Army Strong, McCann Worldgroup Rich

Taps gently plays for “Army of one” the U.S. Army’s tagline for the past five years. While the Army, which achieves many of its goals by ensuring operational effectiveness through the suppression of individual identity for a group identity, Army of one was not a good slogan. Be all you can be still sounds pretty good to me. In comes, the less articulate “Army Strong.” The new slogan, which apparently was a result of qualitative research with Dr. Bruce Banner after he became very angry, is from McCann Worldgroup. The Army account is valued at $200 million annually.

“There’s strong, then there’s Army Strong” claims the new campaign. The Army missed recruiting numbers two years ago and bounced back to exceed its goal of 80,000 soldiers. But as Lee Corso likes to say, “not so fast, my friend. AdAge points out, to hit the numbers, the Army engaged in some Army Dumb (lower aptitude tests) and some Army Misdemeanor (arrests and drunken driving), plus some Army Coin (greater financial incentives) to make sure the Army (is) Strong.

From an identity campaign, this may be the shiny lure to get young recruits to bite, but does this help America feel good about their military or does it help Army alums to continue to feel a part of the symbolic community of the U.S. Army?



From AdAge:

The ads were unveiled today as the Army released year-end recruiting numbers showing it exceeded by 635 its goal of recruiting 80,000 soldiers, a 7,000-soldier increase in the Army's target from last year. The Army has added a number of recruiters and offered bonuses to students for entering the Army.

The Army said 2,600 of the new recruits came in as a result of lower aptitude standards, and there was a slight increase in the number of recruits accepted under waivers for various medical, moral or criminal problems, including misdemeanor arrests and drunken driving.

Posted at Sanctioning Agent.