Many people in the UK still perceive the British Army as white, macho and male – and for potential recruits that’s incredibly intimidating and off-putting. We needed to show that’s not the reality, and that everyone can find belonging in the British Army.

Across all media, we showed moments of belonging featuring real soliders who were already out there defying expectations – from female officers to LGBT soldiers - shattering the stereotypes of who does and doesn’t belong in the Army.

Using data, we were able to tailor our core message of belonging and acceptance to elements of Army life that would matter at an individual level, from things like ‘adventure’ to ‘learning new skills.’

This is Belonging continues to prove to potential recruits from every walk of a life that they too can find belonging in the British Army.

The campaign period is 13th January 2018 – present, running nationwide across the United Kingdom.

The launch weekend Saturday 13th January 2018 saw the release of all x5 TV executions (40” and 30” on TV, 30” on VOD), and all x5 animations on VOD Sky AdVance. From Monday 15th January, copy dropped down to Voice and Prayer (20”) on TV (30” on VOD) and ‘Female’ and ‘Faith’ animations on Sky AdVance until the end of February. In March and April copy swapped to Letter and Buckaroo on TV and VOD, with ‘Emotion’ and ‘Superhero’ animations on Sky AdVance. Voice and Prayer (40”) ran in Cinemas nationwide from mid-January to the end of March.

Supporting Radio, Display (standard HTML, DCO and High Impact) and Paid Social on Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook were live over the whole campaign. Nationwide OOH in 6s and 48s formats supported in January and February.

Our campaign became national conversation. From GMB to The One Show, it was discussed and played out to millions:

PR reach was 34x higher than 2017.

Although it caused a furor with the Daily Mail and middle-aged men like Nick Griffin, for real candidates, it worked.

We know it worked because we can see an immediate impact in what potentially candidates actually did.

After launch, the average number of candidates going on to the website to register their application daily rose to record breaking numbers that were well above the levels of the previous year.

Through brave work that challenges what it means to be a soldier today, this campaign is making people feel they can belong in the Army.