(GFI)_FY13_RAP.pdf

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. PREFACE

II. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

III. FY13 STRATEGY

IV. FY13 PLAN

A. BRAND MESSAGING

1. Paid Media

2. Campaigns

3. Public Service Advertising

4. Web Development

5. Social Media Engagement

B. BRAND ACTIVATION

1. Recruiter Support

2. District Program

C. BRAND RELATIONSHIP

1. Database and Reporting

2. Direct Mail

3. Vendor Management

4. Analytics

D. TARGETED DIVERSITY PROGRAM

E. ADDITIONAL EFFORTS

1. Female

2. PSR

3. MEOP

4. Research

V. APPENDIX

A. Project Calendar B. Glossary C. MCRC Contact List

I. PREFACE

ATTRACTING THE “BEST AND THE BRIGHTEST” TO THE MARINE CORPS

Supporting the Marine on Recruiting Duty

While Marine Recruiters and Officer Selection Officers (OSOs) continue to excel in their mission, the recruiting environment grows increasingly complex. Given the need for greater diversity representation—particularly in the officer ranks—throughout the Marine Corps, it is crucial to understand the attitudes, beliefs, thoughts and behaviors of the target youth and their influencers.

Further, it is imperative that the Marine Corps provides a balanced approach of “deep fight” tactics and “close fight” tactics that ensure the recruiter is well-positioned in his task to frame the appropriate narrative with the appropriate audience.

Recruiting is a mission-critical challenge that the Marine Corps faces, and every year, the focus of its efforts and resources is placed on the opportunities that will help ensure recruiting success now and in the future. With new advertising campaigns and a commitment to continue refining the program for efficiency and effectiveness, Marine Corps Recruiting Command (MCRC) is well positioned to tackle the challenges that lie ahead and to help recruiters and OSOs identify the “best and brightest” to join the Marine Corps.

The Marine Corps Recruitment Advertising Plan (RAP) is a comprehensive marketing plan created to support the individual Marine Recruiter in achieving his/her mission. Adapting to the changing landscape and target’s shifting consumption habits (always connected), makes it more difficult to compete for their attention; in response, the Marine Corps’ advertising program became more sophisticated over the years. Today, it spans a wide variety of channels and program elements, including an expanded online and social media presence, an array of awareness media options, an effective lead generation program, a nationwide support team providing advertising assistance through local event activation, and the development of recruiter support materials and other online tools. Now, more than ever, MCRC efforts are focused on delivering an integrated and consistent message to reinforce the brand’s positioning among all key prospects.

Operating under constrained resources as MCRC approaches FY13, the program must evaluate each investment opportunity for its effectiveness and efficiency to best support the Marine on recruiting duty. The RAP employs the marketing and advertising industry’s best practices, annually undertaking a deep review driven by the Commanding General’s Intent, field input, research data and multiple measures of effectiveness (MOEs) for every element of the advertising program.

The Marine Corps advertising program covers a wealth of communications needs.

• Providing recruiters with sales support materials – These materials support the Marine Recruiter throughout the sales process by comprehensively answering questions from prospects and all of those individuals who directly influence the enlistment decision.

• Generating leads – Annually, the advertising program supplies hundreds of thousands of age-and education-qualified leads—young people who have asked for more information—to the recruiting force for follow-up and, ultimately, contracting. This is a comprehensive, targeted effort supported by direct marketing tools, such as Marines.com, 1-800-Marines, search engine marketing, direct mail and the digital infrastructure, which are constantly evaluated for effectiveness and further optimization.

• Building relevant brand awareness – This program is designed to drive consideration among prospects and enhance knowledge and understanding of the Marine Corps among other key influencers by communicating various elements of the Longer Marine Corps Story. A myriad of media vehicles are used—from network and cable television to the latest online advertising techniques—focused on communicating relevant and timely messages to the high school and graduate markets year-round. Investments are also made in targeted awareness to officer candidates, diversity markets, females, prior service, reserve and Musician Enlistment Option Program (MEOP).

• Weaving diversity into the fabric of the Marine Corps – As the Marine Corps commits to improve diversity representation throughout its ranks, MCRC provides an advertising program that is intended to present the Marine Corps to a broad, diverse audience as an aspirational career path. In doing so, the Marine Corps maintains its rigorous quality standards and identifies “the best and brightest” among American youth. The perceptions and attitudes of military service and the Marine Corps varies by ethnic group. Recognizing these different attitudes, understanding whether they are driven by race or broader cultural trends, and identifying communication vehicles that have the potential to deliver positive impact on enlisted and officer recruitment, are all key to ensuring that the Marine Corps reflects the ‘face of the nation’ as it moves into a demographically different American future.

The intention of the Recruitment Advertising Plan is to outline the primary issues that the Marine Corps is facing in the recruitment marketing arena by assessing the social, media and competitive environments, as well as applying a keen understanding of what motivates the prospect. This cumulative effort is intended to influence the prospect to consider making a decision—that ultimately leads toward a commitment—to earn the title of United States Marine.

II. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The Marine Corps Recruitment Advertising Plan is an annual plan, comprised of an integrated program of complementary tactics, created to work in concert with the overall brand strategy and to assist the individual Marine Recruiter and Officer Selection Officer in the field. The FY13 RAP is designed to address critical audience and mission priorities that strategically align with the Commander’s Intent:

• Attract the best and brightest to the Marine Corps brand

• “Shape the Battlefield” through the right program balance

• Ensure regions and districts have the opportunity to execute the initiatives most important to their localized programs

• Weave “diversity” into the fabric of the Marine Corps

• Seek a more precise approach to reach diversity audiences

Faced with a changing recruiting environment stemming from the withdrawal from Afghanistan, society’s varied perceptions on military service, exogenous factors that influence enlistment behavior, and continued budgetary pressure, the Marine Corps FY13 RAP is developed to help mitigate these factors and arm Marine Recruiters with the resources and programs that they need to accomplish an increasingly challenging mission.

The execution of the FY13 RAP will provide:

• Strategic messaging that is designed to appeal to a broad cross-section of diverse youth, coupled with targeted diversity advertising tactics to positively impact MCRC’s priority mission

• Support materials to assist the Marine Recruiter throughout the prospecting process

• A constant flow of age- and education-qualified leads

• A steady stream of awareness media to reinforce the Marine Corps brand image

• District, regional and national support to ensure proper event activation locally

III. FY13 STRATEGY

The strategic approach for the annual Recruitment Advertising Plan is grounded in developing programs and tactics that support Marine Recruiters and Officer Selection Officers in the achievement of mission requirements, consistent with overarching elements of the Commandant’s Planning Guidance and Commanders Intent from the Commanding General, Marine Corps Recruiting Command. Each year, MCRC builds on the fundamentals of Systematic Recruiting with additional program elements designed to address the dynamic nature of the recruiting marketplace. This section of the RAP outlines several critical areas outlined above, including Commander’s Intent, fundamentals of USMC brand strategy, and emerging considerations impacting Marines “on the streets” of America.

The objective of the RAP Strategy Section is to provide those insights and concepts that can be implemented or reflected in the advertising program to support the achievement of the Commander’s Intent.

Commander’s Intent for the Recruitment Advertising Plan

• “Attract the best and brightest to the Marine Corps brand” o Desired End State: strengthen the Marine Corps’ connectedness with the American people

• “Shape the Battlefield” through the right program balance o “Close fight” tactics to achieve mission requirements in the current fiscal year o In parallel, employ “deep fight” programs to influence key publics, change attitudes, and reach the prospects and influencers of the future

• Ensure regions and districts have the opportunity to execute the initiatives most important to their localized programs

• Weave “diversity” into the fabric of the Marine Corps o Understand that diversity is inclusive of race, gender, mindset and geography

• Building on the success of the All Community Approach for specific events, shift from leveraging a “shotgun approach,” to seek a more precise approach to reach diversity audiences, inclusive of establishing a process to implement outreach efforts prior to activation and post-event to maintain positive momentum

Current Recruiting Marketplace

There are few constants in the recruiting environment outside of the hard work and relentless mission focus applied daily by Marine Recruiters and Officer Selection Officers. To provide a contemporary frame of reference each year, the RAP outlines those drivers that have a significant influence on the recruiter’s “battlespace.” RAP programs are designed to address one or more of these drivers in support of the Commander’s Intent.

Marine Corps Institutional Priorities

As a decade of sustained combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan draws to a close, the Marine Corps is engaged on two fronts. One is to expand its franchise in the recruitment “market” to address challenges with diverse representation, most notably in the officer ranks. The second is to reinforce its timeless and timely institutional relevance amid a changing climate for defense resourcing and an evolving global threat environment. These priorities are woven into broader goals for the Marine Corps of the future, including a smaller Marine Corps with a range of new capabilities—all grounded in a 237-year history of “every Marine a rifleman” and enduring ethos of “Semper Fidelis.”

Propensity

Propensity to enlist is a technical term from a recurring survey of American youth conducted by the Department of Defense (DoD) since 1974. Respondents are asked the question “how likely is it that you will join a branch of the military within the next 18 months?” They are also asked the same question about specific service branches. Those who say that they “definitely” or “probably will” are known as the positively propensed or positive intention group. Those who say that they “probably not” or “definitely will not” are known as the negative intention group. Contracts historically do not follow propensity at an exact rate because the large size of the negative intention group produces a significant number of contracts, albeit at a much lower rate than the positively propensed. Propensity remains a valuable concept for RAP strategy as it provides a perspective on the size of the interested youth market and serves as a barometer for prospect interest in military service in general, and the Marine Corps in particular. Notably, Joint Advertising Market Research & Studies (JAMRS) research has demonstrated a steady decline in youth propensity to enlist over the past 30 years, indicating the ongoing importance of providing Marine Corps branded messaging to increase awareness of the branch and cultivate interest among the youth market.

Integrated Typology

Moving a step beyond propensity to enlist, the Integrated Typology of Youth Goals is a research-derived framework that yields more detailed insights into why young men and women make decisions. The typology identifies youth beliefs that are strongly correlated with serious consideration to join any branch, and categorizes such beliefs or attributes into groupings represented by four quadrants.

The four quadrants categorize youth motivations along two key criteria: self or other oriented, and tangible or intangible. By cross-referencing the two criteria, youth goals can be defined more discreetly, as can brand communications for the Marine Corps and other services or products that compete for the attention of young Americans.

Marine Corps advertising campaigns of the past have focused primarily on the upper right quadrant of self-oriented intangibles—the familiar message of personal transformation and membership in an elite and proud Marine Corps. As the Marine Corps shifted to sustained combat operations during the early part of the last decade, the advertising message expanded in response to dynamic change in audience perceptions and motivations. The Marine Corps added messaging across media platforms that migrated into the lower half of the typology, emphasizing not only the proven “Transformation” story, but also including both other-oriented tangibles and intangibles via the introduction of a “Purpose” component.

This shift helped address youth and influencer concerns around the missions and wartime deployments that characterized life as a young Marine after the transformation process was complete. Contemporary Marine Corps communications reflect the current concerns and interests of enlistment eligible youth and their influencers—beyond the entry point of “Making Marines,” the Marine Corps shares its story of “Winning Our Nation’s Battles” and “Developing Quality Citizens” to provide an authentic and full message to young Americans. Collectively, these are referred to as The Longer Marine Corps Story.

Millennials

The Millennial generation (youth born after 1980) continue to characterize the largest portion of today’s prospect market. Extensive research on Millennials has offered a range of insights into their collective views on public service, military service, and a value system that tends to extend beyond traditional views of patriotism.

Fundamentally, the Marine Corps “sells” prestige in a patriotic, military context to prospects of the Millennial generation. Opinion polls like those conducted over many years by Gallup show Americans of every generation are quite consistent in believing the Marines to be the “most elite” and the “most prestigious branch” of service.

What these polls do not account for is the migration of prestige from the military (as in previous generations) to other life options, like college and increasingly, community and global-based service. If Millennials are the most service-minded generation since World War II, the service they aspire to is of a different sort than the GIs of that era. Their definition of service and view of its prestige is changing from serving the country in armed struggles with other nation-states to helping in communities at home and abroad. As is evident from JAMRS propensity data, Millennials—particularly those of specific ethnicities—find the Marine Corps admirable, but not aspirational. The shifts in the definition of aspirational service remain a focus of MCRC’s research efforts.

The Evolving Threat Spectrum

The Marine Corps is America’s elite warfighting institution, proven throughout its history as the preeminent force to fight and defeat our nation’s “enemies.” What may be new/unexpected for many kids is that an “enemy” can manifest itself in more ways than they may realize, and the Marine Corps is the best positioned (via training, equipment, organization and leadership) to stabilize, deter or defeat these threats. “We operate throughout the spectrum of threats—irregular, hybrid, conventional—or the shady areas where they overlap.” — General James F. Amos, CMC

Being prepared to face the full spectrum of threats at a moment’s notice in a forward deployed, self-sustaining capacity takes more than good intentions. “Alert and ready, we respond to today’s crisis, with today’s force … TODAY.”

Convergence

In FY10, Marine Corps Recruiting Command undertook a comprehensive strategic research initiative to acquire contemporary insights on military service in general and the Marine Corps in particular, from youth prospects and their influencers. These insights informed a timely and actionable understanding of American perspectives on service and related enhancements to USMC recruitment advertising to make service as a Marine more relevant to more of America’s youth. Specifically, convergence refers to a correlation between youth beliefs that good citizenship is articulated as “helping people wherever they may live” and “doing something that I can be proud of,” and the Marine Corps’ mission to deploy the world’s premiere expeditionary warfighting capability to advance American interests against whatever opposition they face (an occurrence that invariably results in “helping people”). Our Nation’s battles, which are won by Marines, now include a broader range of missions where “helping people” is an outcome.

Forecast for Change

Commander’s Intent for FY13 also calls for a look forward at those emerging trends and insights that characterize the “deep fight.” While these factors may have limited impact in the early part of FY13, they provide valuable perspective on changes already underway in the recruitment marketplace that are likely to challenge the future success of the next generation of Recruiters and Officer Selection Officers.

Post-Iraq/Afghanistan Marine Corps

As the Marine Corps prepares to shift into a post-war global security environment, a host of innovations and structural changes are underway. A smaller Marine Corps will be no less capable or progressive as the 202K build. The personnel requirements for the Marine Corps, the infusion of female Marines into combat arms Military Occupation Specialties (MOSs) and an overall increase in the role of technology for Marines will call for a group of young recruits who are increasingly diverse, in capability as well as ethnicity.

Nationalism

Two important studies published by JAMRS indicate increasing challenges relative to the pool of eligible prospects: the first study, published in 2010, showed a steady decline in youth propensity to enlist over the past 30 years, while the second study from 2011 indicated that many youth had made the decision by age 16 on whether or not to consider military service as an option following high school. To address these trends through shaping efforts in the deep fight, MCRC has undertaken a research initiative to understand youth perspectives on the concept of “nationalism.” Developing a better understanding of competing definitions of “nation” and how different political-cultural groups, and perhaps generations, conceptualize it is important to the Marine Corps—recruiting to the “face of the nation” may depend less on a person’s relationship with the Marine Corps than it does his relationship with the nation.

Leveraging insights and talent from research currently underway will help the Marine Corps to bridge the well-documented demographic and cultural gap between considerers and non-considerers, joiners and non-joiners. FY13 will develop and deploy messaging from the results of this study. The FY13 campaign must produce positive, observable changes in attitudes, intentions and behavior with regard to joining or encouraging others to join the Marines in groups who are demographically, and perhaps culturally, unlike those producing the typical recruit and officer candidate today. This must be done in a way that does not diminish the interest of “the base”—the militarily-propensed youth segment with whom the Marines message is currently most resonant.

Identity Threat

Diversity marketing is a general term that refers to segmented messaging and media based on culturally relevant insights. Marine Corps Recruiting Command has typically focused on African-American and Hispanic diversity segments, but in 2013 will be broadening its focus to include Asian/Pacific Islander, Native American and female segments. The foremost question facing MCRC is how to build affinity and consideration amongst these segments, accounting for their unique perspectives on military service. As

MCRC continues to broaden and deepen its understanding of diverse segments, FY13 presents the opportunity to incorporate leading academic research on a theory of identity referred to as “identity threat.” The idea is a simple one: every individual, at one time or another, will find their opinions or behavior affected by the fear that they may confirm a social stereotype about a portion of their identity.

Collectively, these “stereotype threats” are known as “identity threat,” and they help explain why some segments within the broader population align—or don’t align—with particular brands or institutions of American life. In FY13, MCRC will investigate via research how forms of identity threat may impede ongoing efforts to connect with diversity segments and how its effects may create a perceived barrier between these audiences and the Marine Corps.

Achieving the goal of weaving diversity into the fabric of the Corps requires a two-pronged approach to address the short-term needs of FY13 while laying the groundwork for meeting the longer term directive of sustaining a 20- 30 year pipeline that yields an officer and enlisted Marine Corps that reflects the eligible U.S. population. This two-part process for diversity marketing includes:

1. Working toward an understanding of the real and perceived barriers between a given brand or institution and the culturally diverse population it seeks to attract.

2. Deriving culturally relevant insights to create strategic communications to erode these barriers by disrupting identity threat cycles.

Marine Corps Messaging Strategy

In FY12, MCRC introduced a new advertising campaign titled, Toward the Sounds of Chaos, which leveraged the convergence insight from prospect research to address both of the contemporary challenges highlighted above (expanded relevance among Millennial youth and heightened institutional relevance in a post-war national security environment). The “Chaos” campaign communicates the Marine Corps’ evolved roles and missions, strengthening its position on both fronts.

Specific to recruiting-related communications, the “Chaos” campaign and all recruitment advertising materials focus on conveying three critical messages to all audiences, including an increasingly diverse group of Millennial prospects and their influencers.

MESSAGE 1: MODEL CITIZENS OF PUBLIC SERVICE

For nearly 237 years, the U.S. Marine Corps has served as our nation’s elite warriors, nobly facing down the greatest threats of our time—fighting instability, injustice and tyranny—during periods of war and peace worldwide.

• The Marine Corps is our nation’s expeditionary force of choice.

• The Marines are deployed globally and maintain a constant state of readiness to fight in combat and provide military support and security for humanitarian missions.

• The Marine Corps has courageously accomplished a variety of missions in the most challenging and chaotic environments in the world.

• Marines command missions both in the defense of our nation and to restore order and stability through reconstruction efforts, humanitarian interventions, natural disaster relief, and peacekeeping missions around the world.

MESSAGE 2: CONNECTING WITH AMERICA

The Marine Corps must reflect the country it serves.

• For generations, our nation has continued to evolve and grow into a diverse society. Not only is America changing, but so are our enemies and our allies. To remain the nation’s force in readiness, the Marine Corps must be as diverse as the nation we serve.

• The Marine Corps is dedicated to recruiting the best and brightest of America’s youth to become our future leaders and warriors.

• As the Marines fight a wider array of battles and a greater spectrum of threats, our force must be equally diverse in knowledge and experience.

MESSAGE 3: MORE THAN JUST WARRIORS

Marines are more than elite warriors—they are smart, courageous, compassionate citizens.

• The Marine Corps has a legacy of tough, elite warriors who are “first to fight”; but they are also leaders in service and altruism—two of the core values of today’s millennial generation.

• Marines are warriors who win battles, protect communities, and provide military support and security for humanitarian missions worldwide.

• Marines are defined by their ability to carry out missions in response to the world’s most challenging and chaotic situations. Marines restore order, stability and justice to allow for the delivery of critical supplies such as food, water and medicine.

The FY13 Recruitment Advertising Plan will continue to feature the “Chaos” campaign to deepen prospect and public understanding of this message with the express intent of increasing diversity in all its meanings.

IV. FY13 PLAN

A. Brand Messaging

Paid Media

• Scale Programs o National Television o National Online Display o National Print o Paid Search

• Targeted Audience Support o Diversity o Enlisted o Officer o Event Promotions o Female o Prior Service

• Partnerships o Xbox Live o Social

Campaigns

• Toward the Sounds of Chaos – Campaign Extensions

• Prospect Campaign Development

• Officer Campaign Extensions

• Xbox Live Integration

• Online Display Media Campaigns

• Black History Month

• Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month (May)

• Hispanic Heritage Month (September – October)

• Native American Heritage Month (November)

• Female Campaign – Print

• Public Relations

• Diversity Public Relations

• Integrated Content Efforts

• Prior Service Reserves Base Signage

Public Service Advertising

• Public Service Advertising Campaign Development

• Spanish Radio

• Out-of-Home Bus Shelter Creative

• TV Kit Mailers

• Radio Kit Mailer

• Outdoor Billboard Solicitation Mailer

• Reminder Postcards

Web Development

• Marines.com Enhancements and Maintenance

• MarineOfficer.com Integration Optimization

• Mobile Sites Enhancements and Maintenance

• LifeAsAMarine.com Optimization

• Event Video Content Collection for Web and Social Efforts

• Maintenance and Hosting for Web Properties

• Testing, Analysis and Reporting

Social Media Engagement

• Publishing, Moderation and Response

• Reporting and Optimization

• Content Development – Curated and Original

• Exploration of Emerging Trends

• Platform Maintenance

• Guidance and Field-Level Training

• Tools

A. Brand Messaging

Role of Brand Messaging

At the heart of Marine Corps advertising is a story, one that is told to reach, persuade and engage the target audience to learn more about the institution. Using strategic insights gleaned from primary and secondary research sources about the target audience’s motivations and behaviors, and analyzing the factors that impact the recruiting landscape, MCRC crafts a relevant brand message that resonates with the prospect market. Understanding the prospect market’s behavior and media consumption habits, the brand message is developed to most effectively connect with the largest possible audience, recognizing that each individual is in their own stage of their journey to join the Marine Corps.

Further, every “ad”—whether a television commercial, print insert, online banner, website or social media component—must effectively promote the brand in a manner that differentiates the Marine Corps from other branches of service. This messaging platform positions the Marine Corps within the competitive military recruiting category to accentuate the inimitable culture, mission and values that make serving as a Marine an aspirational goal for today’s youth.

There are five primary components comprising MCRC’s Brand Messaging program, all of which work together to communicate to a broad, diverse group of enlisted and officer prospects:

1. Paid Media

2. Campaigns

3. Public Service Advertising

4. Web Development

5. Social Media Engagement

Objectives

Critical to the success of developing strategic messaging is how, when and where Marine Corps advertising reaches the diverse prospect audience to cultivate awareness of the brand. This demands an effective paid media program, one that analyzes the behavior of the prospect audience to determine which media tactics provide the Marine Corps with maximum efficiency to reach young men and women.

The role of the Marine Corps Recruiting Command’s Brand Messaging program has multiple objectives:

• Drive prospect consideration

• Enhance the Marine Corps’ image

• Promote public awareness of the brand

• Support the recruiter

Measures of Effectiveness

To affect prospect consideration, it is imperative to establish a baseline awareness level among the target market that indicates they are seeing Marine Corps advertising and can recall it without prompting. The “Unaided Advertising Awareness” goal is set at 43%, which is based on historically successful levels of “Total Awareness” at 77% per quarter.

Unaided advertising awareness is measured against other key performance indicators (KPI) also established by the Joint Advertising Market Research & Studies quarterly ad tracking studies, including:

• Indicated actions – propensity and interest in finding out more on the Marine Corps

• Actual interest as measured by qualified leads and, ultimately, contracts

Overall, the success and effectiveness of the Brand Messaging program will be determined through DoD and Marine Corps quantitative studies tracking brand awareness, as well as leads and contracts.

Communications Guiding Principles

Blues Test

The Blues Test is applied to all efforts within the marketing program. The Blues Test is an ethical standard that the Marine Corps applies before entering into any advertising, publicity or promotional agreement. It helps ensure that all marketing and public affairs efforts are associated with organizations and companies of the highest moral caliber. It is a subjective test but aims to steer the Marine Corps brand away from objectionable content such as, but not limited to, sexual references, criminal activity, extreme violence, harsh language, political activism and any other potentially controversial subject matter.

MCRC recognizes that the Blues Test occasionally limits where the Marine Corps brand can appear. The payoff, however, is the consistent public image communicated to the target audience—that the United States Marine Corps embodies integrity and strong moral character. Maintaining a noble, public image for the Marine Corps will continue to be invaluable to all recruitment and public affairs efforts.

Target Priority

All Awareness efforts will deliver the primary target audience of males 18-24. For FY13 MCRC has outlined audience priorities as follows:

1. Diversity – emphasis on officer audience

2. Enlisted – emphasizing diversity

3. Officer – general market

4. Female

5. Prior Service Reserves (PSR)

6. MEOP

1. Paid Media

In building an effective paid media program, it is essential to consider the state of the current advertising marketplace. Additionally, it is critical to understand how the Marine Corps’ target audiences behave in this marketplace.

Situation

Audiences

The FY13 paid media program will focus primarily on prospects. The prospect target consists of several key segments: enlisted, officer, diversity, prior service and female. Although these segments are comprised of very different outlooks and perspectives, media consumption habits across these audiences do not significantly vary.

From a media perspective, MCRC will focus on the primary demographic of Men 18-24 to ensure commensurate delivery across the prospect audience as a whole. Tactical media selections will be further vetted through segmentation findings, ensuring delivery against the most propense portions of the target.

Youth Media Consumption

Millennials have grown up in a digital age and consume significant amounts of media—over 20 hours of content a week across all channels. This prolonged exposure to advertising-supported content has made them savvy with the conventions of traditional marketing.

As the second slide from a recent Forrester Research event keynote illustrates, technology has enabled audiences to consume media how, when and where they want. New devices such as the iPhone, iPad, netbook, Kindle and TiVo are also enabling audiences to consume multiple forms of media at the same time. Millennials have adapted their consumption habits to tune out the influx of messaging that is irrelevant to their interests, while simultaneously using media to pursue new passions.

Increasingly, these passions are being defined by the social graph—a digital representation of an individual’s interests and activities, and how they are connected to others’ interests and activities. The social graph represents the intersection of several key Millennial traits and serves as the foundation of their media consumption habits. Leveraging an inherent understanding of technology, as well as their self-assimilative nature, Millennials use social media to define the interests of their collective social groups. Though these 'passion points' may vary in nature, they often contain robust media extensions, which serve as the cornerstone of their regular media consumption.

Landscape/Trends

Advancements in technology and consumers’ increased adoption of those technologies have contributed to the rapid evolution of the paid media space. The impact of these changes can be seen from both an institutional and user perspective.

As new sources of user data become available, media companies are using this information to create highly personalized experiences. Data sources such as purchase history, website usage and social conversation provide deeper insight into users and offer advertisers more specialized—and often more effective—forms of communication.

As companies are focusing their marketing efforts on the interests of individuals, individuals are turning to social media to define where those interests lie. The media landscape has evolved to an on-demand model, and social groups have assumed the responsibility of curating that content and defining its relative value. The prevalence of social media allows interests to be defined in real time, providing significant bearing on overall lifestyle, as well as paid media trends.

Marketplace Forecast

Each year, a formal assessment of the current and predicted media marketplace is conducted to deliver the most effective and efficient media recommendation. The combination of a recovering economy and limited resources has resulted in the following considerations for MCRC’s media investment in FY13:

• Limit investments to key media vendors, increasing their relative investment levels to ensure greater added value opportunities

• Develop annual partnerships with select vendors to realize increased economies of scale

• Ensure maximum efficiency of scale media programs by leveraging new methods of implementation

• Further refine and expand on transmedia storytelling—an approach that leverages multiple media channels to surround a prospect based on the type of content they’re interested in—to leverage the overall efficiencies of each medium

Strategy

The Marine Corps’ overarching media strategy strives to reach and speak to prospects on their terms and embed the brand within their interests. This is accomplished by:

• Achieving scale of messaging among all segments of the prospect audience in key media channels

• Communicating the brand messaging platform via a transmedia approach

The practice of transmedia storytelling uses individual media to tell parts of a larger story. Leveraging the strengths of each channel allows brand values to be communicated in an impactful, engaging manner.

Tactics of the FY13 paid media program will work in tandem to deliver a transmedia message and will be organized based on their ability to deliver the key tenets of effective mass-communication scale within the context of relevance and highly targeted audience support.

Scale Programs

Scale programs will be implemented across key media channels to build effective reach against the prospect audience and ensure a baseline level of familiarity with brand values. The programs will leverage economies of scale to reach the larger prospect audience in relevant environments.

Targeted Audience Support

Audience-specific efforts will leverage the reach of messaging achieved by scale programs and supplement with customized communications aimed at select groups. These programs will communicate the brand messaging platform by aligning authentic audience insights of the brand with contextually relevant media partners.

Partnerships

When considering entering into a formal partnership on behalf of the Marine Corps, MCRC seeks to identify media entities that provide both scale of messaging and contextually relevant opportunities to align the Marine Corps for the prospect audience.

Tactics

Scale Programs

National Television

The Marine Corps will maintain a consistent presence on national throughout FY13, with high-profile programming scheduled to support key initiatives and time periods, such as back to school. Networks will be selected based on their ability to cost-effectively reach the broad prospect audience.

National Digital

Digital display media provides MCRC with the opportunity to present contextually relevant messaging to prospects as they spend time on sites that align with their interests. For example, prospects visiting sports websites will be served Marine Corps advertising that focuses on fitness or commitment, values that are highly relevant to sports. Engagement will be maximized through the implementation of high performance creative units, to include banner advertising, pre-roll video, mobile display and rich media.

National Print

Even in a digitally centric world, magazines remain a vital channel for prospects to consume specific content they are most interested in. Titles selected for this media buy will align with key initiatives and time periods.

Paid Search

The MCRC paid search program is designed to capture prospects actively seeking information on the Marine Corps and, to a lesser degree, the military in general. The paid search program will activate the three major search engines (Google, Yahoo and Bing), which account for over 90% of the market, and will operate across both desktop and mobile devices.

The program manages a full spectrum of terms, from branded terms (e.g., Marines, USMC and The Marine Corps) to general terms (e.g., U.S. Military and Military Careers), thereby directing prospects close to making a decision, as well as those in the early stages of consideration, to the relevant section of Marines.com. The performance and progress of these individual keywords will be continuously monitored, assessed and optimized based on their ability to drive responses and leads.

Targeted Audience Support

Diversity

Targeted diversity media efforts will align endemic media properties with the unique interests of the diversity prospect and influencer audiences. Potential media channels include digital display and print.

Key diversity celebratory months, including Black History Month, Hispanic Heritage Month and Asian- Pacific American Heritage Month, will be supported with supplemental media.

Enlisted

Under this tactic, selected media vehicles will deliver a high concentration of the enlisted segment within highly relevant content. Possible media channels include In-School Television and In-School Print.

Officer

Similar to the enlisted media, this tactic will secure media properties that deliver a high concentration of the officer segment within highly relevant content. Possible media channels include digital display surrounding college football and gaming content.

Event Promotions

Throughout FY13, messaging opportunities will be secured within and surrounding partnership events to raise awareness among target audiences. Executions will vary by partnership, but may include print, digital and radio promotions.

Female

As the Marine Corps expands opportunities for females to serve in the Marine Corps, MCRC will secure media designed to reach this audience most effectively. Possible media channels include targeted print and digital media.

Prior Service

Unlike the other audiences supported by the MCRC media plan, the Prior Service Reserves audience is comprised of active and inactive Marines who already understand the Marine Corps and are best reached through USMC-related media channels. Possible vehicles include print, on-base signage, and digital media with Marine Corps-related content.

Partnerships

Xbox Live

Gaming consoles are fast becoming in-home entertainment hubs connecting prospects to an ever-expanding world of games, movies, TV shows, music, sports and social communities. Xbox Live, the largest online gaming platform in the country, reaches 23 million users in the U.S. who spend an average of 84 hours per month on the platform. The evolution of this platform as a media channel provides advertisers new opportunities to engage with the audience in meaningful ways.

FY13 will mark the fourth year that Marine Corps advertising and content will run on the Xbox Live platform. Possible executions include media elements running throughout the platform, such as video and banner ads integrations within relevant Xbox Live applications. A Branded Destination Experience (BDE) will be activated as a fully customized microsite to serve as a hub for Marine Corps-owned content.

Social

Among the social media platforms in which the Marine Corps has an established presence, such as Facebook and YouTube, paid media will run to raise awareness of and participation with the USMC-managed pages and channels. This effort will support the launch of new social initiatives throughout the year.

2. Campaigns

As the paid media plan ensures the Marine Corps brand is reaching prospects in the places they spend their time, the development and implementation of creative campaigns in those paid media placements is required to provoke action from the prospect, specifically to learn more about the Marine Corps and to speak with a recruiter. A prospect’s journey of enlistment in the Marine Corps begins with their initial impression and understanding of the brand. The advertising campaigns MCRC produces are designed to inspire all prospects to view service as a Marine as an aspirational life choice, one they will either pursue themselves or support for their peers.

Situation

Through the use of transmedia storytelling, creative and media elements work together to communicate the Longer Marine Corps Story to the target audience. By alleviating the burden for one creative element to tell the entire story, prospects receive those elements of the messaging strategy that are most relevant to them at their corresponding stage of the Enlistment Behavior Model, within those media channels where they are spending their time.

In March of FY12, MCRC launched a new campaign, Toward the Sounds of Chaos, designed to appeal to a broad cross-section of youth among enlisted and officer audiences. MCRC tested the campaign for its relevance among youth and for its ability to motivate those typically classified as non-propense, but who have indicated a willingness to consider military service in the future. Leveraging the insights acquired from a comprehensive research study conducted in FY10, Toward the Sounds of Chaos communicates how the Marine Corps wins our nation’s battles along a broader spectrum of missions, many of which align with how youth values and defines service.

Toward the Sounds of Chaos is a transmedia campaign, inclusive of television, print, online media, website integration, social media activation and mobile component. It is further supported by a public relations (PR) campaign designed to establish the messaging strategy and forge deeper connectivity to the American public about the Marine Corps’ unique role as the expeditionary force of choice within the armed forces. When launched, Toward the Sounds of Chaos achieved significant levels of impressions across all media, and initial indicators measuring unaided awareness and overall likeability demonstrated the campaign was achieving its primary goals to resonate with diverse youth.

MCRC will continue to measure the effectiveness of the Toward the Sounds of Chaos campaign, understanding that youth attitudes toward military service may change given exogenous factors that impact propensity, for example: the eventual drawdown of troops in Afghanistan, the state of the national economy, employment rates, and the outcome of political elections. This ongoing analysis, coupled with the ongoing nationalism research aimed at identifying how Americans from different backgrounds define patriotism and military service along common lines, will provide insights to aid in the development of new campaigns in FY13 aimed at reaching the American public and the prospect audience.

Tactics

Toward the Sounds of Chaos – Campaign Extensions

To further drive additional awareness and understanding of the brand positioning communicated by Toward the Sounds of Chaos, new content will be produced in FY13 to engage prospects over the course of the year and provide new points of entry into the brand story. This can include additional mission-focused web series videos, profile interviews for Marines.com, mobile experiences, video pre-roll and display media.

Prospect Campaign Development

Upon the conclusion of the nationalism study MCRC is fielding in FY12, new insights into how prospects view the nation, military service, and patriotic expression through both common and disparate filters will inform the continued refinement of the messaging strategy MCRC employs to motivate youth towards enlistment. As a result, MCRC will develop a new campaign in FY13 to ensure that prospect messaging is timely and relevant, and is able to leverage the Marine Corps’ cultural, institutional and brand strengths that provide the greatest opportunity to align with current youth values.

Officer Campaign Extensions

The general market officer campaign MCRC developed in FY12 supports the officer mission by providing prospects with differentiated messaging, information and a clear call to action unique to the officer path. The campaign focuses on how Marine Officers are imbued with distinct qualities that enable them to confidently lead Marines in a range of missions. In FY13, MCRC will support this campaign with additional elements that may include campus signage and billboards, content for the officer sections of Marines.com, mobile experiences/campaigns, video pre-roll and display media.

Xbox Live Integration

To activate the Xbox Live paid media partnership, new Marine Corps content and interactive experiences will be designed to run on the Xbox live platform. Understanding it represents a tremendous opportunity to reach prospects, MCRC has carefully audited how to enter into the gaming space appropriately without violating a principal brand tenant that one cannot pretend to be a Marine.

In FY13, as in the past four years, MCRC will leverage Xbox Live to reach gamers through rich, immersive content experiences that provide insight on what Marines do and why, through the lens of the campaigns in market.

Online Display Media Campaigns

Online display media’s increasing significance within the paid media plan is based on the channel’s ability to efficiently reach prospects, raise their brand awareness and measure the impact of creative across different unit types and site placements. With an increased media buy in this channel, MCRC will develop new pre-roll videos, online display banners, mobile banner executions and accompanying unique landing pages in FY13. The creative will align either with select campaigns in market or content areas within Marines.com that provoke significant interest among visitors to that site.

Diversity Celebratory Heritage/History Campaigns

MCRC will continue to predispose diversity communities to the Marine Corps and positively influence prospects and their families by building on the success of previous celebratory campaigns (i.e., Where I’m From, Hispanic Values, etc.) with new messaging, creative and stories that will detail the achievements and contributions of ethnically diverse Marines both yesterday and today. In FY13, MCRC will expand its commitment to diverse communities across America, continuing its celebration of Hispanic Heritage and Black History while also joining national observations of Asian-Pacific American Heritage and Native American Heritage.

Black History Month (February)

For Black History Month in 2013, MCRC will continue to initiate an authentic dialogue with the African- American community and cultivate real relationships between that audience and the Marine Corps.

MCRC will renew the efforts of the highly successful Where I’m From campaign by asking Marines to share their stories of the opportunities given to them by their families, hometown communities and, ultimately, the Marine Corps.

Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month (May)

Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month represents a time to celebrate the legacy of Asian-Pacific Americans and their direct connection to Marine Corps history and values.