Background
Recruitment for the Royal Marines was down. Their previous campaign positioned them as an elite force and presented the notion that 99.9% of men don’t quite have what it takes to succeed in a career in the Royal Marines Commando. COI briefed the market on this recruitment challenge and Zoo responded with the 'Are You Man Enough?' challenge. The campaign was designed to communicate that if potential applicants had the right state of mind, then the Royal Marines Commando would support them in their training programme. Consequently, we developed a campaign which would throw down the gauntlet to young men by asking them, 'Are you man enough?'
The Big Idea
Zoo responded to COI’s challenge to boost recruitment for the RMC and negate the belief that becoming a RMC was out of most men’s reach with the ‘Are You Man Enough?’ campaign.
Making it happen - Recruitment Phase
Recruitment for participants was driven via magazine activity that launched the competition, and introduced the Zoo editorial applicant James Ankobia – who would take the journey alongside Zoo readers. Readers were encouraged to register online to the Are you man enough? channel of www.zootoday.co.uk. The section featured top tips and advice, a training programme, and a mini movie featuring the Zoo man being taken through his paces by the Marines at their training centre. The web activity was heavily endorsed by editorial and used to inspire readers and encourage participation. The registration process included a quick online quiz to evaluate entrant’s state of mind followed by sign up for one of 18 regional events - created by the Zoo team and facilitated by British Military Fitness. At the events all of the challengers were put through their paces via gruelling beep tests of shuttle runs, pull-ups, press ups, sit ups and a mile-and-a-half run, encouraged by Zoo supporters and motivated by the Marines’ instructors. The events gave the RMC the opportunity to meet with contestants and supporters providing recruitment and PR opportunities in a friendly and relaxed environment. From the 900 participants, the top 10 finalists (including our Zoo Journalist) were selected to spend the weekend at the Royal Marines training base, tackling both the assault course and the infamous endurance course, in a bid to be crowned ‘The Man of the Year’.
Showcase Events - Cross Promotion
The promotion was completely integrated, both in terms of platforms and collaboration. It went beyond the pages of the magazine and became a powerful, impactful campaign, which included advertorials, a micro-site (including leader boards, training programmes and videos), e-mail newsletters, regional events, PR and the final at the Royal Marines training camp. This was a completely innovative project for the Royal Marines and to get from pitch stage to a live campaign involved round-the-table meetings with internal creative teams at Bauer, the COI, the Royal Marines marketing teams, Mediacom, Carat, i-level, British Military Fitness, Royal Marines Commando, Zoo editorial.
The Prize
The winner was crowned ‘The Man of the Year’ and received a £3,000 goodie bag of techno gadgets including an iphone, PS3, mountain bike, and a laptop and a flight in a Royal Navy Hawk jet. Matthew Bee came out on top as the winner.
Results
Zoo conversion rates from registration to competitors was 8.86%, the RM enquires to entrants is 12.1%, The advertorial granted 11,053 impressions and 4,529 views.
Online, there were 8,261 clicks from digital directional media that delivered 63M impressions. The huge support from the Royal Marines, and talks of a year two from COI are our ultimate signs of success
“Quote” , “This was by far the hardest and most gruelling task I’ve ever completed but I’m glad I did it. I grow a couple of inches taller every time I talk about my stint with the Royal Marines Commando.” James, Zoo Editor
“Delivering through the involvement of the Zoo man communicated our objectives in an engaging, believable, entertaining and most importantly achievable promotion, meeting all the objectives of the brief. Zoo provided us with the opportunity to widen our message whilst still filtering our response to potential Marine recruits, and deliver cost efficient results.” Carole Alexander, COI, Channel Integration Management
Summary
The Royal Marines Commando was in need of rebutting the notion that 99.9% of men don’t quite have what it takes to be a Royal Marine. Zoo presented the ‘Are You Man Enough?’ campaign to actually rest real men’s abilities to show them they may have what it takes to be a Royal Marine.
The contest consisted of mental and physical tests that separated the men from the boys and had a finish line of £3,000 in techno gadgets and a flight in a Royal Navy Hawk jet.
To ensure the tests were credible, James, a member of the Zoo editorial team participated in every event.
The campaign included advertorials, a micro site, e-mail newsletters, regional events, a final event at the Royal Marines training camp, and PR
