Army Pushes For Minorities New Advertising Campaign Won’T Include Old Ad Agency

Army Secretary Louis Caldera announced Tuesday a major recruiting drive to boost the service’s sagging ranks by embarking on a $380 million advertising campaign, geared in large part toward attracting minorities.

Caldera also said the Army was dropping the ad agency that helped popularize the venerable “Be All That You Can Be” slogan.

Caldera said the Army has hired a new advertising agency - Leo Burnett Worldwide Inc., based in Chicago - to produce commercials and advertisements for print and broadcast media.

Burnett will work with two minority-owned partners: Cartel Creativo, of San Antonio, which specializes in Hispanic-American advertising, and Images USA, of Atlanta, which specializes in marketing to African Americans.

Currently, about 30 percent of Army recruits are African American and 8 percent are Hispanic American. While the Army will target both groups, Caldera said the Hispanic community is “potentially a growing market” for the Army.

The Army is having difficulty getting recruits. As of June, its recruiting rate will put the service about 3,600 enlistees shy of its goal of 80,000 recruits for the year, Caldera said. Last year was the worst for Army recruiting in nearly two decades - the service ended up short 6,300 recruits short of its target of 74,500 new soldiers.

The other military services have faired better. The Navy last year exceeded its recruiting goal of 52,500 enlistees by 100 recruits, while the Marine Corps met its target of 33,700 new troops. The Air Force was 1,700 short of its goal of 33,800. All told, the Pentagon needs about 200,000 new recruits each year.

A Pentagon report to Congress this year said that recruiting problems were caused by “a robust job market, coupled with an increased propensity among high school graduates to go on to college.”

The contract between the Army and Leo Burnett is structured to give the company additional financial rewards if the recruiting goals are met.