thedrifter
10-27-06, 12:44 AM
Corps asks MySpace friends to honor values
By John Hoellwarth
MC Times Staff writer
Being friends with the Marine Corps on MySpace.com just got a little bit more demanding.
The Corps on Wednesday began asking all its new Web buddies to acknowledge its values of honor, courage and commitment as a condition of friendship, according to Marine Corps Recruiting Command's chief of staff for advertising.
Recruiting Command's official profile at the popular social networking site, $112,000 worth of sleek graphic design and streaming boot camp videos, has attracted more than 24,000 buddies since it debuted in April. But now, anyone who clicks on the "add to friends" link will get a pop-up message before the friendship request is confirmed.
The message states, "To be a Marine is always acting with honor, courage and commitment. We demand it of ourselves and we ask it of our friends," according to Lt. Col. Mike Zeliff, MCRC's top advertising officer.
Zeliff said the pop-up message is a way to show potential recruits that they have to earn their standing with the Corps through the quality of their character.
The Marine Corps' longtime advertising agency, J. Walter Thompson, manages the Corps' profile through a subcontractor that came up with the pop-up message, according to Zeliff.
"What we ask them to do is constantly bring us the next great idea, so that's where it came from," he said.
According to a breakdown of MySpace site metrics released in August by the Web site's parent company, Fox Interactive Media Inc., MySpace has a higher volume of Web traffic than MSN, eBay, Hotmail, Google and America Online. The statistics place MySpace second only to Yahoo! in page views.
Moreover, MySpace is used by the same 18- to 24-year-olds who are Recruiting Command's bread and butter, which is what led the Corps to turn to MySpace for recruiting in the first place, according to MCRC spokesman Master Sgt. James Edwards.
"MySpace is the right place," Zeliff said. "Social networking is where prospects are gathering information, and we're going to continue to engage prospects where they consume media."
By John Hoellwarth
MC Times Staff writer
Being friends with the Marine Corps on MySpace.com just got a little bit more demanding.
The Corps on Wednesday began asking all its new Web buddies to acknowledge its values of honor, courage and commitment as a condition of friendship, according to Marine Corps Recruiting Command's chief of staff for advertising.
Recruiting Command's official profile at the popular social networking site, $112,000 worth of sleek graphic design and streaming boot camp videos, has attracted more than 24,000 buddies since it debuted in April. But now, anyone who clicks on the "add to friends" link will get a pop-up message before the friendship request is confirmed.
The message states, "To be a Marine is always acting with honor, courage and commitment. We demand it of ourselves and we ask it of our friends," according to Lt. Col. Mike Zeliff, MCRC's top advertising officer.
Zeliff said the pop-up message is a way to show potential recruits that they have to earn their standing with the Corps through the quality of their character.
The Marine Corps' longtime advertising agency, J. Walter Thompson, manages the Corps' profile through a subcontractor that came up with the pop-up message, according to Zeliff.
"What we ask them to do is constantly bring us the next great idea, so that's where it came from," he said.
According to a breakdown of MySpace site metrics released in August by the Web site's parent company, Fox Interactive Media Inc., MySpace has a higher volume of Web traffic than MSN, eBay, Hotmail, Google and America Online. The statistics place MySpace second only to Yahoo! in page views.
Moreover, MySpace is used by the same 18- to 24-year-olds who are Recruiting Command's bread and butter, which is what led the Corps to turn to MySpace for recruiting in the first place, according to MCRC spokesman Master Sgt. James Edwards.
"MySpace is the right place," Zeliff said. "Social networking is where prospects are gathering information, and we're going to continue to engage prospects where they consume media."