Leo Burnett
(Manning, Selvage & Lee)
1100 17th St., NW
12th Floor
Washington, DC

The US Army hired Leo Burnett, one of the world's largest advertising firms, in January 2001 to develop a $150 million multi-media Army recruitment advertising campaign. Burnett's award-winning campaign is called "An Army of One," a theme created by its associates at Manning, Selvage & Lee.

The ad campaign uses heavy metal music, video games and slick commercials placed on stations oriented toward youth, including Comedy Central and MTV.

Chemistri, an interactive agency that is a subsidiary of Leo Burnett, was also tasked with using the theme to overhaul the Army's web site, www.goarmy.com. Ad industry analysts say the Army has seen an increase in recruiting since the ad campaign began, including an increase in Internet-based recruiting activity. Before the ad campaign the Army had missed recruitment targets in three out of five years.

"We maintain communications plans to anticipate contingencies - whether to place advertising on certain shows after some form of unexpected publicity, adjusting to major world events, highlighting an event within the Army - but we also keep the ads themselves relatively timeless," a Burnett spokeswoman told the Chicago Tribune.

In response to the ad campaign, Chicago-based Students for Social Justice has led protests at the agency's international headquarters in Chicago. See this Chicago Indymedia announcement about the protest on March 28.

According to Reel Chicago (a magazine directed at people involved in commercial video production) the protesters say the ads deceptively depict military service as "fun and adventurous" and that "the Army is a place where individual growth and achievement is possible." Since the Iraqi invasion began, however, the Army has changed its thematic emphasis to a commitment to the country.

"The Army's wartime advertising demonstrates sensitivity to world events and provides an appropriate tribute to the Army's most important asset in the quest for victory: soldiers," a news release from ad agency says.

For more information, see www.prwatch.org

Last Updated April 3, 2003