naSA: repositioning and Unifying the voice OF AMERICAN INGENUITY
SVA MASTERS IN BRANDING THESIS
PROJECT CHALLENGE
The SVA Masters in Branding thesis explores brands that have fallen out of pace with culture. Our challenge was to identify the single most important issue facing the National Aeronautics and Space Administration today and reposition the brand to regain cultural relevance.
NASA represents American heroism and ingenuity–a symbol of the nations brightest and bravest minds–inspiring a cultural fascination with space exploration. NASA's creation in 1958 was based on one mission–to put a man on the moon–but today, NASA no longer has one unified mission but several initiatives making it difficult for the public to understand the tangible benefits that NASA provides.
PROJECT background
NASA is no longer alone in space exploration. The space industry is the new frontier for innovation and is rapidly growing to a $314 billion dollar industry. With several start-ups emerging with public facing brands and visionary leaders, the media hype surrounding the private sector has created a dull perception of NASA and left many to question NASA's role within the space industry.
Additionally, with the retirement of the shuttle program in 2011, NASA no longer has a public facing presence. Their inability to tell a unified story and the lack of a culturally relative narrative has further created a disconnect between the general public and NASA. Their communications have become esoteric, failing to captive the public as it once did.
HOuston, we have a problem.
IN THE EYES OF THE AMERICAN PUBLIC, NASA HAS NO UNIFIED STORY OR RELEVANCE.
PROCESS
We began exploring NASA's rich history and developed a timeline–overlaying world events, cultural trends and government initiatives in order to understand how NASA affects culture, and if and how culture affects NASA. We conducted a series of qualitative and quantitative research, interviewing 6 industry experts (including 5 NASA employees and 1 SpaceX employee), 2 media experts, 16 Americans and collected 111 online surveys. We read and observed industry publications, news sources, cultural institutions, cultural publications, and historic and current opinion polls. We then identified unique offerings that NASA provides and the two major misconceptions surrounding NASA's role within the space industry.
THESIS STATEMENT
NASA NEEDS TO COMMUNICATE ITS MISSION–
FUELING THE EXPLORATION THAT ACCELERATES HUMANITY– TO RECAPTURE THE IMAGINATION OF THE PUBLIC.
positioning
Password: branding
NASA is the fuel that accelerates humanity. They inspire use, pushing itself and others to discover. From all of this, innovation and progress is possible. Using the positioning, 'Go Beyond', we aim to simplify NASA's voice to communicate one singular story–that they enable human efforts and advancements. 'Go Beyond' is a call to action, reminding the general public and ultimately the world, that true scientific exploration is a quest to understand humanity.
We recommend that NASA utilize the new positioning, 'Go Beyond' to unify their brand voice. Through clear messaging and speaking in a simple tone, NASA can easily engage with their multiple audiences.
executions for consideration
ONLINE
The current NASA website is an example of how the agency appears fragmented to the general public. They currently have over 50 websites and 480 social media accounts–making locating information frustrating and difficult. We propose an update to the NASA homepage allowing it to act as an information hub, so whether you are looking for specific technical information or updates on missions, it can be easily found in one unified location.
RECRUITMENT CAMPAIGN
NASA communicates mostly through online media and as we identified earlier, with the retirement of the shuttle program they no longer have a public facing presence. This provides an opportunity for NASA to introduce their new brand voice through the launch of a recruitment campaign. We identified that NASA could struggle in the future to attract new talent as the private sector expands. As a government agency, NASA can not promote itself through traditional advertising, however they can advertise for recruitment purposes.
The recruitment campaign would leverage NASA's heritage and their most valuable brand assets, the naming of their missions, shuttles and rovers–Opportunity, Discovery and Curiosity. The campaign would be placed in highly visible locations, that both the general public and potential employees frequent.
NASA SEAL
With all that NASA provides the world, much of it goes unrecognized.
The NASA seal– MADE FOR SPACE, APPLIED ON EARTH. POWERED BY NASA– is one way to generate awareness. It would be placed on any product that uses NASA technology in its development. An example of this is the memory foam mattress, which was originally developed as seat cushioning and crash protection in NASA shuttles. With so many uses for NASA spin offs, this seal creates an awareness for how NASA touches us in our daily lives.
NASA LOGO
This simplification signals change for NASA. Removing the logo from the sphere which was originally symbolic of earth, it allows NASA to now exist beyond the borders of a planet, an orbit, or a galaxy. NASA is limitless, and this illustrates them going beyond.
By separating the logo type–NASA–from the red mark, each element can be used in a variety of ways. It can be locked up together (shown with the logo) or has the flexibility to be used as separate elements, show on the newly designed report covers, shown below.
NASA UNIVERSITY
What better way to study the universe than at a University directed by the original, true explorers of space–introducing NASA University. The University will provide specialized programs from students hoping to launch their career in the space industry. It will also become a place for retired NASA employees to transfer their knowledge and expertise to the next generation. By cultivating a culture of innovation, students will be encouraged to think differently about how they apply their knowledge.
FIRST CONTACT, NASA INCUBATOR
NASA has a vast database of free resources, however the potential for application is not fully grasped. First Contact, is an hybrid incubator that aims to change that. It lives within NASA University as a place to work and develop ideas for small businesses and start-ups. Giving them access to NASA’s expertise, on top of the library of open source technology at their disposal.
BEYOND REPORTS–INTERACTIVE INSTALLATION
We identified that the general public felt NASA was not reporting enough on their findings. This is another misconception since NASA does report on their findings, however it is not presented in a way that is engaging to the public.
We asked: What if space time curvature could be explained through a series of connected nets? What if you could understand how the universe expands through ropes and proportions? What if you could discover the string theory through lights and connectivity? What if you could see the affects of climate change by simply turning on and off a switch?
We propose the development of 'Beyond Reports,' an interactive installation that can be housed at NASA University and highlight NASA's discoveries in a way that is intriguing and engaging for the public.
NOW IS THE TIME FOR NASA TO GO BEYOND
New Horizon’s a space probe launched on a nine year mission, has travelled 3 billion miles to capture images of our solar system. On July 14th, 2015 it gave us the first close-up photograph of the icy, dwarf planet, Pluto, the furthest world from the sun. We have reached the edge of our solar system, now is the time for NASA to truly go beyond.