The Army National Guard Wants to Rock You

The Army National Guard is launching a new recruiting campaign, called the "Rock Star Hero Challenge." Developed by RedPeg Marketing, the effort focuses on venues where the Guard expects its target demographic to be: music festivals, NASCAR events, and fishing tournaments. Using a tour bus to be a presence at at many as 50 events that will draw 50,000 to 100,000 attendees each, the campaign will draw in potential recruits with "52-inch touch screen displays that allow potential recruits to see and participate in virtual missions. Interactive kiosks where visitors can pose with images of rock bands will sit outside the buses, tying into the musical nature of the events and emphasizing the figurative 'rock star' quality of Army National Guard members." LTC Joseph Day, chief of the Army National Guard's strategic actions and marketing, said that the National Guard is currently on track to meet its recruiting goal for 2008 and that "The interactive nature makes the 'Rock Star Hero' different and will appeal to our demographic's thirst for technology."