The Government of Canada is pleased to acknowledge two national advertising campaigns that received special recognition in 2007-2008. The Department of National Defence and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police were awarded prestigious marketing awards for their recruitment campaigns.
The Department of National Defence (DND) was named one of Canada's Top Marketers of 2007 by Marketing Magazine for its Canadian Forces recruitment advertising campaign. In past years, Canadian Forces recruitment campaigns showcased a more "operational" side of life in the military, through a collage of images of Canadians working at various careers within the Canadian Forces. Research undertaken in 2006-2007 revealed that Canadians wanted a more realistic, on-the-ground representation of life in the Canadian Forces. The new "Fight with the Canadian Forces" campaign clearly resonated with its 18 to 34 year-old target audience. Done in a "cinema réalité" style, it depicted realistic moments in our Canadian soldiers' lives in the line of duty, such as rescuing flood victims in Manitoba, patrolling war-torn neighbourhoods abroad and evacuating victims away from danger zones. In its first year, Canadian Forces exceeded the recruitment objectives.