Winners & Shortlists

BOOT POLISH

TitleBOOT POLISH
BrandTHE BRITISH ARMY
Product/ServiceTHE BRITISH ARMY
Category A03. AMBIENT MEDIA: SMALL SCALE (INCL. PREMIUMS & GIVEAWAYS)
Entrant Company JWT LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM
Advertising Agency JWT LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM
Credits
Name Company Position
Russell Ramsey JWT London Executive Creative Director
Adam Scholes JWT London Creative Director
Chris Jones JWT London Senior Art Director
Kell Lunam/Cowan JWT London Senior Copywriter
Chris Hutton JWT London Designer
Nick Manson JWT London Account Director
Damian Knight Jwt London Production

The Brief

Our audience of potential Army Officers was formed of university graduates, so we wanted to give them something genuinely useful to avoid the fate of most hand-out leaflets at careers fairs – the bin. The strategy of highlighting the exciting life an Army Officer leads combined with the restrictions of the format meant the copy had to be tight and straight to the point.

Creative Execution

Few organisations have a unique icon such as the Army boots. By utilising this in an Officer-focused direct campaign of press ads, digital display advertising and ambient collateral, we were able to produce work that simply could not be run by anyone else.

Describe the creative solution to the brief/objective.

Graduates at recruitment fairs are handed multiple leaflets – most of which go straight in the bin. We wanted to create something that they were guaranteed to keep, which was relevant to the Army, which highlighted the exciting life an Army Officer leads and was an extension of the campaign. Because of its usefulness, this will be retained. For those that do go on to become Army Officers, it will be taken to Sandhurst with them when they begin training. For those that don’t, every time they polish their shoes, the tin will serve as a constant reminder of the life they could have.

Results

With a single search term as the call to action for all Army collateral, it’s hard to gauge which part of the campaign directed potential recruits to the website. However, as the polish tins were given out face-to-face, feedback from events has proven very positive – and we’ve seen an overall increase in people using the search term.