Basic Training

When the USS Carl Vinson and the USS Sacramento returned to Bremerton, WA, in January after a tour overseas, there were more than loved ones on the dock to welcome the sailors home.

TalkingRain Beverage Co. was there, too. The Preston, WA-based bottled water marketer made 5,000 canteen-shaped bottles carrying bald eagles and American flags especially for the occasion. The samples were handed out by staffers from the U.S. Navy’s Morale, Wellness, and Recreation department.

The program certainly was a nice show of support for the armed forces at an opportune time, but it also was a legitimate sampling opportunity with a group TalkingRain can’t always reach. “Military commerce is so established that there’s no way for us to get in there [to sell directly],” explains TalkingRain business development director Mike Fox.

AT&T is no stranger to dockside reunions, either. The telecommunications giant runs a standard Port Call program that sends field reps bearing phonecards to greet Navy ships arriving at foreign ports. The brand is also on hand for all boot camp commencement exercises to give graduates a free call home.

Unlike new enlistee TalkingRain, however, Basking Ridge, NJ-based AT&T has been targeting military personnel “probably since the first calling card came out,” says Rosemary O’Brien, who holds the relatively rare title of general manager of military marketing at the telco.

The demographic doesn’t offer much scale: The total worldwide U.S. military “family” totals 3.3 million, which includes 1.3 million active-duty personnel, 693,000 spouses, and 1.2 million children, according to Military Times, Springfield, VA.

But the population skews pretty young, with 75 percent of active-duty personnel between 18 and 34 years old. “You’ve got a lot of people at that young-adult stage when they’re making brand decisions for the first time,” notes O’Brien.

They’re also a little more affluent than might be expected. The average pay for enlisted personnel is now more than $30,000, and officers earn more than $80,000, according to Military Times. And with Uncle Sam covering much of their living expenses, they’ve got more disposable income than the typical civilian.

Service branches are becoming more proactive in gaining support. The U.S. Army’s Morale, Wellness, and Recreation department (each branch has one) is rolling out a formal Franchise Advertising Program that will give brands exposure at bases around the world. AT&T is the pilot sponsor. Annual sponsorship fees range from $3,000 to $100,000-plus depending on level of commitment. (Those figures don’t represent in-kind services: “This is a cash business,” says Laurie Gibson, the department’s senior marketing manager.)

Present and Accountable

Receiving approval requires more red tape than a typical consumer promotion, but otherwise the military marketing landscape isn’t that different. “A few years ago, there was a flood of dot-coms in this space. And you always see the beer companies sponsoring concerts,” says Bob Lake, spokesperson for Fort Worth, TX-based First Command Financial Services, a financial planner for military personnel. “Military sponsorships tend to mirror trends in the general marketplace.”

Sponsorship of base amenities or special events is generally the best way to reach military personnel, but brands have to make a lasting impression.

AT&T sponsors such high-profile activities as the Army Concert Tour (which taps national bands to play for troops), the annual Army-Navy football game, and the Air Force Tops in Blue amateur talent show. “We’ve gotten better at face-to-face promotions where they know it’s coming from us rather than, say, sponsoring a new [base] fitness center where there’s no real interaction,” says O’Brien. “We need to extend the AT&T brand in a tangible way.”

First Command Financial, meanwhile, sponsors Air Force Tops in Blue and the similar Army Soldier Show, the Marine Corps Marathon, and 165 military golf tournaments annually.

Military-flavored sports like the Army-Navy Game provide an obvious avenue. The U.S. Military Academy at West Point’s Black Knights teams have 34 corporate sponsors including Coca-Cola, Gatorade, Boeing, and Jeep who provide hospitality, game sponsorships, and merchandising through packages ranging from $5,000 to $125,000. (Category exclusivity starts at $100,000.) One dozen new sponsors joined over the last year including New York Fast Ferry and Sikorsky Aircraft.

Part of the allure is the 250,000 sports fans the Black Knights attract to games each year, which lets sponsors “not only market to military families in the community, but to civilian consumers as well,” says Todd Garzarelli, director of marketing at the Army Athletic Association.

Those non-uniformed endeavors sometimes even extend to the community around the West Point, NY, campus. Last year, Atlanta-based Coca-Cola teamed with Quincy, MA-based Stop & Shop for a Kick Off Kid sweepstakes that put displays in 19 regional stores. The sweeps gave kids a chance to participate in a Black Knights football game by running out on the field to retrieve the kicking tee.

Of course, sponsorships of the 60-year-old nonprofit United Service Organizations, which provides entertainment and support services to all branches, have always been popular. For its part, the USO has become more responsive to brand needs. “If someone feels they’ll be better represented with an in-store promotion or a free standing insert, we’ll do that,” says Ray Hord, vp-development at the Washington, DC-based USO.

Last winter, the organization helped Wal-Mart and AT&T put together Help Our Overseas Troops Dial Home for the Holidays. Wal-Mart shoppers both in-store and online could purchase and donate 120-minute AT&T phonecards that would be delivered to the troops.

The USO has three yearly sponsorship levels: World Partner, which starts at $250,000; Official Sponsor, which starts at $25,000; and Proud Supporter, which ranges from $10,000 to $25,000. Current World Partners include Wal-Mart, Walt Disney Co., ABC ESPN Sports, AT&T, and Coke.

Non-Commissioned Offers

Another viable channel is base officer clubs. Miller Brewing Co., Milwaukee, runs a Football Frenzy sweeps in Air Force clubs worldwide that dangles trips to National Football League games. “This is a great way for us to touch Air Force clubs all over the world,” says national sales manager Henry Campos. “With our usual consumer promotions, we either run them domestically or internationally, with no crossover. Football Frenzy allows us to do both.”

American Airlines and several different hotel chains (including DoubleTree) donate prizes to the sweeps, which selects five winners to receive three different trips to games. (This past year, the itinerary included the Super Bowl in New Orleans, the Pro Bowl in Hawaii, and a Dallas Cowboys game in Irving, TX.)

Miller also ran a Bowl Hog Wild promotion with the Army last year that included signage and events at military bowling alleys. A corresponding sweeps gave away a Harley-Davidson motorcycle.

Perhaps the most direct channel for reaching all military personnel is the on-base commissary network, which is run by the Defense Commissary Agency, Fort Lee, VA. “We’re a whole different animal from a retail grocery store on some levels, and very similar on others,” says marketing strategy program manager Bonnie Powell.

By law, commissaries can carry only name brand products (no private-label here) and can’t sell alcohol and other taboo items. They also can’t advertise beyond their own walls — but vendors can.

Coca-Cola averages about one commissary promotion per month. “We’ve transformed the way we do business,” says Rebecca Nixon, customer marketing manager for Coke’s worldwide military customer team. “In the past, our efforts were much more price-driven.”

The soda giant’s calendar includes military tweaks on many of its general-marketing partnerships. In May, for instance, it will team up with Hershey Foods and NASCAR to host a trade contest awarding the commissary with the best merchandising display a racing simulator and a visit from professional driver Kevin Harvick. Coke is also joining with NASCAR on an effort that will award $1 million to the Defense Commissary Agency’s college scholarship fund if specific drivers win certain races.

Also in May, Coke and Warner Bros. will run joint displays promoting the studio’s video library and a sweeps giving away TV sets and other Warner Bros. merchandise.

That should bring shoppers to attention.