Military PR To Recruit Bodies, Hearts and Minds [1]
Submitted by Diane Farsetta [2] on
"Army Strong, as the Army's latest recruiting campaign [3] is called ... has a definite emphasis on electronic communications, from opportunities to chat live on the Web site with soldiers ... to interactive sections showing what boot camp is like, the different specialties the Army trains people for, and more," writes PR Week. Army podcast subjects range from soldiers' experiences to "the latest results for the Army's NASCAR team." The $200 million-per-year campaign is led by McCann-Erickson, along with other Interpublic Group [4] agencies. Army outreach to Hispanic communities is handled by Weber Shandwick [5], and to African Americans by Carol H. Williams [6]. The Army's racially-targeted outreach includes Spanish-language ads, "participating in Hispanic- or African-American-focused trade association conventions or job fairs," and "awarding research contracts to historically black colleges and universities." Meanwhile, the U.S.-led Multi-National Force-Iraq [7] is seeking a new PR firm, for "rapid reaction information operations support" to encourage Iraqis "to support their fledgling government," reports O'Dwyer's PR Daily [8]. The U.S. government is also "reviewing proposals for a multimillion-dollar PR blitz for its electricity sector rebuilding" in Iraq. Both searches are being conducted via non-public websites, as information about the Iraq PR contracts [9] has been deemed "sensitive."