Army National Guard
AD: Jim Kingsley CD/CW: Peter Burkhard DDB/Needham, DC
This spread drew 75,000 responses in one summer - the best ever in the history of the Guard. It also drew 50 or 60 letters from irate mothers who were against war and would never let their sons go off and catch their death of cold. Or bullets.
The Irresistible Force campaign (print & TV) was explicitly designed to counteract the "pencil-necked geek" image of the Guard, then prevalent among 18-20 year olds in places like NW Georgia (where Jim shot the photo above) and East Arizona. The campaign drew so much response that the Guard decided they no longer needed Six Field Recruiters, employed by Needham, to personally hand-hold prospects through the induction process.
The mark-up on the salaries of said Field Officers constituted Needham's sole profit on the account. We declined to participate in the next triennial review. The account went elsewhere and the Guard resumed its previous campaign. Eventually they hired back the Field Officers.
About three years later we invaded Iraq.
