INSPIRING AUDIENCES, REACHING MILLIONS
Capturing the synergy of a major motion picture
to exceed client expectations
Challenge
One of the Army National Guard’s (ARNG) challenges is explaining the concept of Citizen-Soldier—ordinary citizens who put on uniforms in times of need to protect their communities and families. To compound this challenge, the National Guard is given the second largest recruiting mission of all military branches, with the second smallest advertising budget. LMO was tasked with increasing awareness and generating 100,000 qualified leads within their target audience of 17-24 year olds.
Solution
Through market research, we discovered that 66% of 17-24 year olds attend movies at least once every 90 days. We anticipated that by aligning with a high-end major motion picture, Man of Steel, we could catapult the National Guard’s awareness. In-theater advertising was the centerpiece of the campaign, including 30 and 60 second spots running immediately prior to the start of the film, lobby standees, lobby area network screen ads and more. The success of the campaign also relied on robust content marketing to turn in-theater awareness into prospects and leads for the recruiting force.
Results
The Soldier of Steel campaign exceeded all expectations and contributed significantly to the critical recruitment mission of the ARNG. According to pre- and post-show surveys conducted where in-theater advertising was deployed, awareness of the National Guard increased by 15%, consideration to join the National Guard increased by 50%, and the National Guard moved to #1 as the branch of choice ranking.
