I Went to Mars Today!
Going to Mars is something I would probably never do, however, adding my name to the universe history books was a no brainer for me. Here are some thoughts I have about the mission and what we can learn from the campaign.
A placard commemorating NASA’s “Send Your Name to Mars” campaign was installed on the Perseverance Mars rover on March 16, 2020, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Three fingernail-sized chips affixed to the upper-left corner of the placard feature the names of 10,932,295 people who participated. They were individually stenciled onto the chips by electron beam, along with the essays of the 155 finalists in NASA’s “Name the Rover” contest. Liftoff aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V 541 rocket is targeted for mid-July of 2020 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. NASA’s Launch Services Program, based at Kennedy, is managing the launch.
Credit
NASA/JPL-Caltech
Connecting People Emotionally to a Mission
This is such a cool campaign as it allowed people to tap into a sense of childhood imagination and exploration of new experiences, all without going any where. How can we take this concept and apply it to marketing campaigns. After a lot of thinking, I have come up with 3 ways to replicate this campaign and which can be applied to any industry.
- Tell a story that invites the audience to join you.
- Sharing a vision is about connecting to people and tapping into what they are excited about or what motivates them.
- People care more about the experience you give them than the product or service they are getting.
- How many times have you bought something and it wasn’t exactly what you were expecting but because the customer support was so helpful or understanding, you still recommended the company and possibly even kept the item.
- Give people a reason to feel important.
- When people are connected to a product, service, or mission that has the ability to change a person or a group’s outcome, it provides positive reinforcements that counteracts childhood fears and suppression of freedom
Key Facts About
NASA’s Mars 2020 Rover
Launched:
July 30 at 4:50 a.m. PDT (7:50 a.m. EDT)
Landing:
Feb. 18, 2021
Mission Duration:
At Least One Mars Year (about 687 Earth days)
Dark Side of the Universe
Why did I submit my name to be transported from Earth to Mars?
Honestly, my initial thought was, why not, this is really cool. But the sadistic side of me thought; if the world were to be destroyed or if the sun were to explode and destroy all lifeforms, but somehow the micro chip, which had my name on it, were to survive; maybe who ever were to find it would think I was some one important. Maybe they would think I was one of many in a group of people who tried to save the world, or maybe was the reason for it.
I think that everyone wants to be remembered and have an impact on the world, however, I think many people forget that they do have an impact on their world, regardless.
