US Army Marketing Secrets

Twitter: @DavidALee

TOP SECRET

The Secret…What’s my brand???

The Secret…What’s my brand???

Agenda

  General Overview of Army Marketing

  Challenges

  Organization

  Social Media – Recruiting

  Social Media – The “Big Army”

  Dave’s 2 cents on social media

  So what??

  Questions

Director of Marketing

Advertising Digital Outreach

Responsibilities included:

-managing a budget that for FY07-FY09 was as much as $450 million per year,

-developing a more integrated campaign in order to produce cost efficiencies,

-managing three divisions and an operations section (details follow),

-working with an advertising agency with offices in New York City, Chicago, Minneapolis, Oakland and Los Angeles,

-overseas communications plan to make sure public relations are integrated into new advertising and digital campaigns as well as outreach events,

-although not an assigned responsibility we identified that education has become a strategic issue in our country and leveraged our cost efficiencies to shift money into building an alliance with national education organizations.

Working Relationships

McCann World Group

New York, NY

Office of the Chief of Public Affairs

Army Reserve Marketing Section

Basic Training (Research)

Army Recruiting Local Marketing

ROTC Cadet Recruiting

Local Marketing

Accessions Command Marketing Section

Asst Sec of the Army (Manpower & Reserve

Affairs)

Secretary of the Army Chief of Staff, Army

Marketing Advisors

Army Brand Group

Regular Army Army Reserve ROTC

  The Army brand will have a single message, look, personality and tone   Linked brand positioning (messages)   Unified logo / visual identity

  Each product has its own identity, but fits with the overall Army brand   Linked positioning statements for Regular Army, Army Reserve and ROTC

  The products contribute to the image of the Army brand, and they will benefit from the positive associations consumers develop toward the umbrella brand

The Army brand must be thought of as an umbrella over the Army’s “products”

Strategy   Short term -

  Launch and establish Army Brand   Increase Leads and traffic to stations to meet recruiting mission   Position Brand for Long Term success - one look and one voice

  Midterm -   Build Army Brand and improve awareness and propensity   Employ market segmentation research to target messages more

effectively   Employ Public Relations to extend message to both the internal and

external audiences   Develop ethnic specific messages to increase enlistments in under-

represented ethnic markets   Long term -

  Reinforce Army Brand with compelling and relevant ads and messages   Integrate learning from Ad Tracking and research to improve campaign

effectiveness   Synchronize Army-wide outreach programs and assets to support

recruiting

The Army’s Positioning For Recruiting Soldier’s Purpose

A Soldier serves in the US Army and is committed to protecting the U.S. Constitution and all that it stands for.

Soldiers Definition A Soldier is strong (Mentally, physically and emotionally), adaptive, confident, and values driven.

Value Statement Becoming a Soldier prepares you to succeed at whatever you select as your goals.

Positioning Statement Being a Soldier strengthens you today and for the future because the Army develops your potential through relevant and challenging training, shared values and personal experience. Soldiers consistently take pride in making a difference for themselves, their families and the Nation.

Support   Enlisted: Army skills; leadership and teamwork training; educational opportunities   Officer: Leadership and management development of each cadet/officer   Emotional assurance for both: pride in making a difference

This is a sample of the main value proposition. We have more than one.

  The Advertising Division oversees production of TV commercials, all print products (every product in recruiting stations, direct mail, advertisements, etc), and personal give away items (pens, pencils, coffee mugs, backpacks, etc.).

  During FY09 we produced 15 television commercials, 300+ support and web videos, 13 print ads, over 14 million pieces of direct mail, 8 radio ads, over 21 million pieces of collateral (brochures, posters, etc), more than 70 digital banners, and over 175 personal presentation items.

  The final advertising campaign I was responsible for was for recruiting officers, an area the Army had not previously invested in outside of West Point and ROTC and never done together.

  Through a separate agency we managed a licensing program, the only service to do so, which resulted in over $2 million being raised to benefit Soldiers.

Advertising

• Active

• Reserve

• ROTC

• Army Medical Department

• Chaplain Corps

• Judge Advocate General Corps

• Army Bands

• Reenlistment

• Reserve Prior Service

• OCS/WOFT

• Special Forces

• 09L Translator Aide

• Warrant Officer

Pre-Prospects Prospects Influencers Hispanic African-American

Specific Communications Programs

Other value propositions require for special missions.

  The Digital Division oversees all digital advertising, recruiting specific social media and the GOARMY.COM website, with quarterly updates on website costing over $10 million.

  In FY2009 we begin to shift our emphasis to digital marketing and for the first time began a campaign to target prospects that were less propensed to join the military, along with their parents, by leveraging an Army astronaut who spent two months on the International Space Station and became the first person to use Twitter from the International Space Station.

Digital

  The Outreach Division oversees all recruiting related events.

  Highlights include NASCAR, NHRA, All American Bowl, Spring Break and numerous multicultural events. Over 200 events annually.

  Ever a challenge to produce a program with good ROI we were able to leverage our partnership with Stewart-Haas Racing to benefit wounded warriors as part of the Prelude to the Dream race. As part of the program we provided our sponsors with a first hand experience with Soldiers so they could talk about their experiences with authenticity and not from talking points provided by our PR team. This included Tony Stewart and Tony Schumacher at Fort Knox and Ryan Newman at Fort Bragg.

Advertising

National Event Marketing

  All-American Bowl   Regional Mobile Exhibits   Virtual Army Experience   NHRA/Yes Program   NASCAR/ED Program   Spring Break

Public Relations & Event Partnerships   National Council of LaRaza   Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU)   Hispanic Engineer National Achievement Awards Conference (HENAAC)   League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC)   Black Engineer of the Year Award   Essence Music Festival   National Urban League   Future Farmers of America   Skills USA   Planning for Life Program

  Reaches Hispanic & African-American pre-prospects and prospects   Black History and Hispanic Heritage Months   Patriot Season (Army Birthday)

Decision & Communications Continuum

TV, Channel 1

Print

Direct Marketing

Website

Regional Radio, OOH, Print Online Media

Local Events

Become Become Seek Become Contract Affirm Aware Intrigued Info a Lead Decision

Public Relations

Nationally Driven Events

Local Traffic Driving Ads

Recruiter Station Merchandising

Recruiter Sales Materials

Future Soldier Activities

Local Events

Dave’s 2 cents on social media

Viral Marketing The process of creating the potential for exponential growth in a message's exposure and influence, usually refers to the pass-along of some element or content that is usually online

Buzz Generally considered an outcome resulting from large numbers of individuals talking about a product, service or brand

Word-of-Mouth Marketing Activities that companies undertake to generate personal, often

in-person, recommendations as well as referrals for brand names, products and services

Social networking is the creation of connections between individuals and advertisers who share a common interest in order to create new conversations that add measurable value to a brand, product or service.

Working Definition

Is Social Networking new….NOPE…just the tools!

There were four main purposes of the Declaration: ü  Getting reluctant colonists on board ü  Explaining the colonists' position on the purpose of government ü  Listing the colonists' grievances against King George III to show the legitimacy of their actions to others ü  To encourage foreign nations to help them

Why Social Networking is Important

•  78% of consumers trust recommendations from other consumers (1)

•  71% of 13-24 year olds consume user-generated content (2)

•  35% of executives have read a blog in the last month (3)

•  40% of today’s consumers are creating their own entertainment (4)

•  51% of consumers are watching and reading content created by other consumers (5)

Sources: 1.  Word-of-Mouth the Most Powerful Selling Tool: Nielsen Global Survey, The Nielsen Company, October 2007 2.  Harrison Group/Deloitte Touche Survey, March 2007 3.  Business Elite: USA 2007 Survey, Ipsos Media, October 2007 4.  State of the Media Democracy: Deloitte & Touche痴 Technology, Media and Telecommunications practice, August 2007 5.  State of the Media Democracy: Deloitte & Touche痴 Technology, Media and Telecommunications practice, August 2007

Website Blog Gaming Sites Or Apps

Emerging Role of Social Media Networks

1

2

3

4

Appeal of Broadest Segment

Experience

Customer Relationship Management

Sales

Social Media Networks

• Hub, modular & widgetize content for people to put on their own sites, blogs, etc.

• Facilitate to Interact/ connect with our prospects and influencers.

• Help people to learn about the brand.

• Use as appropriate for younger customers

• Demonstrate the reality of being in the Army to include use of NASCAR and NHRA teams.

• Demonstrate elements of the marketing campaign.

• Help customers connect with clients or customer service

• Allow to ask deeper questions

• Real time response

• Provide content to learn about life and experience in the Army

• Drive to website

• Give a flavor of life and experience of certain clients products

• Drive to website

Role

Stage

1

2

3

4

: which stage each social media network plays a role at

Drive people to website

Drive people to website

Drive people to website

Drive people to appropriate location based on their questions

website should provide links to other social media networks

Drive people to website or engage with them on the site using discussion board

Social media should play a vital role in building awareness, enabling customers to experience our clients products/services, as well as helping to collect critical information

Encourage Target Audience Participation Ensuring that activity is driven exclusively by our target audiences will help build a high level of trust in programs

  Modern web users’ trust is earned, not given, so it’s imperative that we leave as little a “footprint” as possible   As little reactive moderation as possible (e.g., don’t let community see you

remove content after the fact)   Let others respond to negative comments.   Establish ground rules on what will get a comment deleted. (e.g., obscene

language, inappropriate comments, spam, etc)   Customers prefer interactions with each other to receiving

“marketing speak” about why they should consider or buy new products / services   December 2008 Web 2.0 Research confirms this

Connectivity & Conversation = You

Mass Marketing

1980s

Precision Marketing

1990s

Social Marketing

2000s

Characteristics

Vehicles

Differentiation

• Tell & Sell • Brand Positioning • Reach & Frequency

• Demonstrated Interest

• Benefit-Based • Targeting and Segmentation

• Publishing • Potential to go Viral • Shared interest • Voice of the individual • Lateral connectivity

• Broadcast Networks • General Interest Magazines

• Radio & Outdoor

• Creativity

• Direct Mail • Search Engine Optimization

• Direct Response TV

• Format independence

• Blogging • Social Applications • Threading tools

• Analytics • Dialogue

Primary Supplier • Advertising Agencies

• Interactive Agencies • The Company

24

Exposure Metrics

•  Page Views •  Visits • Unique

Visitors •  Time on Site • Referrers • Reach

Actions

•  Search Engine Entries

• Clicks • Downloads • Ongoing

Usage • Ratings •  Pass Along

Conversations

• Mentions • Comments •  Advocacy •  Influencers •  Attitude Shift •  Brand

Favorability/Sentiment

Strategic Plan sets ROI expectations

ROI  Traditional Media-driven Metrics

Progressive, Participatory Metrics

Social marketers must shift ROI focus from traditional, media-driven metrics to more progressive, participatory metrics

We now return you…

Social Media - Recruiting   Army Strong Stories

  Blog   YouTube Channel

  Straight from Iraq

  US Army Astronauts

Social Media – Army Strong Stories

Social Media – Army Strong Stories

Social Media – Straight from Iraq

Social Media – Straight from Iraq

Social Media – US Army Astronauts

Social Media – US Army Astronauts

Social Media – Is this social…hmmm

Social Media – The “Big Army”   Social Media Rules and Regulations

  Public Affairs vs. Recruiting

  “The Army Experience Center”

Social Media – The Army Experience Center

This is why you need rules, policies and a trained community manager

SO WHAT??   Learn your customers and trust your instincts

  Does the agency know your business better than you?

  Awards mean nothing…focus on ROI!   Challenge your agency to speak to their other clients

  Read…Read…Read

  Watch those in other businesses…otherwise you’re a follower

  Understand the rules of social media…it’s a conversation   Establish ground rules   Let your allies defend you

  Have a communication plan and apply the tools that fit

  Is Social Media a PR tool or a Marketing tool??

Questions?

www.DavidALee.com