for sustainable and ethical exploration, the opportunities are as boundless as space itself. 

In navigating this final frontier, brands can both propel their presence into new realms and contribute meaningfully to the collective human endeavor of exploring our universe. That’s a worthwhile pursuit that puts brands at the forefront of science – and consumer attention. 

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.