The 2009 Jay Chiat Awards for Strategic Excellence Winners

Idea for New Product or Content—Gold:
MRM Worldwide, New York
"Straight From Iraq"

How should a brand facilitate a natural and open dialogue with its target audience? What about when that conversation involves the threat of relocation to a war zone and the risk of being wounded or killed in combat?

These are questions that the US Army and MRM Worldwide were left asking themselves in early 2008. The unpopularity of the Iraq War had reached all-time highs and the trust factor between prospective recruits and Army recruiters was at a low. The Army needed a fresh approach to bridge this gap and re-establish a trusted dialogue with its target audience.

Over the course of three months, the Army and MRM solicited feedback from prospective recruits.The research insights were surprising and enabled a fresh approach to recruiting paired with creative that was designed to convey new digital content in a genuine manner preferred by the target audience.

The "Straight From Iraq" program is an example of the perfect storm that occurs when a simple, powerful strategic idea is paired with world-class digital creative. Prospective recruits couldn't get enough of the new content stream and the program permanently changed the face of how military organizations interact with their recruiting target audiences.

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