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Commercial Space Travel — Finally Meeting the Final Frontier
Summary: Space, the final frontier. These words have captivated audiences for almost 50 years, letting the youth of the 60s grow up dreaming of a world where humans travel the stars and intermingle with different species. Soon after Star Trek premiered, man set foot on the moon for the first time. But never before has there been widespread, easily accessible space travel like that of Star Fleet. Now, in 2012, commercial space flight is finally a possibility.
Key Information:
In the 1960s Star Trek was part of the a movement of entertainment stories about space travel; today, two innovative and ambitious billionaires, Elon Musk of Space-X and Richard Branson of Virgin Galactic, have set their sights on making sci-fi space travel a reality. Reservations for seats on these craft still cost about $200,000 so only those with deep pockets can fly initially. While it doesn’t look like we’ll be seeing refugees fleeing to colonies on the moon or military men preparing for interplanetary exploration for a while, both Musk and Branson want to have their projects ready for the public between 2013 and 2015.
Both Virgin and Space-X have their eyes on the heavens but the goals of their projects are very different. Richard Branson can be seen as the real world version of Star Trek’s young, impulsive Captain James T. Kirk, focusing on the thrill of in-space tourism. Virgin lets passengers see the Earth fading below them, hear the complete silence, and free themselves from gravity. Elon Musk is more along the lines of a Mr. Spock with a more practical mission. Musk believes that with the rate our population is growing and the amount of resources we use, Earth won’t be a sustainable planet. He sees a multi-planetary society to be essential to the survival of humanity. Musk wants Space-X to colonize new planets to take some of the burden off of the Earth.
Implications:
As we inch closer towards letting every man explore the stars, what do we, as marketers need to consider? One day in the future, like Kirk and Spock we might become ambassadors and friends of other species but for the time being, the implications still apply solely to humanity. How will our lives change as we jump between planets like we jump between states? Think about the following points, and I bid you, live long and prosper:
- A shift in culture: A new home for humans will likely result in some interesting changes in “humanity”. On the one hand, people will be excited for a new, futuristic and exotic home to colonize and respond to messaging that instills a sense of adventure. On the other, people will start to feel nostalgia for their home planet. Marketers must be conscious of this struggle and must balance their messaging and products to meet these conflicting emotions.
- Human Identity: What will travel off planet mean for people’s identities? On Earth, we perceive ourselves as individual ethnicities and races, but on new planets how or will that change? Brands will have to adapt their approaches to cultural marketing space travel creates “Martians” or more broadly “humans” who think and behave differently from the traditional cultural models of Earth.
- New Forms of Engagement: Digital is now, but what comes next in the space travel age? Marketers must find a way to take advantage of the sights, sounds and feeling of space. How can zero gravity be turned into a branded experience? With space travelers enduring long flight times, there is huge opportunity in making space travel more than just a journey. Whether it’s branded space suits or soda fountains that shoot liquid spheres, brands across a number of industries will have the chance to integrate themselves and their products in solving space traveler boredom.
Star Trek ® is a registered trademark of Paramount Pictures in the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
Star Trek ©, Star Trek: The Next Generation ©, Star Trek Generation and movies ©, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine ©, Star Trek:
Voyager © and Star Trek: Enterprise ©, are trademarks and copyright of PARAMOUNT PICTURES.
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