Excellent point, Brad - the focus groups are somewhat similar to computers (i.e. garbage in, garbage out).
A while back, the marketing braintrust was convinced (duped?) into believing the public thought of the CF as "Proud, Proven, Professional" - however, in the same vein as a consultant tells you the time using your own watch, it should have been noted the focus groups included CF members who wanted to be thought of as professional (and thus, the result was skewed).
Over and over again, I keep looking at the American example (since they are our closest ally) - the US Army has been having problems meeting their recruiting quota for about four years - on the other hand, the US Marines have met their recruiting quota for the past 54 months! Hmmm ... didn‘t some rocket scientist marketing genius come up with "An Army Of One", while the Marines have stuck to the tried and true "The Few, The Proud, The Marines"????
Ya know, getting back to basics is not necessarily a bad thing (contrary to what the consultants and voodoo marketing witch doctors would have us believe).
If we‘re trying to recruit soldiers, then our advertising should attract soldiers. Ditto for sailors and airmen. However, if we‘re trying to attract employees, then our recruiting will have a different flavour (and we shouldn‘t be so surprised when our recruits behave more like employees than soldiers).
Here‘s a few favourites for comparison:
Join the Army. Stand On Guard for Canada.
It‘s not a job, it‘s an adventure.
Nobody wants to fight, but somebody has to know how.
We do more before breakfast than most people do all week.
Twice the Citizen - Join the Reserves.
Dileas Gu Brath,
M.B.