The U.S. Marine Corps may soon replace its iconic recruiting slogan, "The Few, The Proud, The Marines," with one more suited to a fresh advertising push, the Marine Corps Recruiting Command has announced. Commandant Gen. Robert Neller has already approved the updated advertising strategy, which will probably require a new tagline, though that isn't the main focus of the campaign, Marine Corps Times reported.
Ad agency J. Walter Thompson (JWT), which created the old slogan, says it has been in use off and on since 1977, when it first appeared in a television commercial. It was enshrined on Madison Avenue's Advertising Walk of Fame in 2007. Already on tap to come up with a replacement slogan, JWT has been instrumental in developing the Marine Corps "brand" over the past 65 years:
After the onset of the all-volunteer force in 1973, JWT played a crucial part in maintaining the tough and elite brand attributes, not promoting the tangible assets that other branches used to recruit (such as paid employment and job training) but the intangible; the fact that only the best would earn the title “Marine.”
Marine Corps Recruiting Command spokesman Lt. Col. John Caldwell told Marine Corps Times the new tagline needs to reflect "the elite — almost spiritual — standards the nation has for Marines."
“The new products are going to frame everything that we do as a fight — a fight that we intend to win,” he said.
Caldwell did not say specifically what the new advertising campaign will show, but he said it is based on three concepts: fighting self-doubt to become a Marine, fighting the nation’s battles and fighting for what’s right in our communities.
The new campaign is expected to be ready for approval by senior Marine Corps leadership either late this year or early next.