Get The Message

Background

It is becoming increasingly tough to recruit quality people for careers in the Armed Forces, and the Royal Navy is no exception. The biggest challenge to recruitment targets is that most potential recruits don't understand what life is really like in the Royal Navy and wrongly assume that it's a lonely boring life on the ocean - 'a grey ship in the middle of a grey sea'. glue London were asked to produce a piece of viral communication that would add another layer of engagement to the overall recruitment campaign whilst also showcasing the breadth of jobs available within the Royal Navy.

Idea

Mobile phone penetration for 15 to 24-years-olds is over 90%. Not having seen anything for mobiles that they thought really pushed boundaries, the agency decided that if they could produce something compelling that people could access via their handsets and send on, it would be hugely effective. The result was 'Get the message' - a personalised video based messenger service founded on the slightly ludicrous, but very appealing, idea of having your personal, and probably not very important, messages delivered to friends embedded in a film about the might of the Royal Navy.

Users could choose from five different scenarios, which promoted the range of careers on offer and showcased just how exciting some of those jobs can be. Users were able to pass their video messages on and also create new personalised messages via their handset. In order to humanise the Royal Navy, real Navy personnel were shot for the films. Send your own message here: http://www.getthemessage.net/

Results

Precise results are confidential but the site was visited by hundreds of thousands of people, all spending an average of 3.5 minutes there.

Target Audience

A demographically broad audience of young adults aged 15 to 24. Within this, the target was divided into three attitudinal groups that the Royal Navy had identified as being most likely to generate potential recruits. These were 'optimistic achievers', 'enthusiastic followers' and 'unfulfilled potentials'.

Our Thoughts

One of my favourite ideas in this edition of Directory because, while most marketers use online as a direct response medium, it can also build brands. It communicates the breadth of career choice in the Navy in a way that’s fun and engaging. It cannot have been easy to deliver so full marks to the tecchies as well as the creatives – and, of course, the client bold enough to try something a bit different and put some proper funding into it.