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Examples Of NASA’s Global Branding At IAC 2022

By Keith Cowing
NASA Watch
NASAWatch
September 18, 2022
Examples Of NASA’s Global Branding At IAC 2022
NASA Branding
NASAWatch

Keith’s note: NASA’s branding – whether it is the “meatball” or “worm’ logo (or both) is ubiquitous and throughly enmeshed in global culture to the point that it is trendy and cool – because it is. While NASA does an OK job letting these logos run free in the wild, I am not certain NASA totally understands just how potent a brand it has since a lor of their PR is backward-looking and usually goes under or over large audiences domestically and globally. But, that said, NASA is still cool. Here are two recent examples from IAC 2022:

One tweet was from “Syahirah Stargazer” – @AstroSyahirah – from Malaysia. The other was by Nujoud Fahoum Merancy, NASA NASA Chief of Exploration Mission Planning, @nujoud. Syahirah posted a selfie against the backdrop of a giant NASA worm logo at IAC stating simply “Every space girls dream”. Nujoud posted a picture of a guy in the Paris Metro wearing a NASA logo baseball cap saying “Everywhere you go worldwide, there is #NASAintheWild #ParisMetro:” To make things even more poignant “Gasta” @VictorCahat, in replying to @nujoud and @NASAWatch said “Ironically, the sign behind him says ‘when you’re 5 you know what you want to be when you grow up’ “ Yup. That has been known to happen.

Sometimes it seems that everyone on Earth is wearing a NASA T-shirt, Washington Post
“Go to any college campus, Ulrich said, and there are “kids there with NASA shirts on. You see it on the subway. You see it on the street. It’s just proliferating.” It sure is. Last year, Ulrich said, the agency received 11,000 merchandising requests from companies that wanted to use the logo on some sort of object. NASA doesn’t license the logo, it gives approval and requires that merchandisers follows its guidelines. For example, it can’t be used on alcohol, food, cosmetics, tobacco, underwear or technology, and when it is used, it has to be the proper font, color, etc.”

Yet Another Example Of The Global Reach Of The NASA Brand, earlier post
“NASA has done a good job – an increasingly good one – at allowing the logo’s use – and not discouraging its use when the its is used in a positive and inspiring context. This is a consumate, textbook example of soft power. One would hope that NASA can continue along this path and that legislation that currently hinders NASA’s ability to project its message via advertising and other venues – can be lifted by Congress.”

NASA’s Global Branding Reach Is Often Under Appreciated, earlier post
“This is a perfect example of so-called “soft power”. This costs NASA virtually – literally – nothing. Having worked with folks in Nepal on things related to this, the mere visibility of the NASA logo and recognition by NASA is enticement enough to generate in-country resources and support. Done properly you can have a global awareness of what NASA is and does and spark interest in other nation’s space efforts. And the cases where a country has no space activities, spur their development. One would hope that this becomes part of what NASA includes in its Artemis outreach activities – since the ultimate goal is to go there with other nations.”

It Takes More Than Logos On T-shirts For NASA To Fully Realize Its Branding Potential, earlier post
OSTP Director Speaks About America’s Potential Soft Power, earlier post
NASA Builds A Global Soft Power Capability And Then Ignores It, earlier post
Space Apps: NASA Soft Power With An Under Appreciated – Untapped Global Potential, earlier post
Why Am I Doing This NASA Website Critique Stuff?, earlier post
Understanding NASA’s Global Reach, earlier post
NASA is Still A Potent (If Underutilized) Brand, earlier post
Using NASA’s Logo: Expensive T-Shirts Or Global Soft Power?, earlier post
NASA’s Pervasive Brand Recognition, earlier post
One Major Road Block To Bridenstine’s Advertising Ideas, earlier post

NASA Watch founder, Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA, Away Teams, Journalist, Space & Astrobiology, Lapsed climber.

2 responses to “Examples Of NASA’s Global Branding At IAC 2022”

  1. Bill Keksz says:
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    #YeahBut – What’s it say about when you’re 15?

  2. JJMach says:
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    What is the legal reason why NASA couldn’t copyright and license its logos, likenesses, or other Intellectual Properties? (Likenesses of NASA logos, space probes, facilities, SLS, or images captured by its missions.)

    I assume there is, but even a modest licensing fee would be really nice to filter out the purveyors of cheap crud and could help grow NASA’s budget a little. I understand you don’t want the government competing directly with private enterprise, but in this case, NASA would be selling rights to images and likenesses that only exist because of NASA, so I’m not sure I see the conflict of interest.

    P.S. At shop.spacex.com you can buy a Dragon Spacesuit onesie for your baby. To be fair, there are also kid’s airplane slippers over at boeingstore.com, an Orion bag toss (i.e., cornhole) game at lockheedmartinstore.com, and a “Keep Calm and Launch On” onesie at ulalaunchstore.com.

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