A key aim for The Locker, aside from directly appealing to recruits, is to reach ‘influencers’ – the friends, parents and wider family who help recruits to decide on a career in the Army, and who are traditionally less receptive to more conventional recruitment materials.
The Locker’s eclectic mix of content promotes the lifestyle element of an Army career, with in-depth features about fitness and life skills, alongside more general content about fashion, tech and entertainment. A special section focuses more directly on the opportunities and benefits offered by the Army, as well as explaining what day-to-day Army life is like.
Haymarket Network is also helping the Army to distribute the 350,000 print-run of The Locker, with an approach that builds on Haymarket’s successful relationship with Sports Direct and helps the Army to reach an even broader recruitment audience.
Alongside conventional distribution in Army careers centres and at recruiting events, The Locker will be placed in gyms, surgeries, job centres, universities and hotels, and will also be bagged with the December edition of Forever Sports magazine, available in Sports Direct stores, at SportsDirect.com and on the newsstand.
The Locker’s content, along with a series of behind-the-scenes videos, will also be repurposed and distributed across all The Army’s social channels, maximising its opportunity to be seen and shared amongst the target audience.
“We’ve been proud to support Army recruiting for over 15 years, bringing the organisation to life with straight-talking stories of ordinary people doing extraordinary things, and enabling young people to aspire to these role models,” said Andrew Taplin, Managing Director of Haymarket Network.
“The Locker and its associated digital expressions, gives a contemporary feel to this self-same role, and will help to build a more complete picture of Army life for prospects and for their friends and family.”
