Marketing the Moon: The Selling of the Apollo Lunar Program by David Meerman Scott, Richard Jurek, Eugene A. Cernan

Title: Marketing the Moon
Author: David Meerman Scott and Richard Jurek
Publisher: MIT Press
Publication Date: February 28, 2014
ISBN: 9780262026963
Number of Pages: 130
How I Got It: NetGalley
Format: Kindle

NetGalley Description: 

In July 1969, ninety-four percent of American televisions were tuned to coverage of Apollo 11’s mission to the moon. How did space exploration, once the purview of rocket scientists, reach a larger audience than My Three Sons? Why did a government program whose standard operating procedure had been secrecy turn its greatest achievement into a communal experience? In Marketing the Moon, David Meerman Scott and Richard Jurek tell the story of one of the most successful marketing and public relations campaigns in history: the selling of the Apollo program.

Primed by science fiction, magazine articles, and appearances by Wernher von Braun on the “Tomorrowland” segments of the Disneyland prime time television show, Americans were a receptive audience for NASA’s pioneering “brand journalism.” Scott and Jurek describe sophisticated efforts by NASA and its many contractors to market the facts about space travel—through press releases, bylined articles, lavishly detailed background materials, and fully produced radio and television features—rather than push an agenda. American astronauts, who signed exclusive agreements withLife magazine, became the heroic and patriotic faces of the program. And there was some judicious product placement: Hasselblad was the “first camera on the moon”; Sony cassette recorders and supplies of Tang were on board the capsule; and astronauts were equipped with the Exer-Genie personal exerciser. Everyone wanted a place on the bandwagon.

Generously illustrated with vintage photographs, artwork, and advertisements, many never published before, Marketing the Moon shows that when Neil Armstrong took that giant leap for mankind, it was a triumph not just for American engineering and rocketry but for American marketing and public relations.

My Review:

Any reference to 1969 in pop culture is quick to show a family gathered around their television watching the moon landing. Little do most people know that there was intense marketing preceding the launch and landing. "Marketing the Moon" is a very detailed account of the space program leading up to (and including ) the Apollo program. Any one interested in the history of the U.S. space program or marketing will love this book. Packed full of detailed facts, "Marketing the Moon" is mind-boggling in the concept that the program had to be "sold" to the American public. For insight into how astronaut's wives became celebrities and Americans warmed from the Cold War to become flag waving spectators, this book will provide you the entire background story.

** I received this book in exchange for an honest review ***