Various branches of the U.S. military are coming up with unique ways to reach prospective recruits during Sunday’s Super Bowl between the San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs.
Sunday’s ad blitz comes amid a historic recruiting crisis for most of the military services, such as the Army, the Air Force, and the Navy, which all missed their goals last year.
The Navy will “air a 30-second, in-game Super Bowl commercial in 14 key recruiting markets throughout the country,” that will include a previously aired Navy recruiting ad and a new one “developed to promote the Navy Reserve,” a spokesperson told Military.com.
These commercials “are part of the Navy’s overall annual paid media buy and are a segment of the larger strategy to reach both core target audiences of 17- to 24-year-olds,” Lt. Cmdr. Richard Parker, a spokesman for the service’s recruiting command, told the outlet.
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The Navy’s physical presence at the game will be limited to the U.S. Navy Band, which will include two musicians for a joint military color guard.
The Army, comparatively, is focusing on its Spanish outreach by buying space for a dozen 30-second ads on Univision, ViX, and Paramount+, which will be carrying the game in Spanish.
The Air Force’s Thunderbirds will do a flyover before kickoff, and the service has announced a Snapchat filter for those at the stadium. It also paid for a 30-second in-game Air Force ad.
The Marines, unlike the rest of the service branches, will only be airing commercials during the pre- and post-game commercials on Paramount+.
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“The centerpiece of the Marine Corps isn’t a platform; it’s the individual Marine,” Lt. Col. Rob Dolan, director of marketing and communication for Marine Corps Recruiting Command, told the outlet. “The concept behind the Shifting Threats campaign is to explain who we are and what we do for the nation while communicating the Marine Corps’ identity to this generation of prospective Marines.”
The Coast Guard is not planning to advertise during the big game but will play a role in the color guard.
