ADF CAREERS MASTERBRAND
REDEFINING MILITARY RECRUITMENT WITH A GOLD-WINNING EFFIE CAMPAIGN
Campaigns don’t come bigger than this. Launching in 2024, ADF Careers brought Navy, Army and Air Force recruitment together under the one masterbrand.
I was the creative lead on a two-year project that reimagined military recruitment from the bottom up: new name, logo, tagline, design, tone of voice, website, sonic branding, campaign material and strategy.
Instead of talking about jobs, we repositioned the ADF as an incredible career opportunity.
Is it working in market? Absolutely.
Within six months of going live, Defence Force had its highest application volumes in 15 years, up by 31%. Recognition of the brand was twice the average for a federal government campaign at 56%.
ADF Careers was awarded a gold Effie and gold for sonic identity at the Transform Branding Awards.
This campaign was a significant strategic piece, made possible with extensive military and government stakeholder engagement.
The “Make Your Impact” platform has been designed for longevity - it will provide the strategic and creative groundwork for years to come. On this page are just a handful of the campaign elements my team created.
These 15-second vignettes compared an everyday job with a career in the ADF. Each script took its lead from a comprehensive strategy that identified different audience motivations, and were inspired by real Defence stories we gathered from interviews with serving members.
ONLINE VIDEO
“James was the creative architect of the ADF Careers Masterbrand campaign, one of the most comprehensive brand projects ever undertaken by the organisation. He is a clever, measured creative leader who understands the importance of bringing people on the journey. He is passionate about his craft and generous with his time. I would recommend James to lead any creative department.”
Sarah Bailey, VML Managing Director, Melbourne and Sydney
This is where the messages really got tactical. Drawing from footage filmed for cinema, TV and online video, we created dozens of pieces of content that were highly strategic in their messaging. Every execution delivered a bespoke message tailored for different audiences, while always feeling like they belonged to the campaign.
SOCIAL AND IN-GAME
Brand awareness executions were created to launch MAKE YOUR IMPACT, while targeted messages showed how this career can give you a greater sense of purpose.
OUT OF HOME
The Defence Force is full of incredible stories, and we knew we had to find a way to tell them with long-from content. How Did I Get Here is a podcast that’s a recruitment tool wrapped up in entertainment, and was highly effective. Writing and producing the opening scene for each episode was a highlight.
‘HOW DID I GET HERE’ PODCAST
Building a new brand needs, yep, you guessed it – a logo and design guidelines.
The chevron logo takes inspiration from military insignia, while giving a sense of forward momentum – exactly what you want from a career.
The design system guidelines were comprehensive and covered everything from film to posters to social to digi banners to audio to writing to… you get the idea. It was a thick document and ensured ADF Careers showed up in the right way, every time.
DESIGN
“VML's innovative thinking, combined with their candidate-centric strategic approach, has not only driven significant progress but fundamentally reshaped how we communicate the benefits of a career in the Australian Defence Force (ADF) and built a pipeline of highly qualified candidates.”
Fiona Boughton, Head of Sourcing & Attraction, Defence Force Recruiting
I have a passion for working with sound, and oh boy, did I nerd out with this. We created a sonic device - an audio logo - for ADF Careers, which would appear any time the logo was seen.
Collaborating with Resonance, we combined the Army, Navy and Air Force together by using three different instruments related to each service. And we did it in just 2.2 seconds. The result? A unique and ownable audio logo. It was also awarded gold for sonic identity at the Transform Branding Awards.
AUDIO & SONIC BRANDING
I was also lucky enough to work with Defence Force musicians in creating a bespoke brand audio track. This piece of music was 3 minutes in duration with 10”, 15”, 30”, 60” and 90” versions.
