Hasta La Creative!

All across the country, the lingering economic recession has caused businesses of all shapes and sizes to rethink their marketing efforts. More often than not, this has meant cutting overall advertising budgets while investing more heavily in free and low-cost social media marketing.

Even the United States Army has had to cut back on marketing, but not for the reasons you might expect. As detailed in a recent article from the Associated Press, the Army has cut its marketing spending not because it’s been ineffective in drawing recruits, but rather because the recession itself has created so many new enlistees that spending on advertising is superfluous.

While the increase in recruitment is certainly compelling, it is by no means surprising. Since the very inception of the armed forces, the honor of serving one’s country and the lure of steady pay and government benefits have drawn countless men and women to the military. What I find more interesting in the AP story is the type of high-cost marketing efforts the army is considering shutting down.

Last year, the Army began a pilot program for a new immersive marketing initiative called the Army Experience Center. Based in Philadelphia’s Franklin Mills Mall, the Army Experience Center was designed specifically to appeal to teen boys, combining walls of video game consoles with army combat simulators and video exhibits of military life. In total, the program costs $4 million a year to run.

While the marketer in me lauds the Army’s ingenuity, I find myself questioning the ethics of mixing video games and combat simulation programs under the same roof. It’s no wonder that peace activists staged protests against the center, claiming children are being “desensitized to violence.”

On the other hand, I have immense respect for the men and women of the military, and the idea that young men could be duped into enlistment through video games alone is insulting to the integrity of our armed services. In order to visit the center, individuals must be at least 13 years-old. Furthermore, visitors must opt-in to receive information about recruiting from the Army Experience Center, something the majority of teens choose not to do. Are these not sufficient protective measures? If the Army is not allowed to experiment with new marketing tactics, how are they expected to maintain an all-volunteer military?

What do you think? Despite the fact that the recession has rendered the Army Experience Center unnecessary for the time being, do you have a problem with the Army’s increasingly integrated marketing efforts?  Whether the answer is yes or no, I’d love to hear your reasons in the comments.

Rob Frappier is a marketing copywriter and blogger working in the social media sphere. To reach Rob, visit his blog, or follow him on Twitter.

During his rapid ascent from a senator to President of the United States, Barack Obama effectively rewrote the rules of political marketing. By embracing the Internet and relying on strong grassroots fundraising, Obama raised enough money to dominate opponent John McCain with television ads that included an unprecedented 30-minute documentary style ad that delayed the start of the MLB World Series.

Predictably, President Obama’s marketing methods have been embraced by the rest of the Democratic Party (note the similarities between the White House homepage and the Democratic Party’s homepage). Of course, it’s not just friends of the President who have taken to alternative advertising, but his enemies, as well.

Recently, images of President Obama made to resemble Heath Ledger’s Joker from the blockbuster film The Dark Knight have popped up all over Los Angeles.  Illustrated in a style somewhat similar to Shepard Fairey’s famous Obama ‘Hope’ portrait, the poster splashes the word socialism underneath the President’s creepily smiling face.

It is unclear at this point whether the Obama/Joker posters are the work of a lone individual or if they are tied to a formal guerrilla marketing campaign. For some reason, I’m inclined to believe the latter. We’ve seen Astroturfing campaigns from both side of the political aisle, so I wouldn’t be shocked to find out in a month that this was conceived by some Conservative organization. If so, the question is, “Why?”

Why appropriate such a well-known image from The Dark Knight? Is the artist implying that the President, like the Joker in the movie, is a terrorist? That tactic didn’t work in the Presidential campaign, so why would it work now? Furthermore, if these posters are indeed being bankrolled by members of a conservative group, why would these people risk being tied to such a blatant attack?

If Obama/Joker is actually part of a greater campaign, I can’t see how it will be effective. Despite the President’s slipping approval ratings, I believe that in these fragile times, Americans aren’t interested in getting back to divisive politics. What do you think?

Rob Frappier is a marketing copywriter and blogger working in the social media sphere. To reach Rob, visit his blog, or follow him on Twitter.