Posted on 12/08/2005 3:52:44 AM PST by armydawg1
The news is not that the ad agency is changing, the untold news is ...........
The Army announced Wednesday that it is switching advertising agencies, dropping Leo Burnett Worldwide, which created the "Army of One" slogan nearly five years ago, in favor of McCann Erickson of New York.
The new contract is valued at an estimated $1.35 billion over a maximum of five years, with the first two years guaranteed and the Army holding an option to renew at one-year intervals after that. An Army spokesman, Paul Boyce, said the contract is expected to average about $200 million a year in the first two years.
Boyce said the decision to drop Leo Burnett had nothing to do with the fact that the Army missed its recruiting target for the budget year ended Sept. 30 for the first time since 1999.
After a dismal recruiting season last winter and spring, the Army has met each monthly target since June. It has not yet announced results for November, but officials said Wednesday it appeared that it would be the sixth straight month on target.
Today's announcement reflects many months of careful work to ensure a full and open competition among some of the best advertising agencies in America," Boyce said. "Both the U.S. Army and the America public are the clear winners given the dedicated professionals we've had working on the Army account in the past and the creative talent we'll be working with on future communications about Army recruiting." The Chicago-based Leo Burnett was hired by the Army in July 2000, replacing Young & Rubicam Inc. of New York.
I never liked it.
The Army has met its recruiting goals since June? I recall the Defeatist MSM trumpeting for months that the Army was not making its goals. Has anyone seen the MSM praising the Army this summer and fall for making their goals?????
Army of One was always stupid. Who joins the army to be alone? I think folks want to be part of a winning team.
I think it was a dumb slogan. "Be all you can be" was far better.
"An Army is a team. It lives, sleeps, eats, and fights as a team. This individual heroic stuff is pure horse sh*t. The bilious bastards who write that kind of stuff for the Saturday Evening Post don't know any more about real fighting under fire than they know about f*#@ing!" -- General George S. Patton Jr.
Finally. That was one of the dumbest slogans ever. The military must work and fight as a team, not as an individual. It had way too much of a Rambo type ring to it for my taste.
British Army be a professional is the best slogan. Tho to tell the truth I wanted to be a soldier nothing to do with a catchy slogan
Compared to the Marines, the Army has always had wimpy ad campaigns.
Dacowits seemed to have made more serious inroads into undermining traditional military culture in the Army than in the Corps were it was more strenuously resisted.
Airborne Brother,
I didnt like it either. Too much great about the Army to make it a solo deal.
The advertising campaigns for the armed forces tell us a lot about them. Once upon a time, advertisements in print and on the airwaves contained messages like "defend your country", "fight for freedom", and "stop tyranny". Today the military's advertising messages can be boiled down to "we'll send you to college", "travel the world", "learn job skills", or "we have great health care benefits". It makes one wonder whether the purpose of the military is to defend our nation or to serve as another way for the government to take care of people.
Really? "Be All You Can Be" was the most recognized advertising slogan being used according to ad executives across the board.
The Marines could use catchy slogans like "We stop more bullets before 9am........"
The Army thinks the brain should do more than hold the head together. ;)
Clinton preferred:
"The Army. Don't Ask, Don't tell, and we won't, either."
I think you're right on target.
Or "What happens in the Army stays in the Army"
It might have been, but not even that ad campaign, though much better than the last, in no way compared with the imagery of the Marine ads of the last 15 years or so. Just a matter of personal opinion.
tonycavanaugh has perhaps the better point when he says that catchy ads weren't the reason he went in. I'm not even certain they advertised when I enlisted.
But, then they didn't have to...just increase the next draft levy.
Shinseki's folly. Could that fetching beret be next? How about coed boot camp? You people are indeed slow but eventually you do get the message.
Nor did I. It struck me as egocentric - exactly opposite of what the military is all about.
I agree that the WW1 and 2 posters were ideal. You join the Army to save your country and destroy the enemy. Plain and simple.
As for the beret, it is with the greatest disappointment that the full Army still wears the Ranger head gear. Brown on Rangers looks like crap and I hope will one day return to black.
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