British Army recruitment direct mail case study

As well as trying to drive enlistments in the infantry, the British Army also needed to encourage potential recruits who would not previously have considered joining up.

A TV campaign prompted 16-24 year olds to Start Thinking Solidier, and drove them online to a gaming-style website which showcased real operational scenarios featuring different skills and roles.

Having warmed up the cold prospects, they were then invited to a live event where they could take part in similar challenges to the ones featured online,  meet real soldiers and find out more about the different careers on offer.

Over 1.2 million people visited the interactive site, which was created by Publicis and Skive, while the email campaign from Tequila notched up impressive open rates of about 29%.

Post-campaign tracking revealed that there were record levels of interest in joining the Army and  that, for the first time in years, all its training places had been filled. The campaign also demonstrated a successful inter-agency approach to delivering a single project.