Under the Influence with Terry O'Reilly - Houston, We Have Pizza: Advertising in Outer Space

Episode Date: June 1, 2024

This week, we shoot for the moon. Now that commercialized space travel has arrived, the world of marketing is setting its sights on the stars. We’ll talk about ads on rocket ships, ads on spacesuits, and television commercials filmed on the International Space Station. There are companies who want to employ hundreds of tiny satellites to create logos in the night sky. Some companies even want to put ads on the moon. And those ads might even be cheaper than Super Bowl commercials. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hi, it's Terry O'Reilly. As you may know, we've been producing a lot of bonus episodes while under the influences on hiatus. They're called the Beatleology Interviews, where I talk to people who knew the Beatles, work with them, love them, and the authors who write about them. Well, the Beatleology Interviews have become a hit, so we are spinning it out to be a standalone podcast series. You've already heard conversations with people like actors Mark Hamill, Malcolm McDowell, and Beatles confidant Astrid Kershaw. But coming up, I talk to May Pang, who dated John Lennon in the mid-70s. I talk to double fantasy guitarist Earl Slick, Apple Records creative director John Kosh. I'll be talking to Jan Hayworth,

who designed the Sgt. Pepper album cover. Very cool. And I'll talk to singer Dion, who is one of only five people still alive who were on the Sgt. Pepper cover. And two of those people were Beatles. The stories they tell are amazing. So thank you for making this series such a success. And please, do me a favor, follow the Beatleology interviews on your podcast app. You don't even have to be a huge Beatles fan, you just have to love storytelling.

Subscribe now, and don't miss a single beat. This is an apostrophe podcast production. Your teeth look whiter than no nose You're not you when you're hungry You're in good hands with all teeth You're under the influence with Terry O'Reilly. I just announced I feel the view is going to be back up the Mesa. When Neil Armstrong and his Apollo 11 crew flew to the moon in 1969, they brought a lot of equipment with them.

Even in that quirky-looking lunar landing module, there was equipment for filming video, tools for digging up lunar rocks, there were scientific instruments and flags and flagpoles. Armstrong also brought something else with him. Tucked into his gear were the remnants of fabric and a small piece of the propeller from the airplane the Wright brothers flew on their first powered flight on December 17, 1903, in Kitty Hawk, South Carolina. Both Armstrong and the Wright brothers were from Ohio. The parallels between them were striking.

The Apollo 11 astronauts also brought music to the moon. Supplied with a small cassette tape recorder, they brought the following songs with them. Fly Me to the Moon by Sinatra, Galveston by Glen Campbell, it happened to be the number one song at the time in 1969. Angel of the Morning, but sung by Betty Swan. Everyone's Gone to the Moon by Jonathan King. And Spinning Wheel by Blood, Sweat and Tears. Probably chosen for this lyric. What goes up must come down. Which had everybody crossing their fingers back at mission control in Houston.

But while Apollo missions brought a lot of gear to the moon, they left a lot behind, too. Shedding additional weight made it easier for the lunar landing module to lift off the moon's surface, so the tools they used to gather moon rocks were left behind. So was the TV camera they used to send images back to Earth. But other odd items were left behind. 96 bags of human waste are on the moon.

Apollo 16 astronaut Charles Duke left a framed photo of his family there. On the back back it reads, This is the family of astronaut Charlie Duke from planet Earth, who landed on the moon April 20, 1972. Six American flags are still not flapping up there. A feather and hammer were left on a lunar rock, a tribute to Galileo,

who dropped a feather and hammer from the leaning tower of Pisa in the 16th century to prove the speed with which they fell was independent of their mass. Astronaut Alan Shepard smuggled the head of a golf club and a few golf balls aboard Apollo 14 and hit two balls across the lunar fairway. There is a moon buggy still up there, and an astronaut left a Bible on the dashboard. An Apollo 1 patch was placed on the moon to commemorate the astronauts who died in 1967

during a test of the command module. And the ashes of Gene Shoemaker, a geologist and one of the founders module. And the ashes of Gene Shoemaker, a geologist and one of the founders of planetary science, was left on the lunar surface. Shoemaker remains the only person to have their ashes flown to the moon. While there is a lot of space junk floating around in outer space

and many items left behind on the moon, the world of marketing wants to put more stuff out there. With the commercialization of space travel, it is opening up dozens of new opportunities for marketers. There are ads on rockets, ads on spacesuits, and big plans to even put ads on the moon. In the mad race to find any point of differentiation, brands are relishing the thought

of writing their names in the stars. It is the final ad frontier. You're under the influence. The advertising industry has a voracious appetite. In the eternal pursuit to surprise the public with intriguing ad placements, every inch of our world is festooned with advertising, from urinals to golf holes to gas pumps to hockey helmets.

Now, advertisers are setting their sights on outer space. You would think that the audience size for an ad in outer space would be small. After all, how many of us will ever get to outer space? But that's not the case. Advertisers are clamoring to find ad space in outer space. And that desire is nothing new. 34 years ago, in 1990, Russia launched the Soyuz TM-11 rocket for its 11th expedition to the Mir space station.

There was a Japanese journalist on board from the Tokyo Broadcasting System. The network not only paid for the journalist's seat, but also for a Tokyo Broadcasting System logo on the side of the rocket. When word got out the network was putting a logo on the rocket, three other brands asked to put their logos on the spacecraft as well, including Sony. Three years later, a company called Space Marketing Inc. in Georgia

put out a call to marketers. The company was looking for an advertiser for a giant floating billboard that would be launched into outer space. It would be so big, it would be visible to the naked eye. This giant astro-billboard would be half a mile long

by a quarter mile wide and would be made of mylar. Once ejected from the launch vehicle, the reflective billboard would unfurl and be pulled taut by a framework of inflating mylar tubes. From Earth, which is to say from 150 miles or 241 kilometers away,

the billboard would appear to be half the size of the full moon. Space Marketing Inc. said the billboard would generate no sound or light and its orbit could be controlled to cover only that part of the planet an advertiser would like to reach. Traveling at 20,000 miles per hour, or 32,000 kilometers per hour, the billboard could be seen from any Earth location for 10 minutes at a time, every 90 minutes, and would burn up in the atmosphere after two weeks. The cost, back in 1993, was $25 million, $20 million for the launch vehicle, and $5 million for the materials, engineering, and operations.

When members of Congress first heard about the Outer Space Billboard, they thought it was ridiculous. But when 11 advertisers ran up with checkbooks in hand, Congress panicked and introduced legislation preventing any venture from putting, quote, obtrusive advertising in space. As one senator said at the time, if advertisers are willing to pay $1.7 million

for a minute of ad time during the Super Bowl, it's frightening to imagine how much they might pay to have their ad seen by half the world for 15 days. Hmm. $1.7 million for a one-minute Super Bowl ad. How quaint that sounds now. In the last Super Bowl, a full minute of ad time cost around $14 million.

Even though Space Marketing Inc. called their ad an environmental billboard, it didn't fly, so to speak. The company was picketed by consumer groups opposed by astronomers and lobbyists, and Space Marketing Inc. eventually abandoned the idea. In 1996, PepsiCo paid Russia $5 million to have a giant four-foot can of Pepsi float outside the Mir space station.

One year later, the very first television commercial was shot in space. The ad starred the actual Russian commander of the space station at the time. In a highly produced commercial, we see the Moscow Space Center in a high state of tension as they lose contact with the Mir space

station. Then suddenly, contact is regained. Moscow Space Center asks the commander if he needs anything. He says he wants a glass of milk. The Russian Space Center tells him that milk has never been sent to space. The commander suggests Tunuva, an Israeli milk. So the milk is put through extensive testing and is cleared for delivery. Tunuva long-life milk

begins the journey to space. Then we see the Mir commander enjoying his Tunuva milk in the weightlessness of the space station. It took nine months to plan and film that commercial in outer space.

The thing about space advertising is that outer space is not ruled by any one entity, per se. Back in 1967, the United Nations passed the Outer Space Treaty. The treaty was largely based on the declaration of legal principles governing the activities of countries

in outer space. Essentially, it said the exploration and use of outer space shall be carried out for the benefit of all mankind. It said that nothing in outer space shall be claimed by any one country, no nuclear weapons shall be placed in outer space, and the moon and other celestial bodies

shall be used exclusively for peaceful purposes. The treaty was signed by the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom, and the United States. There was nothing in the treaty about advertising. While the U.S. prohibits American marketers from placing obtrusive advertising in space, defined as being anything that can be viewed from Earth without the aid of a telescope, Russia is much more lax about the issue. It has a history of selling ad space on

cosmonauts' spacesuits. In 2001, Pizza Hut had its logo put on a Russian proton rocket. And Houston, we have pizza. That same year, Pizza Hut delivered a pie to the International Space Station in a vacuum-sealed container aboard a Russian rocket. Pizza Hut paid the Russian space agency $1 million to deliver the ZAW, which was a bargain, as it's estimated that stunt attracted over $250 million

worth of free press for Pizza Hut. And if you think delivering pizza is a big deal, wait until you hear what Japan has planned for Astro Advertising. A Japanese company called iSpace wants to put advertising on the moon. Again, is it legal to advertise on the moon? Well, the short answer is yes. The aforementioned 1967 Outer Space Treaty, which Japan has also signed, does not directly specify or restrict advertising.

And as for the No Obtrusive Ads American Law restricting-law-restricting-celestial-advertising, iSpace doesn't need to abide by U.S. laws. But the company isn't suggesting plunking gigantic billboards onto the lunar surface. Instead, iSpace wants to project the image of an advertisement onto a lunar lander, rover, or other vehicle. While those ads wouldn't be visible from Earth, they would essentially be a photo op for brands who want the lunar landscape to be a backdrop for their logos.

After all, Instagram does need content. Another UK company called Lunads has a similar idea. According to their website, Lunads offers a non-obstructive, repeatable, and perpetual advertising method designed to bring ads from space to devices on Earth. Once in a lifetime, an opportunity comes along that is quite literally out of this world. Our company, Intercosmic Space Programs, after decades of development, have secured the unique opportunity to advertise in space, including the moon. Here's how it would work. A satellite in lunar orbit would project ads onto the lunar surface.

The satellite films the images it just projected, transmits them to an Earth-bound satellite, and then relays them directly to devices anywhere. The images could then be used in print ads and billboards here on Terra Firma. The projected images do not touch or alter the lunar surface in any way and cannot be viewed from Earth. Therefore, Lunads

does not contravene any laws. The company has been awarded a patent and a trademark. In 2008, Doritos became the first brand to beam a commercial out to potential extraterrestrial life.

The commercial was part of the Doritos Broadcast Project. Doritos invited people in the UK to create a 30-second video clip that offered a snapshot

of life on Earth. The public was also allowed to vote on the best entry and chose a video directed by a 25-year-old named Matt Boron. The video was then

pulsed out over a six-hour period from high-powered radar at the European Space Station in the Arctic Circle. The signal was directed at a solar system just 42 light-years from Earth.

Apparently, it hosts a habitable zone that could harbor small life-supporting planets like Earth. The head of the Doritos broadcast project said, We are constantly looking to push the boundaries of advertising,

and this will go further than any brand has gone before. Doritos is delivering a world first. He also said he wouldn't be too surprised if the first alien started arriving on planet Earth immediately, demanding a bag of Doritos. When Red Bull had a skydiver jump and free fall from the stratosphere back in 2012, there was a big delay because of bad weather. The jump was postponed for days. Kit Kat took the opportunity to post an ad telling Red Bull skydiver Felix Baumgartner

that it could be a long wait, so have a break, have a Kit Kat. Then Kit Kat took it one big step further. Two days later, to show solidarity with Baumgartner, it launched a Kit Kat bar into low orbit. Using a balloon, the KitKat bar rose to a height of 116,400 feet or 35,400 meters above Earth.

Camera footage tracked the bar's journey, and you can still find it on YouTube. Hashtag, take a break from gravity. A company called Intuitive Machines made history recently. It landed its Odysseus robot on the moon. It was the first commercial company to put a spacecraft on the lunar surface. Houston, Odysseus has found his new home.

That spacecraft also had a Columbia sportswear logo on it. Part of that lunar lander was layered with a material called OmniHeat to protect it from the extreme temperatures in space. OmniHeat is a patented material that Columbia puts in its puffer coats.

While many companies make puffer coats, this lunar landing gave Columbia something to the edge of outer space. Named The Zinger, the sandwich was to be lifted into space by a high-altitude straddle light balloon. Some weeks ago, we set out on a journey. A journey rife with discovery and possibility and 11 herbs and spices. And all because we dared to ask one question. A question man has asked since the dawn of whenever it was that we started thinking about this marketing campaign.

Can you launch the Zinger Chicken Sandwich into space? The sandwich was scheduled to remain aloft for four days at an altitude of up to 80,000 feet, or 24,400 meters. Roger, Mission Control Team. Proceed with staff's report from Sandwich Team. Spiciness. Spiciness is go for launch. Crispiness. Crispiness is a go for lunch. Crispiness.

Crispiness is a go. Buns. Toasted sesame seed buns are go. Lettuce. Lettuce is go. Mayo. Mayo is go for lunch. Then came time for liftoff.

Five, four, three, two, one. And liftoff. We have liftoff of the Zinger 1 space mission. Holy cow, that's some spicy crispy chicken moving out at an average rate of 1,000 feet per minute. With that, the KFC Zinger chicken sandwich journeyed skyward from its launch pad in Arizona. While KFC had its tongue planted firmly in cheek, the sandwich did touch the boundary of outer space. It also served as a test flight for the marketability of stratospheric balloons, which are expected to reach altitudes of 28.5 miles or 45.8 kilometers above the Earth.

This is the greatest achievement in chicken sandwich space travel history. In all my years in this business, I've certainly never seen anything like it. What a time to be alive. Remember when I mentioned Space Marketing, Inc. and its giant outer space billboard idea that was essentially voted down by Congress. Well, that was back in 1993. In 2018, Elon Musk made history when he successfully launched the world's most powerful operational rocket into space. But something else hitched a ride. It was a red Tesla Roadster convertible, complete with a dummy strapped into the driver's seat.

According to Musk, the car could be cruising through deep space for hundreds of millions of years to come. It was a marketing coup for Tesla. Recently, Business Insider reported that Elon Musk has been planning to use his SpaceX rocket ship to launch a series of 50 small satellites into low Earth orbit. Each would be about the size of a bag of groceries. The satellites would be constantly bathed in sunlight and would deploy large reflectors to bounce that bright light back to Earth. Each satellite would appear like a bright star, and all 50 could be arranged to form

pixelated patterns, not unlike an army of drones. Those images could spell out a brand name or form a logo in the night sky. And they could switch advertisers between target cities. And here's the surprising part. These outer space ads could be cheaper than a Super Bowl commercial. Here's the math. A three-month satellite campaign would cost $111 million, split between 24 different advertisers. Therefore, each ad would cost $4.6 million.

That's much less than the current $7 million Super Bowl price tag. And instead of just reaching a hundred million people, it could reach hundreds of millions of people. It's a novel idea, but Musk already has competition. A new Russian company wants to light up the night skies with advertisements for brands like Coke, McDonald's and KFC. The company is called Start Rocket and it plans to launch 200 tiny satellites, called CubeSats, at an altitude of about 500 kilometers in the lower orbit. Like Musk's idea, these tiny satellites would reflect the sun

and fly close together to comprise the pixels of a giant screen that could be switched on and off to display short words or logos. Besides brands, Start Rocket's CubeSats could promote big events like the Super Bowl or the Olympics, or even deliver emergency messages in remote cut-off or disaster-hit areas when normal means of communication won't work. The company says it's going to cost around $150 million to get the system launched, then it will charge $200,000 for every eight hours of advertising,

which is way cheaper than Musk's idea and way cheaper than a Super Bowl ad. Since the 1950s, outer space has been the domain of governments. But with the arrival of commercialized space travel, all that is changing. The cost of space travel is coming down thanks to private industry, and NASA is even counting on that fact to underwrite future space exploration. But if private industry is going to hold that much sway, it's going to want to call the shots. And one of those shots will undoubtedly be advertising,

because the possibility of reaching hundreds of millions of people at the same time will just be too tempting. And the revenue potential is astronomical. But I don't know anyone who wants to look up at the stars and see a logo for McDonald's. Besides McDonald's. And I don't know anyone who wants to see the word

Coke projected on the moon. Besides Coke. I'm an ad guy who loves creativity and who sometimes likes to be surprised by a novel ad placement, but I don't like this idea. There is already too much advertising in the world. Why push that clutter into the Milky Way? It'll be one small step for man, one giant unwelcome leap for mankind.

When you're under the influence. I'm Terry O'Reilly. This episode was recorded in the Terrastream Airstream mobile recording studio on planet Earth. Producer, Debbie O'Reilly. Sound engineer, Jeff Devine. Under the influence theme by Ari Posner and Ian Lefevre

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And if you'd like to read next week's fun fact, just go to apostrophepodcasts.ca and follow the prompts. See you next week. Hello, this is Amber from Winnipeg, Manitoba. Fun fact! The Apollo spacesuits were actually made by bra maker company Playtex, and two of the layers included bra and girdle material.