WASHINGTON (Army News Service) -- The Army is launching the second phase of a new advertising campaign this week in conjunction with a promotional period for the movie "Independence Day: Resurgence."
In a television spot called "The U.S. Army: A Source of Inspiration," footage from the new movie shows troops preparing to attack a spaceship. A voice-over says "when the Soldiers in the movie rise up ... when they adapt to a new threat facing the world ... when they find a way to win no matter what ... remember where Hollywood gets that from."
As the music climaxes, the screen shows a montage of real Army combat footage.
That's definitely inspirational, said Mark Davis, deputy assistant secretary of the Army for marketing and director of the Army Marketing and Research Group, after previewing the new spot at a recent Army public affairs leadership forum.
The AMRG mission is to support recruiting and retention through aggressive, innovative and cost-effective marketing. The new ad campaign will focus on motivating potential recruits toward science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM careers in the Army, while highlighting the real-life heroes fictional characters are based on: U.S. Army Soldiers.
The campaign's television commercial will air on major networks including ESPN, MTV, SyFy, BET, Discovery, the History Channel, USA, TNT and more beginning Monday. An Army spot will also play in cinemas around the country prior to the release of the new Independence Day film scheduled for June 24.
In addition, there will be a supporting social media campaign, all aimed at improving the public's perception of the Army.
Davis said polls and focus groups have shown the Army is associated with being large, "ordinary," and low-tech.
Many of those questioned, he said, believe the Army is a service that will accept anyone. "They believe the Army is a last-resort place -- it's where you go if you can't get a job at McDonalds."
While that may be the perception of those polled, Davis said, the perception is unfounded. The Army actually employs 27,000 scientists, he said, and "the stuff we invent is phenomenal."
"We've got everything from astronauts to deep-sea divers in the United States Army," Davis said, though the force hasn't done a good enough job communicating that.
The futuristic technology and innovation depicted in the new Independence Day film highlights the types of capabilities achievable in today's Army, according to the campaign overview.
The campaign, which launched May 9, is designed to curb misperceptions about the Army being low-tech. And it's especially aimed at the Army's recruiting demographic of 18-24 year-olds during the critical summer recruiting months.
The ad campaign is designed to leverage FOX Studio's promotions and drive potential recruits to the goarmy.com website through the Army's JoinESD.com microsite. ESD stands for "Earth Space Defense," and it's the force that repels aliens in the new movie.
The new interactive microsite will "test users' problem-solving skills, ability to work under pressure, pattern recognition and risk analysis to determine their 'role' in the ESD, while also providing information on relevant Army MOSs that exist today," officials said.
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