The New Sexy/Sophisticated/Alluring Commercial Spaceflight Federation Isn't

Private spaceflight trade group rebrands itself to look more like NASA, Mashable
“We want to make that that sexy, badass persona that NASA has established in the government space exploration realm is carried forward into the private commercial space industry,” says David Moritz, founder and CEO of Viceroy Creative, the ad agency behind the rebrand.”
Viceroy Creative Thrusts into New Frontier with Complete Rebranding Launch of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation
“Viceroy Creative, the full-service design firm specializing in brand strategy, brand innovation and package design is announcing the official rebranding launch of the newCommercial Spaceflight Federation. Previously viewed as a selective and discerning option for those looking to travel to space, the new rebrand and creative redesign democratizes the idea of space to the public while providing a sexy, cool, and innovative new look for their interactive website. “We wanted to create an identity that would set a standard for the commercial space exploration industry,” says David Moritz, CEO and Founder of Viceroy Creative. “Through the new Commercial Spaceflight Federation rebranding, we’re able to create a unique, sexy, and ownable identity that also has roots in a thrilling part of the space industry. We envisioned this rebranding and redesign to be sophisticated and alluring, but also thoughtful enough to be on par with a regulatory agency.”
Keith’s note: When an organization can’t develop and implement a simple strategy and has problems explaining what it does for its members, the knee jerk reaction always seems to be the assumption that the problem will be solved re-branding and re-launching websites. So CSF hired Viceroy Creative whose specialty seems to be marketing alcohol. Based on this PR firm’s press release it would seem that CSF is not even sure who/what its audience is. They (simultaneously) want to be “sexy”, “sophisticated”, “alluring” yet be “thoughtful enough to be on par with a regulatory agency”. They need to pick one or the other and focus on that. Oh yes – they also want to do something that “democratizes the idea of space to the public”.
And they say “sexy” twice in their press release. So CSF clearly wants you to think that they are sexy. Got that? There’s a reason why: Viceroy Creative uses soft p*rn imagery in their PR (scroll down) – and they brag about it. They also worked with the Karadashians. Seriously. And note that the press release title says “Thrusts Into New Frontier”. Taken together this explains the whole “sexy” thing, I guess. Just what the commercial spaceflight industry needs right now: gratuitous marketing hype used to hide a lack of substance.
CSF now has an audience/customer base comprised of the commercial space industry, Congress, the Federal government, and the public. Instead of developing a strategic focus CSF now wants to be everything to everyone. As for the rebranding launch thing I just went to their new website. Their old website was a bit stale but you could find what you needed quickly. Now it takes longer and has lots of flashy things. And yet all that they have online is the same stuff they had online before – with added flash. As for the website being “sexy, sophisticated, alluring” – no.
With regard to the democratizing thing CSF is aiming for, given that rides on commercial spacecraft are going cost hundreds of thousands of dollars for many years to come, the only “democratizing” that is going to happen is going to be among the super rich people who can afford the ride. The “public” (i.e. the rest of us) will just go about our normal terrestrial routine. I have never quite figured out exactly what CSF does. Now I am even more confused.