WASHINGTON — The Army on Wednesday unveiled a new advertising slogan, "An Army of One," to replace the 2-decade-old "Be all you can be" as part of $150 million ad campaign aimed at recruiting a new generation of soldiers.
The new slogan was created by the Chicago-based advertising agency Leo Burnett, which was hired by the Army last summer in hopes of improving its pitch to potential recruits.
The new campaign will premiere during the NBC sitcom "Friends" on Thursday night, Army Secretary Louis Caldera told a Pentagon news conference in which he showed a video of one of the new ads, titled "Dog Tags." In it, a lone soldier is pictured running across a desert at dawn. A voice says, "I am an Army of one. Even though there are 1,045,690 soldiers like me, I am my own force. With technology, with training, with support, who I am has become better than who I was."
The new ads, which Caldera called "fresh and contemporary," were first reported by The New York Times and USA Today in their Wednesday editions.
The 60-second ad will also appear during "The Simpsons" on Fox and "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" on the WB network. The theme is in response to research that shows young people view military life as dehumanizing.
The popular "Be all you can be" slogan dates to 1981. Asked Wednesday why the Army was switching slogans, Caldera noted that the Army had missed its recruiting target in three of the past five years. "It was not working," he said.
Leo Burnett is developing new ads with two minority partners: Cartel Creativo, which specializes in Hispanic advertising, and Images USA, which specializes in marketing to blacks.
Leo Burnett's other clients include McDonald's, Coca-Cola and Nintendo.