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Marvel's NIGHTMARE - Jonathan Majors Charged And Arrested

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US Army Goes Back to 1980s, and Hollywood, to Lure Generation Z

Echo of ‘Be all that you can be’ advertising campaign. Actor Jonathan Majors narrating pitches to young recruits.

March 8, 2023 11:23 AM
By Roxana Tiron

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The US Army—the largest military service that’s been struggling to recruit a new generation of soldiers—is going back to the future to boost its attraction to Generation Z.

The Army is returning to its 1980s slogan of “Be all you can be” to reflect the “endless possibilities” that the service can offer, Maj. Gen. Alex Fink, the Army’s marketing director, said at an event at the National Press Club in Washington.

The rebranding, more than just recruiting, is about “reintroducing America to the Army,” Fink said.

The new campaign kicks off as the Army is trying to recover from one of its worst recruiting years in recent memory. The Army last year fell 25,000 short of its 60,000 goal for new soldiers. For 2023, it wants to attract 65,000 new recruits, Army Secretary Christine Wormuth said at the same event. So far, the Army is in a better spot than it was at the same time last year, she said without offering any details.

The slogan, which stands “the test of time,” is meant to get to the sense of community and purpose of Generation Z, as well as the interest in new technology and innovation, Wormuth said. The service is targeting recruits roughly 17 to 25 years old.

All US military services have struggled with recruiting due to mental and physical health issues among Americans posed by the coronavirus pandemic, and now competing in a tight labor market against private companies that often offer more alluring benefits.

Pentagon data show 77% of youth 16 to 24 years old aren’t qualified for military service without waivers. Almost 44% of such youth are ineligible for service for multiple reasons, with overweight as the most prevalent cause. Ineligibility aside, Generation Z also isn’t interested in serving in the military in large part because of a misconception about what it means, Pentagon officials told Congress last year.

The Army accelerated the new $117 million campaign, which was slated for August, to benefit from recent positive momentum, Wormuth said.

The Army is also unveiling two new ads, narrated and led by actor Jonathan Majors, who’s had roles in movies such as “Devotion” and “Ant-Man and the Wasp.” One ad shows how the US Army has overcome obstacles over its history and the second focuses on community and innovation.

To contact the reporter on this story: Roxana Tiron in Washington at rtiron@bgov.com

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Anna Yukhananov at ayukhananov@bloombergindustry.com; Robin Meszoly at rmeszoly@bgov.com

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Is the Army’s $117 million rebrand dead after Jonathan Majors’ arrest?

By Davis Winkie

Actor Jonathan Majors in the Army's since-pulled "Overcoming Obstacles" advertisement. (U.S. Army/YouTube)

Questions swirled Monday about the future of the Army’s $117 million “Be all you can be” rebranding effort, and the service and its partners did little to answer them.

Mere weeks after an elaborate rollout ceremony at the National Museum of the U.S. Army, the service’s marketing office yanked its first two advertisements, the only ones released so far in the new campaign, from airwaves. Army Times first reported the move, which followed actor Jonathan Majors’ Saturday arrest in New York City on charges of assault, strangulation and harassment against a 30-year-old woman.

The actor’s attorney forcefully denied the allegations in a Sunday statement, claiming that the charges will be “dropped imminently” due to video footage and witness testimony — but his representatives did not respond to a renewed comment request Monday.

The Army’s marketing office declined an interview request and did not provide a response to questions sent for this story. DDB, the advertising conglomerate on a more than $4 billion contract to assist Army marketing, declined to answer questions and referred them to the Army.

It’s still not clear what the direct cost of pulling advertisements off the air and web will be. Television networks often require advertisers to pay up front for airtime, and cancellation policies vary by network or medium. Sometimes advertisers are able to obtain credits toward future buys.

The new “be all you can be” advertisements were ubiquitous throughout the early rounds of March Madness, the NCAA men’s basketball championship tournament, and the Army’s marketers will be on the ground for the Final Four fan festival in Texas to do in-person experiential marketing that goes beyond recruiters manning a table. Sports news website Sportico reported that pre-paid 30-second commercials for this year’s final game cost between $2.2 and $2.3 million, though it’s unclear how many spots the Army purchased.

But should the pause on the existing two spots become permanent, costs could quickly rise. An unknown but significant portion of the $117 million that Army Secretary Christine Wormuth said the new campaign required went to creative development and production on cinematic ads.

Complicating things further, the spots featured the Creed III and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania star as an on-screen narrator. Majors or his silhouette is visible on-screen for more than a minute of the 90-second version of one ad, “Overcoming Obstacles.” That means removing the actor would necessitate a costly reshoot or producing an entirely new round of creative content.

But all isn’t lost, likely.

Some line items in the nine-figure rebrand, which marketing officials detailed to Army Times in a February visit to their Chicago office, won’t require a redo even if the service permanently cans the Majors videos. The Army won’t need to replicate one-time costs such as research groups to select the “be all you can be” tagline, developing brand assets like logos and fonts, and developing a new marketing officer career field.
About Davis Winkie

Davis Winkie is a senior reporter covering the Army, specializing in accountability reporting, personnel issues and military justice. He joined Military Times in 2020. Davis studied history at Vanderbilt University and UNC-Chapel Hill, writing a master's thesis about how the Cold War-era Defense Department influenced Hollywood's WWII movies.

[armytimes.com]