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The Army this week launches a new phase in its award-winning ’be

the best’ recruitment campaign in a bid to broaden the appeal of a

career in the service.

The campaign, created by Saatchi & Saatchi, breaks on Friday with a TV

commercial that will top and tail ad breaks. The ad opens on a mountain

side in blizzard conditions, viewed through the eyes of a sergeant stuck

there as night falls.

He explains that the team - a medic, a mechanic, a driver and a

navigator - must spend the night there but they have no cold weather

gear. All they have is one tarpaulin which could be used as a blanket.

The viewer is asked to decide who should get the blanket.

Three ten-second tail ads dramatise three incorrect answers. A final

ten-second film reveals that giving the blanket to any of the team will

not resolve the crisis in the morning - as the vehicle will have

frozen.

The tarpaulin should be wrapped around the engine.

The campaign aims to recruit more soldiers. It follows research

commissioned by the Army, which found that its advertising was good at

attracting new recruits where there was already a connection with the

Army, but that many people in the target market did not feel it applied

to them.

Colonel Rory Clayton, head of Army recruitment, said: ’The campaign

demonstrates that new Army recruits are just like anybody else. It is

only through training that ordinary people become quick-witted soldiers,

capable of making quick decisions in extraordinary situations.’

The campaign will be supported by radio ads and a second commercial,

aimed at recruiting officers, which will break early next month.

The ads were written by Howard Wilmott and art directed by Duncan

Marshal. The commercials were directed by Paul Gay through Outsider

Films. TV buying was by MediaVest and radio was bought by Carat.