Space Agencies are Brands Too

At first glance some people may find the idea absurd, but space agencies can in fact be viewed as brands with their own intrinsic commercial value. That is the finding by this recent Practicum Study by the Kogod School of Business.

How can a government-funded entity have useful brand value? Well, one only has to think back to the Space Race Version 1.0 (i.e. the race to land humans on the Moon) to see the resulting brand value for NASA, which is now a household name all around the world.

In fact, the Kogod study recommended that the "NASA" brand provides a unique "unexploited value to the American taxpayer". But how could that value be realized?

Some direct ways for NASA to capitalize on its brand value would be to sell the rights to show the famous "NASA" logo on products or to link the NASA brand to commerical brands in advertising campaigns. The revenues earned from the sale of such rights would then be available to NASA for use on new space projects (which might in turn lead to even higher brand value!).

But in the context of the Google Lunar X PRIZE (GLXP) there is an even more interesting idea.

Many other space agencies around the world currently have rather weak brands. To improve public awareness, those agencies could use technologies developed under private funding by GLXP teams to fast-track the development and execution of their government-funded missions. Don't forget, the ultimate customers of the space agencies are the tax-payers of the respective nation/s, and which tax-payer will vote for a government that wants to spend billions on a a space agency that they've never even heard of?

How much do you think a space agency like ESA or ISRO would like to have its logo (next to the national flag/s of course) on a rover driving across the surface of the Moon or Mars? Food for thought for those entrepreneurial types trying to put together a business plan for the GLXP.

Our Brand Image

To support our mission we will create a strong and independent brand image. To do this it will be important to highlight our differences from the other GLXP competitors.

Our brand image is:

• Knowledgable, Capable, Experienced (as space engineers)
• Motivated, Driven, Passionate
• Young
• Creative, Innovative, Original
• Dynamic
• International, Diverse
• Dream-driven

We will coordinate all our media activities to emphasize these aspects.

White Label Space is a brandless space technology start-up founded by a team of international space professionals competing in the Google Lunar X PRIZE.

Together with our Partners we are creating the first ever "White Label" space mission - ready for the brand image of powerful sponsors with the vision and courage to create profound and enduring legacies by being part of the first privately funded effort to land on the moon. Every aspect of our GLXP mission, from the naming rights of our space vehicles to the suits worn in our clean rooms, is available for the messages of our sponsors.

Space exploration, and particularly lunar exploration, is on the verge of a new revolution of low cost ambitious missions. This revolution is fuelled by the frustration that humans haven't been to the moon in our lifetimes, and driven by the engine of the internet with all its possibilities for new media, communication and collaboration.

The majority of us work as space engineers, scientists and technologists. We know that the technology needed to go to the Moon is far less demanding than what exists in today's typical handheld electronic devices. The real challenge in the GLXP lies in linking humanity's natural urge to explore space with the financial forces that determine the efforts and energies expended in this world.

Our mission is to provide brandless space missions to anyone that has a viable business plan, taking the principles of Web 2.0 marketing & monetisation to the next level.

MORE About our GLXP Mission >>>

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Moon 2.0 & The Google Lunar X-PRIZE

The Google Lunar X PRIZE (GLXP) is a $30 million international competition to safely land a robot on the surface of the Moon, travel 500 meters over the lunar surface, and send images and data back to the Earth. Teams must be at least 90% privately funded and must be registered to compete by December 31, 2010. The first team to land on the Moon and complete the mission objectives will be awarded $20 million; the full first prize is available until December 31, 2012. After that date, the first prize will drop to $15 million. The second team to do so will be awarded $5 million. Another $5 million will awarded in bonus prizes. The final deadline for winning the prize is December 31, 2014.

"Moon 2.0" is a revolution in low cost lunar exploration that the Google Lunar X PRIZE is helping to kick-start. The early missions to the Moon's surface in the 60's and 70's were highly inspiring events but they were also very expensive.

The X PRIZE Foundation released this promotional video called "Moon 2.0 - Join the Revolution" to explain the prize and its benefits. Our White Label Space team has also created an International Version of Moon 2.0, which includes subtitles for a number of other languages.