You might think that since NASA is a government agency, they have no need to advertise. After all, their funding comes from the government, why would they need to get the public’s attention?
But NASA’s funding is at least in part tied to them being in the public eye. After all, if the public loses all interest in what NASA is doing, Congress has very little incentive to keep writing them checks, so PR is an important part of keeping NASA’s mission going, and their most recent ad campaign is both brilliant and inspired.
Collectively called “Visions of the Future” it takes a delightfully unexpected form. The entire ad campaign, talking about the exoplanets they’re currently studying with the James Webb telescope, stylistically, NASA went pure vintage. The billboard ads are all “retro future,” which is amazing.
It’s the billboard equivalent of what Prime Video did with their hit streaming show “Fallout.” It’s clearly displaying the future (or one possible future) but doing it in a wickedly retro style, and in both cases, it really works!
One of the ads features the Voyager 2 spacecraft, now decades old. The ad shows the venerable craft’s flight path, which is only possible every 175 years, as that’s how infrequently the outer planets align.
In another offering, they draw attention to the Mars Exploration program which is designed to determine if it would be possible and practical to one day colonize the Red Planet. Here, we see a silhouette of a famous Martian Mountain, Olympus Mons, evidence of underground water, and an intrepid rover (with JPL spelled out in Morse Code on one of the wheels). A fantastic, eye-catching design.
Finally, there’s an ad featuring Enceladus, which is one of the moons of Saturn. It is incredibly volcanically active, especially around the moon’s south pole, and the print reflects that fact accurately.
The point is, in all of these cases, NASA went with an unexpected, bold design that didn’t sacrifice accuracy. These ads both delight in their appearance, and impress with their scientific accuracy.
Whatever product or service you’re selling, that’s a solid recipe for success, and on that note, if you’re struggling to come up with a great idea for your next ad campaign, that’s what we do! Just give us a call at 770-391-8528 and let’s talk about how we can help!