Recruiting Posters, Slogans and Commercials [Merged]

[MikeM]

Good on ya for getting people interesting, but hit the spell check before posting bud.

 

[GDawg]

Well, I wish our problem were as simple as "advertising". To me the problem is a cultural one. As far as advertising goes, I think the most effective thing would be to get the soldiers into elementary and junior highs, not to recruit, but to explain what a soldier does, and how it helps all of us.

I hate to say it, but from my observations, 85% of high  school kids don't give a damn about the world, Canada, or her army. As a recruiter, I have visited dozens of high schools multiple times this year, and very few kids come up and talk to me, and some of those come up merely to say asinine things to "impress" their buddies, some think I am a US Marine, and one wanted to fight me to settle a bet with his pals.

The biggest problem of living in a democracy where the public perceives they are under no external threat, or that we will never, ever be in danger is that few think twice about national security. The public has been lulled into a sense of false security, and a feeling  of self satisfaction with our involvement in humanitarian and stabilisation missions abroad.

I think its fair to say that Canada's safety does not come without a price, and those in charge of the PR and advertising purse-strings are mortified of the idea of telling the public that.

I applaud those who get out and try and find out whats going on, and even go as far as to form an opinion, those folks seem to side with the guys in green.

/end rant

 

[Gayson]

The CF needs to advertise on TV more.  Also the ads need to get better.  There was an RM television ad posted here some months ago.  That ad was the best ad for any military I had ever seen.  The CF should look at its allies recruiting techniques for ways to get more people.

 

[johnny_boy]

They should make "Canada's Army" for the computer


I used to see recruiting ads before movies all the time, they were decent ads - not too corny. What ever happened to those and does anyone know if there is any talk of doing new ones?

 

[GDawg]

The TV ads and the ones played before movies suck.

They are too fast, and have no substance.

I would like to see ads that appeal to ones heart. The USAF had some great TV ads a while back when they came out with their new logo, their aim was to link the past and present to the future. Some of the ads the Americans put out are great, though the ANG and Reserve ads tend to be corny.
It seems Canadian recruitment is aimed at appealing to ones wallet, and frankly, thats retarded. If you wanna get rich, you don't join the CF.

My advice to ADM (PA) and CF recruiting, is to aim a bit higher, from wallet to heart.

 

[Zirus]

I think the Americans do a good Job on there commercials!



One that hit me so hard

was a joint commercial ford/Army


i don't remember how it goes but i do recall it being 7 to 10 minutes long!!!! (i thought it was a show until it ended)


if anybody has seen it or knows where i could see it again

please tell me!

Zirus out!

 

[Lost_Warrior]

You guys have to remember.  The US government and it's people CARE about their military.

Canadians, and our Liberal government could really care less about the men and wormen in uniform, so little resources are put into recruiting videos.

Don't expect multi-million dollar commercials, with cool CGI and good actors...

 

[SHARP WO]

I think as soldiers we are are own best advertisers, at least on a small scale.

I remeber being at college in 98 taking journalsim and communications media and had to put ideas forward for a few stories/ news items. Since I went to the Ice Storm, I thought wow, why not interview a few students from the college who had went to the Ice Storm and get thier impression and views of what they did. My teachers said that it wasn't news worthy, that it would look like I was recruiting for the Army. 5 days later a few interviews showed up on TV, I guess they were wrong.

SHARP WO

 

[.68]

Yeah I think some more ads would be a good venture for strengthening our military forces, but consider this with a budges so tight as it is money could be spent in more needed areas, like increased salary's and equipment.  Hey at least they arn't as bad as the training videos(First Aid, etc.) that I seen in BMQ were quite out of date, like made in early 80s

Out

 

[Gayson]

The best video done by the DND I have ever seen is that old Combat fatigue movie.

There is a brit recce movie used that comes 2nd "You will perform your recce here, here, here, here, here and here"

 

[Fishbone Jones]

Why advertise? We can't process the people that want to join now. The last thing we need is more people hanging about for a couple of years waiting on a uniform or trade.

 

[Love793]

The problem with our advertising lies at the parliamentary level.  The recent sponsorship fiasco was proof of it.  During the hole fiasco, an advertisement moratorium was put out.  This stopped ALL FEDERAL GOVT ads.  DGPA has a site for advertisements that all recruiters know and order advertising from.  Unfortunately the monies are not avail for mass ads the newspaper, radio and such.  These ads aren't bad by any description, it's just costly.  In 31 CBG a large unit receives around $1250/yr for ads.  The cost to run a ad in the Windsor Star, $1400 for one 1/4 page ad.

  The other problem is caused by our Govt (DND included) refusing to associate our jobs; Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen (Air persons for the PC types) as Warriors.  Unfortunately the left winged media here is just as guilty.  I don't know how many times I've seen pictures or stories on the news saying "... at CFB Bloggins, Canadian Peacekeepers are exercising in a large... "
Very rarely do I see "Today in Kabul, Canadian Soldiers..."  Unless of course a blackmark occurred.

The Americans or the Brits on the other hand, do not hesitate to call a spade a spade.  It's not," American Peacekeepers in Iraq...", but "US Marines/Army (Choose your preference) today..."

I have shared the same experiences as other recruiters at schools, and I finds most people are receptive (except the Left winged Guidance Departments at certain schools), just uneducated to our purpose.

 

[Griswald DME]

I believe the public needs to be educated about the military family lifestyle.   Here is my example.

When my wife was growing up in Ontario the image she had of the "boys in Borden" was not good at all, basically she was told to stay the heck away from   military men.   This was a general impression received by comments here and there from friends, family, whomever.   And when a soldier did something stupid, they assumed "they were all like that".

When we started dating she didn't even know I was in the Reserves.   I didn't hide it from her, but my main job was something unrelated, and so thats what she knew I did for a living.   Further into our relationship she found out and was horrified.   She now had to deal with knowing I was a fairly average guy and in the military.   She had to deal with the skeletons in her closet you might say.

Needless to say, now she has actually knowledge that military families are just like any other family, mostly nice people but some jerks just like in the general population, the wrong images she had are long gone.

The reason I blab on about this is because I feel by far a large percentage of the Canadian population tend to harbour incorrect thoughts about the military, and the military needs to be more proactive in correcting this.   After all, if a potential soldiers wife (or girlfriend, sometimes parents) does not know enough about the military, they may automatically dismiss the idea and the CF may have lost a good employee.

 

[Bomber]

Back in 2000, the Brits did a series of ads showing their soldiers serving in Bosnia and Kosovo.  It showed an infantry officer, a medic corporal, and a transport sgt.  These ads were run at the beginning of most movies around that time and were really powerful in their delivery of the message.  There was a 45 second intro, where you were introduced to the individual and their job was laid out, then it followed them on a day that started out typically.  Then something happened, The Sgt encountered a mine on a proven road (a loaded troop transport truck hit one), the Capt had a section come under fire from a hidden enemy in a cleared building, and the medic had to deal with a guy shot in the neck by a sniper.Just as the stuff hit the fan for these people, a multiple choice question popped up and the scene was frozen for 5 seconds.  Just long enough to be read.  Then it would change to a Coke commercial, and when the DoD commercial came back, it ran the audience through the 4 or 5 possibilities presented, choices that the audience would have made were explored, these resolutions only lasted 10-15 seconds, but they were graphic and brutal.  It was filmed like any normal documentary that you would expect to see on the Discovery channel, but quickly turned into Private Ryan style film making, when the sgts convoy was stopped by the mine strike.  I don't remeber how the Capt and the Medic got out of their jams, but the choices for the Sgt were to call in a helicopter to pick up the wounded, send guys in to get the wounded out, make a bridge out of winch cable, run another vehicle out to get them, or wait for the engineers and a company of infantry to show up to protect them while rescuing them.  The helicopter got shot to pieces and had to fly off, the section that ran out got sniped at, tying into the medic story, the winch cable wasn't long enough and couldn't be thrown, the vehicle set off another mine.  I know it is a long post, but these adds were to show people the struggles and hard ship that their soldiers faced everyday, to put a human face on the "military", and demonstrate the consequences of snap decisions.  The catch phrase was simple, asking the audience what they would do, and then letting them know what happened.  People in the theatres really cheered for these, because they were actually exciting to watch and had a human side as well, also they served beer in the theatre in New Castle. not like the one we had a few years ago about the lady jumping from the Herc and then being the crew commander in a tank. 

My point is that people are interested in interesting things.  Something they can relate to a little bit.  making stuff interactive is a great way, but like others have said, it is best to remind the public that these are warriors, not international police, or Chretien's "Boy Scouts"

 

[Canuck_25]

Well, I remember seeing the DND commercials a while back. Also, we have recruitment book marks in our school. No poster though.

I remember one student joking while looking at the book mark that said "Strong, proud, today's Canadian forces."

He said. "demorarised, weak, today's Canadian forces."

 

[Freddy Chef]

...I wish our problem were as simple as "advertising". To me the problem is a cultural one ...
I hate to say it, but from my observations, 85% of high school kids don't give a darn about the world, Canada, or her army...

Most of today's kids are more self-serving, self-absorbed, self-obsessed, and selfish. A CF service member is more selfless; â Å“Don't blade buddyâ ?.  Most of these kids would bastardize the John F. Kennedy quote to, â ?Ask not what you can do for your country, ask what your country can do for you.â ?

I went back to school, two years ago, and even some of the first year university kids have the same attitude; â ?The world owes me a livingâ ?, â Å“The world revolves around meâ ?.

I think that only about 30%- 40% of today's kids are even worth recruiting. The remainder are just all talk and no action. They'd spend hours playing HALO 2, but wouldn't dare sign up for QL2-QL3 (the modern equivalent, that is), let alone endure it.

More advertising may attract the desired percentile. But the majority of today's youth still don't understand the word â ?earnâ ?.

As recceguy pointed out, emphasis should be placed on the people that actually want to be in the CF.

GDawg pointed out that education about the CF should be introduced in grade school. Work ethic and attitude should also be introduced (reintroduced?) into the grade school curriculum.

 

[goodform]

It has been my experience, for the limited amount I have, that people are generally uninformed about the CF. To promote interest it helps to give someone an understanding of what can or does happen to soldiers. I also know a lot of people aren't going to go out of their way to find out about it. Posters and commercials help, but just like the originator of this thread said, he had to talk to people. I know that recruiters go out and talk to highschool students, but it's mostly about RMC as far as I remember. Guess another captive audience needs to be found as schools already refuse a lot of organizations because so many want to come in and talk to the kids.

That Brit ad sounds great.

 

[aesop081]

.

pointed out that education about the CF should be introduced in grade school.

As much as i agree with that general idea....what exactly do you think that the reaction to that would be ? Remember what country you live in ? I honestly don't think that the idea would go over well with the peace freaks of the nation !  Remeber that we live in a country where, in one instance, a school banned mother's day because it would offend kids with 2 male parents, even though the school had no students in that situation.

lets be more realistic........

 

[Love793]

We're also a country that a University kicked a CFRC Det out of a Job fair that they where invited to attend, because a left winged extremist, complained about their presence.  No mention of the fact that 30 plus students at the school are reservists, and 5 other students are having their entire education paid for by the CF as part of ROTP.

 

[GDawg]

We're also a country that a University kicked a CFRC Det out of a Job fair that they where invited to attend, because a left winged extremist, complained about their presence.  No mention of the fact that 30 plus students at the school are reservists, and 5 other students are having their entire education paid for by the CF as part of ROTP.

High school kids are bad, but don't even get me started on some of the enlightened souls you'd meet at an institution of higher learning. Most folks out grow that level of ignorance, others grow up to become policy makers for certain federal political parties....