Rocky C
04-08-16, 08:28 AM
MARINE CORPS BASE QUANTICO, Va. — The Marine Corps’ next advertising campaign will show more female Marines in the fleet and at war.
Marine Corps Recruiting Command recently teamed with a major advertiser and market researchers to find out what drives women to want to join the Corps. One company interviewed female poolees at recruiting stations across the country and women training to earn their eagle, globes and anchors at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, South Carolina, to get their feedback.
The recruits and poolees they interviewed said there's not much information in Marine ads about what women do in the Corps, said Jonathan Chavez, the co-founder and chief analytics officer with the analytics company Social Sphere.
“One of the things that we heard in particular is that depictions of females up to that point in Marine Corps advertising had largely depicted females in training environments,” Chavez said. “Male advertising — or general market advertising — also featured Marines actually in service, in fleet, doing their jobs.”
The survey was conducted between November and January. Chavez and the others involved asked the women to evaluate how female Marines are portrayed in television advertisements, billboards and other recruiting materials.
The decision to feature more information about the military occupation specialties female Marines serve in follows the January announcement that the Pentagon would open all combat arms jobs to women, creating new career opportunities for some troops.
The feedback they collected is pushing them to think differently about their next ad campaign. Set to launch in spring 2017, the next round of commercials and other materials will show more female Marines in operational environments, said Lt. Col. John Caldwell, MCRC's national director of advertising.
“As we develop the next campaign materials, we are going to do our best to ensure that those operational depictions are very authentically communicated,” Caldwell said.
MCRC also plans to use combat camera and public affairs officers to allow women in the Marine Corps to tell their stories online, Caldwell said. That will include highlighting women who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan, he said.
“Understanding the value and reach of social and digital channels, to have authentic stories told by Marines, about Marines, for sharing will be in direct support of the campaign,” Caldwell said.
The command may begin posting vignettes from female Marines online before the next advertising campaign kicks off, he said. “We’ll [definitely] be looking for many after its launch,” he added.
Ahead of this new venture, the Marine Corps has started to test new forms of direct mail, including one that is solely focused on women, Caldwell said.
In January, the Marines sent out nearly 200,000 direct mailings specifically to women, said Capt. Travis Cooper, lead generation officer at MCRC.
The mailing features several female Marines, including Capt. Karla Cumbie, a UH-1Y Huey pilot, and it lets women know they can "learn how to build bridges on foreign soil," a nod that women can serve as combat engineers.
Marine Corps Recruiting Command recently teamed with a major advertiser and market researchers to find out what drives women to want to join the Corps. One company interviewed female poolees at recruiting stations across the country and women training to earn their eagle, globes and anchors at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, South Carolina, to get their feedback.
The recruits and poolees they interviewed said there's not much information in Marine ads about what women do in the Corps, said Jonathan Chavez, the co-founder and chief analytics officer with the analytics company Social Sphere.
“One of the things that we heard in particular is that depictions of females up to that point in Marine Corps advertising had largely depicted females in training environments,” Chavez said. “Male advertising — or general market advertising — also featured Marines actually in service, in fleet, doing their jobs.”
The survey was conducted between November and January. Chavez and the others involved asked the women to evaluate how female Marines are portrayed in television advertisements, billboards and other recruiting materials.
The decision to feature more information about the military occupation specialties female Marines serve in follows the January announcement that the Pentagon would open all combat arms jobs to women, creating new career opportunities for some troops.
The feedback they collected is pushing them to think differently about their next ad campaign. Set to launch in spring 2017, the next round of commercials and other materials will show more female Marines in operational environments, said Lt. Col. John Caldwell, MCRC's national director of advertising.
“As we develop the next campaign materials, we are going to do our best to ensure that those operational depictions are very authentically communicated,” Caldwell said.
MCRC also plans to use combat camera and public affairs officers to allow women in the Marine Corps to tell their stories online, Caldwell said. That will include highlighting women who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan, he said.
“Understanding the value and reach of social and digital channels, to have authentic stories told by Marines, about Marines, for sharing will be in direct support of the campaign,” Caldwell said.
The command may begin posting vignettes from female Marines online before the next advertising campaign kicks off, he said. “We’ll [definitely] be looking for many after its launch,” he added.
Ahead of this new venture, the Marine Corps has started to test new forms of direct mail, including one that is solely focused on women, Caldwell said.
In January, the Marines sent out nearly 200,000 direct mailings specifically to women, said Capt. Travis Cooper, lead generation officer at MCRC.
The mailing features several female Marines, including Capt. Karla Cumbie, a UH-1Y Huey pilot, and it lets women know they can "learn how to build bridges on foreign soil," a nod that women can serve as combat engineers.