A brief set by D&AD on behalf of The British Army that asked for a 'copy-led campaign to reposition the British Army as an employer of choice.' Its audience was broad and hoped to target anyone and everyone, regardless of backround, race, gender or sexuality. Keeping an official 'Army' tone of voice, the campaign wanted to build on an already established brand, presenting their main proposition of inclusivity in a mono or multichannel campaign:
THIS IS ABOUT
INCLUSIVE RECRUITMENT
This is a copywriting brief so words must lead the creative idea: images may accompany, but copy must tell the story and sell the idea.
THE BRITISH ARMY | DESIGN & ART DIRECTION
D&AD AWARDS
'Spot the Soldier' intends to challenge the target's perception of a soldier. What determines a soldier? how would one be picked from a group? It aims to highlight the diversity in The British Army and present the idea that anyone could qualify. The accompanying images will show a diverse range of people - men & women from a range of ethnic backgrounds - to prove the brand's SMP: the strapline asks to ‘spot the soldier,’ but no answer is given. This is because any of those featured on the posters could be a soldier – reinforcing the ‘inclusive recruitment’ the client highlights as a key proposition.
The concise line maintains the established tone of the British Army, keeping efficient and succinct while challenging the audience to think and even change their views.
The headline presents the proposition clearly and its simplicity makes it transferable to an array of mediums: print, outdoor, app and video, ideal for a planned omnichannel campaign to access the extremely broad target.
CAMPAIGN LINE
BRAND/CAMPAIGN FONTS
BRAND LAUNCH
FINAL | PRINT / DIRECT MAIL
The style of the designs can undoubtedly be applied to an array of mediums: outdoor, print or direct mail, for example. The headline being able to go even further.
The front-facing design here is identical to that found in the portrait billboard composition: a variation of the primary outdoor medium, separated into sexes.
The content on the reverse maintains the tone of the campaign. The challenging and somewhat provocative copy inspires the target to better themselves: to join the army. The secondary copy line sits in a carrier block to highlight its importance and drive a key message to the target: not all roles are in direct combat.
This further challenges the target and forces them to rethink their idea of what the army and their employees do and whether or not they could find a role to fit themselves, helping them understand the fundamental campaign message: recruitment is inclusive.
BRAND/CAMPAIGN COLOURS
FINAL | BILLBOARD
Sticking to the army tone, I have kept the designs rather sharp and visually serious. The copy and logo positioning meets the strict criteria defined in the Brand Outlines. The close ups of the eyes keep the design efficient and consistent while offering a rather personal insight into the featured person.
The brief makes clear that people of all races, gender identities, sexual orientations and ethnic backgrounds should feel included in the designs so I have used the most visual of these variations: ethnic backgrounds.
I have not explicitly referred to either of the figures in the image, allowing the audience to choose which they relate to most: they can identify with whichever person they feel most connected to, whether that is because of their more obvious skin-tone, sex or perceived sexuality/gender identity.
FINAL | ONLINE / INTERACTIVE
The strapline asks to ‘spot the soldier,’ but no answer is given. This is because any of those featured on the posters could be a soldier – reinforcing the ‘inclusive recruitment’ the client highlights as a key proposition. Because of the challenging nature of the copy, I thought an interactive element would work well – a sponsored BuzzFeed quiz being ideal: somewhere the audience can actually respond to the instruction while learning more about the vast array of roles on offer.
The characters within the quiz are full portrait from which the eyes in the primary designs were sourced. Upon making a selection in the quiz, the respondent will be told a brief summary of the role their chosen figure fills, with each option being a correct answer, and each character filling a different role.
As well as putting the primary message into somewhat personal context, the quiz directs users to the Army role finder: somewhere the respondent can find a role that suits them and, ultimately, be lead to registering their interest in applying for the Army
