The Brand that Saved the World

Would you buy products from ‘The Brand that Saved the World’? As a brand manager, it would certainly provide one with significant scope for creative sponsorship leverage.

As you sit sipping your coffee, reclined comfortably in your chair while browsing today’s marketing news & current affairs, it may be of some interest for you to learn NASA’s current budget for detecting Near-Earth-Objects is just $US20 million.

The $20 million is spent on technology which scans our skies for asteroids – especially those of 1km in diameter or larger.

NASA is confident they found 95% of these apocalyptic harbingers.

Unfortunately, by my calculations that leaves 5% currently not on our radar.

If we keep in mind that in February of 2013, an asteroid of just 18 metres in diameter exploded above Chelyabinsk, Russia injuring 1,500 people; it gives some context to this discussion.

Shortly afterwards, a much larger asteroid narrowly missed Earth passing lower than our communication satellites currently in orbit.

These events have prompted the US government to seek Congress approval to double the budget of NASA’s Near-Earth-Objects detection programme.

One current proposal involves dusting off the mothballed Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) telescope and re-tasking it towards detecting near-Earth asteroids.

As the fate of the world rests with this archived technology, I can’t help wondering if perhaps there isn’t scope for the private sector to funding NASA’s work – perhaps even to the extent the earth can get some more up-to-date tech toys?

For the brand sponsoring the initiative, the leveraging opportunities are many. How can consumers not love a brand that is working to save the world? With budgets in the small millions, the project would lend itself well to many international technology companies; both in scale and fit with their respective brands.

Personally, I can imagine Google leveraging this marketing sponsorship particularly well. Google Earth is renamed Google Universe and Earth’s residents can login to keep a watchful eye on the surrounding space in real time – allowing them to sleep more soundly.