Review
The authors suggest that the military could create more support for its operations, and thereby achieve greater success in conflicts like those in Iraq and Afghanistan, if it updated its 'brand' identity using models such as Apple, Lexus, and Starbucks. For instance, just as the marketing world uses 'segmentation' to identify different groups of customers and focus on the most profitable ones, the military could use 'enemy prisoner-of-war interrogations, focus groups, and surveys' to identify potential partners within local populations. The study also suggests that the military do more to meet and manage 'customer' expectations, taking a page from Continental Airlines, which tells passengers as much as possible about flight delays instead of keeping them in the dark... The report also makes a case for re-branding the military, advertising it more as an organization that's doing good in the world, through relief efforts like those in post-tsunami Southeast Asia or in post-earthquake Pakistan.
The Atlantic , January/February 2008
'We will help you'. What sounds like the title of a Queen rock anthem is actually a simple promise around which the US military might develop a branding strategy. It is part of 22 broad recommendations for the American armed forces in 'Enlisting Madison Avenue', aimed at leveraging the lessons of the marketing and advertising worlds to help the military win its nation's wars. The study's lead author, Todd C. Helmus, is a behavioral scientist with a doctorate in clinical psychology. Thus, he is well suited to examine the cognitive side of modern combat in this monograph, prepared at the request of the US Joint Forces Command... Whereas other recent literature on the subject tends to focus on overall US government public diplomacy efforts, Enlisting Madison Avenue's marketing-inspired recommendations are specific to the armed forces and provide real-life, rubber-meets-the-road suggestions... They [also] point out that US foreign policy and its actions on the ground often drive public opinion but do not absolve the United States from attempting to inform and influence relevant populations.
Strategic Studies Quarterly, Summer 2008 --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
The Atlantic , January/February 2008
'We will help you'. What sounds like the title of a Queen rock anthem is actually a simple promise around which the US military might develop a branding strategy. It is part of 22 broad recommendations for the American armed forces in 'Enlisting Madison Avenue', aimed at leveraging the lessons of the marketing and advertising worlds to help the military win its nation's wars. The study's lead author, Todd C. Helmus, is a behavioral scientist with a doctorate in clinical psychology. Thus, he is well suited to examine the cognitive side of modern combat in this monograph, prepared at the request of the US Joint Forces Command... Whereas other recent literature on the subject tends to focus on overall US government public diplomacy efforts, Enlisting Madison Avenue's marketing-inspired recommendations are specific to the armed forces and provide real-life, rubber-meets-the-road suggestions... They [also] point out that US foreign policy and its actions on the ground often drive public opinion but do not absolve the United States from attempting to inform and influence relevant populations.
Strategic Studies Quarterly, Summer 2008 --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
From the Inside Flap
Enlisting Madison Avenue extracts lessons from business marketing practices and adapts them to U.S. military operations in a unique approach that will potentially maximize the impact and improve the outcome of civilian-focused influence efforts.
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
