Adventure is Out There

Hi everyone! I'm Ari Lewis, the cofounder of Payload. Welcome to the fifth edition of Marketing From Space, my monthly newsletter on storytelling, comms, and PR in the aerospace industry.

Before diving in, let's run through some updates on the Payload front. Our flagship newsletter now sits north of 18,000 subscribers. We hosted our first event in Washington, DC with In-Q-Tel, which delved into how the emerging space sector and the government can work together better.

Since my last Marketing From Space dispatch, Payload has announced partnership deals with Blacksky, a16z, RSM US, First Resonance, and SpiderOak. If you're interested in reaching the Payload audience, chat with Brian, our sales lead. If you just want to chat marketing, book time with me.

Now, on to the main business...

In this month's edition...
💭 Brian’s thoughts
🎙️ Q+A with Redwire’s Tere Riley
👩🏼‍🚀 Space marketing job board
🚀 Quick reads to help you do your job better

The View from Space

In the fast-paced world of space exploration and innovation, businesses are seeking ways to expand their reach and make valuable connections. Payload, an emerging media company in the industry, offers sponsorship opportunities that provide unparalleled exposure and engagement.

From must-read newsletters and captivating events to engaging podcasts and bespoke content creation, Payload opens the doors to a world of possibilities for businesses aiming to leave their mark in the space industry.

Flagship Newsletter: Payload's daily newsletter reaches 18,000+ subscribers with an impressive 53% open rate. Sponsors can prominently display their logo, captivating imagery, and tailored copy to promote their content or website. By aligning your brand with Payload's influential platform, you gain visibility and connect with a highly engaged audience.

Polaris: Sponsoring our weekly space policy newsletter authored by renowned expert Jacqueline Feldscher offers exclusive access to a niche audience of government entities and industry insiders. By associating your brand with authoritative space policy discussions, you capture the attention of influential decision-makers.

Parallax: Target a highly specialized audience with Payload's weekly science-specific space content newsletter. By aligning your brand with Parallax, you establish credibility and affinity among passionate space professionals.

Pathfinder: Sponsoring Payload's flagship podcast willposition your brand as a thought leader in the space sector. Engage with industry leaders, startup founders, and key investors through in-depth discussions.

Events: Payload's in-person gatherings provide unparalleled opportunities to connect with influential stakeholders, including government entities, emerging space companies, and investors. Attend our happy hours, thought leadership events, and private conferences to network and discuss leading industry topics.

Virtual Events: Online webinars allow a global audience to connect with your brand. Sponsors enjoy complete webinar sponsorship, with Payload handling all setup logistics. Maximize your reach and gain valuable leads.

Sponsored Content: Partner with Payload's in-house brand studio to create long-form content that amplifies your brand's message. Benefit from expert content creation and engage with your target audience effectively.

The best partnerships leverage multiple sponsorship opportunities to access Payload's diverse audience. By combining flagship newsletters, event sponsorships, podcasts, and custom content, sponsors maximize their reach and resonate with different segments of the space industry. Tailor your approach to the content your target audience consumes and establish your brand as a prominent player in the sector.

Profile of the Month

Name: Tere Riley
Title: Director, Marketing and Communications @ Redwire Space
Contact: Email / LinkedIn

This transcript was lightly edited for length and clarity.

What is one item you'd take to space? My iPad which stores all the things to keep me entertained when I need a break from star gazing—everyone needs a small break, I’m sure of it! Pictures of my family, music and of course my favorite space movie, Space Balls!

Redwire is a roll-up of a few space companies. What are the best practices you all have learned from integrating a company into the Redwire brand? 

It’s been exciting to work with the companies we have acquired to better serve the industry, and one of biggest and best practice so far is listening. We have incredible talent who are problem solvers and know their products well, so it’s been a key part of collaboration across the organization. With so much heritage under our brand, there’s much to learn from each other.

With integration comes serious planning, patience, and brand building that isn’t always the easiest, nor does it happen overnight. We are focused on being a key mission enabler for almost every space mission. We are critical for people to be able to explore, live and work in space, and we support multinational space exploration. It’s all about going back to the core, to our mission of accelerating humanity’s expansion into space. I’m proud to be part of an organization that is doing the hard work now.

This isn’t future talk—we are actively building the technology that will for example enable humans to be on the Moon or manufacture medicine in space for people on Earth. I’m proud to work for an organization that is full of passionate individuals that are working towards a mission that is bigger than our individual selves.

What do you do on your free time? Do you live and breathe marketing? While I love all things marketing, I really value and enjoy my time with my family and find that inspiration can come when you take a break from work. I also enjoy gardening and running, both are my Zen zones. I find that having a fresh brain to start the week, indulging in other hobbies, etc., is a lot more effective to continuously being inspired. 

You spent the beginning of your career at Discovery. How did you manage the switch from non-space marketing to space marketing? Were there any lessons at Discovery that helped make you more successful in your space marketing career? At Discovery I had the opportunity to work in a variety of areas which included ad sales marketing, branding, production, and leading teams for branded content and integrations across channels for Latin America, US Hispanic, and international markets. I got to work on large scale campaigns, like Shark Week or Motor Mondays, launch new channels, brand new channels, work with research, digital social, etc. It was a dream to work with this powerhouse and it really taught me so much. I was exposed to a lot of space content that we had on both Discovery and Science Channel, and I ended up winning an award with Warner Bros. Studio for a weekend program wrap we did for the movie Gravity and soon after, I got a call from CASIS, ISS National Lab. With all that being said, the transition was NOT the subject; it was the SKILLS.

I was able to take what I had learned and apply it in new ways. I was bringing a new perspective and new ideas, but the skills were the same. I had years of experience working with clients, brands, agencies, television production, media, talent, etc. I’ve seen the importance of finding common values between parties, being flexible, and understanding that we as humans are all just trying to do good work. Space to me is the ultimate definition of being mission focused. This community represents a wide pool of people who are passionate about innovation and trying to do good work to accomplish something that is bigger than us all. This transition goes back to my Discovery days, the reasons John Hendricks founded the network—exploration and curiosity.

The universe works in mysterious ways! 

What is one marketing initiative that you have worked on at Redwire that has been successful and why? The one thing that we have intentionally done is to better align with our prime customers on communication plans and strategies- tying in with their existing plans and priorities to maximize efforts. Working as partners from beginning to end is much more valuable than trying to insert the brand in areas that don’t make sense; always finding the common values and work on long-term gains is key to growth for any kind of cobranding.

How does Redwire use its brand to differentiate itself from competitors? We have 50+ years of space flight heritage and, our heritage and innovation make us uniquely qualified to meet the complexity and demands of today's growing and evolving space industry. We have an incredible track record of mission successes (We have delivered over 600 Coarse Sun Sensors, and never has one failed!) We are pioneers who have been first for a variety of in-space manufacturing milestones, including selling the first product from space here on Earth….We really stand out as a one-stop shop for all mission needs. Whether a customer has an idea, or we do our teams design, build, and deliver with quality and reliable….It’s honestly truly a team extension for space companies.

What is a fun fact no one would ever know about you? I didn’t always want to be in marketing. I wanted to be a veterinarian, so I became a zookeeper/animal trainer right before my 18^th birthday at Zoo Miami. I worked with many species of animals for our wildlife show and was privileged enough to work with cheetahs and on conservation efforts. I became very involved in the zoo, volunteering my time on committees that supported guest experiences and did a lot of media relations for events and much more.

From the zoo, to Discovery, to space, my career path so far is defined as adventurous.

Curated Space Jobs

• Director of Public Relations @ Space Florida

• Communications Manager @ ABL Space Systems

• Marketing Director @ Department of the Air Force

• Sales and Marketing Representative @ TRL11

• Sr. Channel Marketing Manager (Starlink) @ SpaceX

Ari's Top Links

• Boycotts hit stocks hard. Here’s what might be next for Bud, Target and others caught in the anti-Pride backlash—Do boycotts really work if you have a strong relationship with your brand?

• Bud Light wanted to market to all. Instead, it’s alienating everyone—Marketing sometimes fails, but how can we respond appropriately when that happens?

• One Giant Leap for Brand Kind—The final frontier is going to start having advertising.

Final Thoughts

On June 29 at 11am ET/2pm PT, I’ll be hosting a webinar titled, “How to Pitch Journalists” with Jacqueline Feldscher, managing editor at Payload. You can register HERE. 

Last month I hosted a webinar with the marketing team from Spire to discuss how marketing and business development can do a better job working together. You can watch the webinar HERE.

As always, I'd really love to hear from you. Reply to this email to drop me a line with feedback, constructive criticism, or just to say hi.

Your input really helps me iterate and make this a better experience for everyone. If you have anything to contribute, such as a marketing job, link, interview, or article, email me and I'll work on including it in the next edition.