Information delivery is the new advertising

There are times in advertising when the hard sell just isn’t appropriate. And that’s the situation we found ourselves in with our work for Joint Advertising Market Research & Studies (JAMRS), a division of the Department of Defense. Our mission is simply to get parents talking about military service with their kids.  It’s an intensely personal decision, and the intent is not to coax young adults to serve, but to foster conversation and, ultimately, the realization that the Military can be a worthy opportunity for the right person.

Our tagline reflects this: “It’s a Big Decision. Talk About It.” But talk about what? If your goal is to encourage communication, you’ve got to give people something to discuss. And that’s just what we do on todaysmilitary.com – the consumer-facing site for the Department of Defense.

At first glance, todaysmilitary.com might not seem like advertising.  (At least, not in a traditional sense) It’s our responsibility to provide accurate facts about the Military so our site users can form accurate opinions. When our TV and print advertising drives users to our website, we’re committing to providing them with the facts. After all, it’s one thing to choose not to serve based on careful weighing of reality, and another to discount service as an option based on incorrect or outdated information.

We’ve built todaysmilitary.com around a content strategy that provides top line information on many aspects of the Military and then drives the user to more detailed info on Service-specific sites (goarmy.com, marines.com, navy.com, airforce.com and gocoastguard.com)  By analyzing site metrics and consumer research, we’ve been able to develop the content our users need, whether it’s a tool that estimates Military salaries or a series of videos featuring real-life servicemembers and their families. We debunk myths about service to allay parents’ concerns and provide detail on training and education to show the impact on a servicmember’s career. It’s not flashy or glamorous, but it provides real utility—and that is exactly what families need when making life-changing decisions. And if we can make a few of those families feel more comfortable supporting a child’s decision to serve, we’re every bit as persuasive as the 30-second spot that drove them to our site in the first place.