Army abandons 'Be all you can be' ad campaign

By Maria Sprow

Daily Staff Reporter

Last week during a primetime commercial, the U.S. Army stopped asking Americans to be all they can be. The slogan, which has been recruiting soldiers to join the Army since 1981, was officially shoved aside for their new ad campaign, titled "An Army of One".

"No matter what your responsibility is in the army, 'An Army of One' means that you have the skills, training and knowledge to be a successful soldier. You are a part of the team," said Lt.-Col. Robert McCormick, the ROTC Scholarship and Admissions Officer for the University.

Although the Army met its recruiting mission of 80,000 last year, it failed to do so in 1999, prompting officials to change the familiar slogan, said Col. Kevin Kelley, Army recruiting command officer.

"Qualitative feedback based on research showed ... people thought they would become a faceless number in the army," Kelley said.

Pat Lafferty, account director for Leo Burnett U.S.A, the company that devised the new campaign, said the Army is spending $150 million this fiscal year on television spots and printed ads.

"'Be All You Can Be' wasn't resonating with kids. ... Kids wanted to understand how they could be all they can be. They want the nuts and bolts of it," Lafferty said.

Although McCormick said the University's ROTC has not been experiencing problems with recruitment, enrollment numbers are not as high as he would like them to be.

"There are a couple of reasons ... students pursue other paths, and sometimes they aren't familiar with opportunities," McCormick said.

This year's freshman enrollment was one of the largest in history, bringing the total of the University's ROTC cadets to 75, McCormick said.

Kelley said the ads "feature soldiers as something bigger than themselves" and as a person transformed from who they were before joining the Army.

The 16 different ads that comprise the campaign feature a diverse team of soldiers, nominated by commanding officers in a variety of fields. After an ad of a soldier has been ran, the soldier is featured on the Website, www.goarmy.com.

Soldiers whose ads have started running include a combat engineer and an imagery ground station operator.

Other soldiers, featured within the coming weeks, include a doctor and at least two women.

The purpose of using real soldiers is to give the army a face and respond to complaints from kids who thought soldiers used in the "Be All You Can Be" ads were actors, Lafferty said.

"It really adds credibility to the message we're sending out. ... We're using real people with real stories," Kelley said.

The ads seek to target young adults who will respond to the messages of empowerment and "the message of what you do matters from day one," Lafferty said.

Although everyone in the army is predicting a successful ad campaign, nobody knows how long the new slogan will be around.

"The idea will live, it is the words we use to describe it that will change," he added.