When will SpaceX take advertising?

[savuporo]

Okay, you could as well try asking why any airline doesnt fly in Taco Bells colors

[CuddlyRocket]

Okay, you could as well try asking why any airline doesnt fly in Taco Bells colors

That's because the aircraft are used as advertising hoardings for the airline itself; the value of the advertising to the airline is greater than it would be to any third party. This is because airlines require marketing against multiple competitors and to a mass market - SpaceX doesn't require advertising to its less than 20 customers a year! (That said, SpaceX does have its own logo on its launchers, which will cost it something, so it presumably thinks there's some value there - unless they do it because everyone else does!)

[mme]

...

Anyway, the most expensive rate I could find for a billboard was $10,000 ...

A dollar is a dollar; they all count!

Not if it costs more than a dollar to earn or if it tarnishes your reputation. SpaceX does not strike me as a company full of people with free time on their hands. Do you hire someone to manage the project? Take time from someone otherwise employed? What does that cost?

But I wasn't assuming advertising would be a significant income stream, any more than is SpaceX's current merchandising activities. It's the principle I was interested in; why are SpaceX ignoring a potential revenue stream?

As I pointed out above, not all income is worth the effort. As far as SpaceX merchandise goes, that is marketing on SpaceX's part to get their "brand" out in the public. No way is it relevant to SpaceX's bottom line. SpaceX wants to promote the adventure of making humanity a multiplanetory species, not fast food. They care about their public image, a lot.

Also, the primary customer gets rights on the fairing. If I paid $54,000,000 for a launch I'd be pretty annoyed if someone was using it as a flying billboard.

But I don't work at SpaceX nor have I ever talked to Elon Musk so I am making all of this up...

[Galactic Penguin SST]

Actually the Russians already tried this trick on the Proton in the early 1990s, when they were stripped of rubles.....not sure it works for them though.

(first three photos are from the launch of October 30, 1992; the others are from the launch of Zvezda in 2000)

[catdlr]

Reading this thread made me remember the suggestion from a congressman to place ads on the shuttle to pay for NASA Projects:

http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=9270.msg171986#msg171986

[Ludus]

It will start to get more likely when SpaceX has much higher visibility in a few years after they start launching people. Launch vehicles returning to pads after manned launches, Dragons propulsively landing, private manned space stations all make for a lot higher profile than currently. SpaceX may be effectively the only US manned space program when that starts to get attention again. Another related question might be how soon will Elon personally choose to go into space? That kind of Tony Stark move would change the amount of attention SpaceX gets and the value of promotions. BTW plastering vehicles with logos like NASCAR racing isn't the only way though it might be used. Siemens has a corporate image ad that's just bragging about it's association using SpaceX clips (and they just mean for CAD software). There will be lots more opportunities for halo effect associations.

[CuddlyRocket]

A dollar is a dollar; they all count!

Not if it costs more than a dollar to earn or if it tarnishes your reputation. SpaceX does not strike me as a company full of people with free time on their hands. Do you hire someone to manage the project? Take time from someone otherwise employed? What does that cost?

Obviously they'll only sell advertising if it's worth their while; but many companies manage to do so even when hiring people specifically to manage it.

... not all income is worth the effort. As far as SpaceX merchandise goes, that is marketing on SpaceX's part to get their "brand" out in the public. No way is it relevant to SpaceX's bottom line. SpaceX wants to promote the adventure of making humanity a multiplanetory species, not fast food. They care about their public image, a lot.

Why would taking advertising affect their image? That depends overwhelmingly on how well they launch rockets. Do people judge The New York Times on how much advertising it sells or the quality of its journalism?

Also, the primary customer gets rights on the fairing. If I paid $54,000,000 for a launch I'd be pretty annoyed if someone was using it as a flying billboard.

Depends on whether I got a discount or not!

It will start to get more likely when SpaceX has much higher visibility in a few years after they start launching people. Launch vehicles returning to pads after manned launches, Dragons propulsively landing, private manned space stations all make for a lot higher profile than currently. SpaceX may be effectively the only US manned space program when that starts to get attention again. Another related question might be how soon will Elon personally choose to go into space? That kind of Tony Stark move would change the amount of attention SpaceX gets and the value of promotions.

I suspect Elon will only think of taking advertisements once SpaceX's engineering accomplishments are undeniable. Over the years I've got the impression that 'too much' commercialism leads many in the space industry to doubt the seriousness of the persons involved. SpaceX needs to establish its engineering credibility before demonstrating its capitalist origins. But commercial space means exactly that, and advertising is good commerce.

BTW plastering vehicles with logos like NASCAR racing isn't the only way though it might be used. Siemens has a corporate image ad that's just bragging about it's association using SpaceX clips (and they just mean for CAD software). There will be lots more opportunities for halo effect associations.

Yep. And how much might someone pay to name the first MCT that goes to Mars? Perhaps Bill Gates would cough up some dough to name it Melinda?

[Mader Levap]

Forget about it. Boeing or any other air company does not plaster their aircrafts with Taco Bells from top to bottom, why rockets and shuttles/other payload would be different?

In fact, only kind of spaceship that I would expect to be plastered like on those silly photoshopped images are racing spaceships (like racing cars). And we are at least several decades too early for them.

[savuporo]

That's because the aircraft are used as advertising hoardings for the airline itself;

Not really, the impressions that you get from people seeing your colors from a window of another plane or terminal are neglible.

However i did find that there is one airline in US that apparently does customer ads on the planes, and on baggage compartments, and on chairs etc .. the only 2-star airline , Spirit Airlines. I've never taken them so i didnt know.

[oiorionsbelt]

They'll get a Toyota Tundra to haul it form Hawthorne to McGregor and McGregor to CCAFS. No decals on the rocket. 


Edit: for non US readers Toyota did this with the Space Shuttle. The ad still runs here.

[ChrisWilson68]

It's for the same reason you don't see billboards for Diet Pepsi and Domino's Pizza plastered all over the corporate headquarters of Apple or GE -- such things make the company look cheap and desperate for small amounts of cash.  You're tarnishing the corporate image.  That hurts the company in the eyes not only of customers but also in the eyes of suppliers and employees.  It's the same reason most successful companies pay for Class-A office space and landscape in front of their buildings.  Corporate image matters.