The challenge was to create a high-quality printed piece that Marine Corps Recruiters would be proud to give out and educators would find useful, all within a budget of $16,000/€11,572. This task tested our creativity and efficiency since our concept had 16 unique images. We knew if the planner was appealing yet useful enough, educators would be inspired to contact recruiters to learn more about the Marines as an option for some of their students and the Educators’ workshop.

By embracing the media millennials consume, while organically integrating the Marine Corps’ values, we perfected the High School All-American Bowl concept. We accomplished this via a multi-pronged approach to our promotions. Digital executions increased awareness and traffic to the SFAAB site while locally focused tactics (radio promotions, outdoor and Xbox) were crucial in driving game day attendance.

We enhanced the USMC’s game day presence with an on-site, custom-built SFAAB Command Center that monitored news, social and broadcast feeds for relevant opportunities to create and amplify content. This enabled the brand to engage with its audience in real time with Promoted Tweets, Facebook Posts, videos and photos. Social media platforms included Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Vine and Tumblr.

Our social efforts were part of a large-scale event production that included a pre-game “tailgate” experience featuring Marine vehicles and artillery outside the stadium and culminated with the All-American Game broadcast on Fox Sports.

The planners are in market now and sign up for the Marine Corps Educator’s Workshop is ongoing with official results not yet reported. The response to the planner has been overwhelmingly positive and is quickly becoming a preferred tool by Marine Corps Recruiters to engage with teachers and other education related influencers. The Marine Corps is so encouraged by the product and the results that they expect to continue making new planners every year for the foreseeable future.