Fergie's Tech Blog

How The National Guard Boosted Recruitment: The Pizza Offensive

The revamped campaign echoed a trend in advertising: less Old Media, more Net, more niche.

To appeal to 18- to 25-year-olds, the guard offered free iTunes downloads for surfers willing to scroll through a Web recruitment pitch. That gimmick drew 200,000 young people in under a year, 9,000 of whom went on and talked to a recruiter. Magazine ads gave way to promotions at NASCAR races and rodeos.

At one point, Laughlin bought up 328,000 pizza boxes and had them printed with photos of handsome guard members and a slogan that highlights a key enlistment benefit: "You've paid for the pizza, now how about your tuition?" The boxes were given to mom-and-pop pizzerias across the country at no charge.

But the savviest move was a decision by the guard to pay its members $1,000 for each newcomer they enlist and another $1,000 when the recruit gets to basic training. Net gain: 6,174 new members since December, according to Lt. Col. Mike Jones, the guard's deputy division chief for recruiting and retention.

posted by Fergie @ 5/24/2006 04:28:00 PM