While Virgin Galactic got a lot of publicity in the Middle East last week when it announced its first customer from the UAE, not everyone is impressed. In an article in ArabianBusiness.com, Anil Bhoyrul sees the announcement, and Virgin Galactic itself, as little more than a publicity stunt designed to further the overall Virgin brand. Bhoyrul acknowledges that Virgin Galactic has attracted a lot of attention and customers to date (although it’s not clear they have really signed up 400 fully-paid customers yet, and even if they did, the $80 million in revenue would not be nearly enough to break even). However, “the real point here is that, whether it made a dollar or not, this is going to be the greatest marketing stunt of all time, and executed by one of the world’s greatest marketing men.”
Oh Yeah, just like how the Airplane was a marketing stunt for Orvill and Wilbur Wright’s bicycle shop… Hmm…
Has anybody bought a Wright brand bicycle lately? Marketing stunt my butt…
“A lot of people want to fly in space.” It’s that simple.
SpaceShipOne was not a marketing stunt.
Marketing stunt should not be a bad word(s). Let’s say it is a marketing stunt. It is part of a broader strategy, and it both helps the company and commercial space industry. Frankly, the Wright brothers flight was a stunt, a stunt that worked. That’s the important thing.