Defence Force Recruiting launches ‘Your life, plus Army Reserve.’ campaign via VMLY&R
In its first major brand campaign since Defence Force Recruiting returned to the agency, VMLY&R has created ‘Your life, plus Army Reserve’. The energetic campaign demonstrates that you don’t need to give up your lifestyle, your career, your day job or your studies to join the Army Reserve.
Sweetshop director Joel Harmsworth was enlisted to bring a dynamic and visually stunning campaign to life that not only unveiled the diverse equipment and people you’ll get to work with in the Army Reserve, but also capture the exciting and challenging environments you’ll get to experience.
Says Jake Barrow, ECD, VMLY&R: “We’re really excited to bring this beautifully crafted work into the world after a year of working from our kitchen tables. We hope that by modernising the Army Reserve brand, people will view it in a new light and the campaign will ultimately lead to full recruitment centres.”
Says Brigadier Duncan Hayward, director general, Defence Force Recruiting: “This campaign shows that when you join the Army Reserve, you’ll be welcomed into a whole new world of excitement and challenges. Many people join the Army Reserve to be able to give back to the community. This campaign provides an insight into the flexibility and benefits of part-time service.”
Over 50 executions across cinema, TV, social and OOH were created to target different segments of the Australian public at different times.
DFR
Deputy Director Recruiting Attraction – Wing Commander Skye Smith
Staff Officer Recruiting Attraction (Army) – Captain Sotirios Kourloufas
Operations Captain Defence Force Recruiting – Captain Corina Forner
Staff Officer Recruiting Attraction (Air Force) – Flight Lieutenant Stuart Pollack
Staff Officer Recruiting Attraction (Tri-Service) – Pilot Officer Ebony Braddon
General Manager – Attraction – Leanne Hayter
National Marketing Manager – Zerlina Burns
Brand Portfolio Manager (Army Reserve) – Melissa Saint
Brand Portfolio Manager – Jacqui Day
Brand Portfolio Manager – Tom Woods
Senior Marketing Officer – Stephanie Hower
Senior Marketing Officer – Travis Hanson
Marketing Officer – Hayden Lenord
Social Media Manager – Marc Unger
Social Media Content Manager – Maria Ngo
VMLY&R
Chief Creative Officer – Paul Nagy
Executive Creative Director – Jake Barrow
Creative Director – James Wills
Creative Director – Robyn Bergmann
Copywriter – Jack Harrison
Art Director (stills) – Bryce Waters
Managing Partner – Sarah Bailey
Head of Strategy – Craig Page
Senior Digital Strategist – Josh Swingler
Group Business Director – Adam Brami
Account Director – Maddi Cinque
Senior Account Manager – Rica Dezoller
Head of Integrated Production – Oliver Samuel
Senior Integrated Producer – Aaron Rocca
Head of Design – Lewis Brown
Designer – Meg Copp
Editor – Leigh Cooke
Executive Producer (Social) – Rachel Rider
Account Director (Social) – Cat Collins
Account Manager (Social) – Gab Sandel
Production: Sweetshop
Director – Joel Harmsworth
Managing Director – Edward Pontifex
Executive Producer – Greg Fyson
Producer – Nikolas Aulich
DOP – James Brown
Art Director – Tom Churchill Brown
Edit & Finish: ARC Edit
Senior Producer – Freya Maddock
Offline Editor – Graeme Pereira
Online Artist – Eugene Richards
Colourist – Fergus Rotherham
Sound Studio: Squeak E Clean
Executive Producer – Ceri Davies
Sound Engineer – Paul Le Couteur
Sound Engineer – Dee Gjedsted
Music Composer – Jonny Higgins
Photography – Flint
Executive Producer – Tim Berriman
Photographer – Jonathan May
Producer – Natalie Loveridge
Retouching: Limehouse
Library Photography: Flint
Photographer – David Maurice Smith
Camera Assistant – Mitchell Fong
Producer – Taryn Mueller
Media: Universal McCann
Partnerships Director – Matt Jones
Client Director – Emma Wood
Digital Director – Melissa Lopez
Partnerships Trader – Isaac Sahyoun
Partnerships Executive – Ria Gupta
Associate Director of Search & Social – Alison Hatt
Paid Social Manager – Sharon Ogilvie
Programmatic Manager – Samantha Pearse
17 Comments
Awesome work Jake and team – well worth the wait.
Simple idea, immaculately crafted. Well played JH.
Congrats to everyone involved. An absolute beast.
Banger
Clunky line, but otherwise a very nice idea, very nicely done.
Strong film. Current and crafted.
OOH Still imagery looks a bit too 1997.
Epic job on crafting, JH
It’s the same campaign thought they’ve been running for 15+ years, executed very slightly differently.
Previously it was all army fatigues with a hint of civilian clothes underneath. Not sure all the man-hours were worth it.
Although the similarities with the previous Reserves campaign are obvious (much like ANY product or service) this feel like an evolution on that older campaign. The message from my point of view is clear here, I can have my cake and eat it too. The previous campaign was more about serving your community in my opinion. Two very different approaches to the same product. Are you suggesting that ONLY campaigns that are completely unique from one another are ‘worth it’? Aren’t all campaigns for the same product or service derivative given they often feature a similar prop? I suspect this campaign is going to work it’s socks off as it shows that you can fit Reservist service into your busy life. Remind me, did the last campaign do that?
Dang, looks awesome.
Nice one.
you’ve missed the mark.
Obviously you presented ‘don’t give up your day job’ – but they didn’t buy it.
Overall, the spot feels negative, like it’s a burden for applicants to give up their time.
Sitting on the fence, appeal to everyone, shit.
Well obviously they did present that because that exact line is in the first OOH? Maybe next time look at the actual creative before you decide to voice your useless opinion. Or better yet, sign up for the Army Reserves and put your wasted time to better use.
You absolute minnow. Any government campaign of this size gets extensively researched both in concept and after it’s been produced. For this to be on air, it would have been proven already to be effective with the audience they’re targeting. Nice try, but all you’ve done is shown how little you know about big brand work.
Sign. Me. Up.
A number of the team working on ADF over the years have joined the Reserves and made the commitment.
Perhaps when you’ve walked the talk you might really get it.
Well done VMLY&R.
Just watched the latest Air Force Add….all very nice, but clearly there is NO interest in recruiting young men into our armed forces…..there wasn’t a guy in sight!!! I feel for young Aussie guys……they’ll be desperately needed if there’s a war, but at the moment they are being written out of the script. I guess reality will bite at some point, but will it be too late?