“The most important thing in the Army is what kind of soldier you are. Not what gender you are,” says Nik Studzinski, Chief Creative Officer at Karmarama, the creative agency — part of Accenture Interactive — that’s behind the recruitment initiative for Capita for the British Army. Simply titled “A Soldier is a Soldier,” the campaign is aimed at encouraging more females to apply and join the Army as women representation is currently at 9.8% in the British Army and 14.2% in the Army Reserves.
Highlighting how soldiers are defined by their skills and not by gender, the campaign tackles gender stereotypes and proves that the Army is an inclusive employer, providing all soldiers equal pay according to rank and equal expectations. And the London-based agency validates this attitude of the Army in a one-minute-long video, narrated by real female soldiers.
It starts with a question: “What’s it like being a female soldier?” “I wouldn’t know,” one of the women explains in the short film, as a soldier is a soldier, regardless of their gender. The video features striking visuals, including a wound with stitches that spell out “good for a woman,” while a voice of a serving Army female can be heard explaining that “no-one calls me ‘good for a woman’ when I’m the one stitching them up.” The film then continues with images presenting some ridiculous Army equipment concepts adapted for women, such as a rifle with a trigger designed for “smaller hands” or “beach body rations.”
Major General Sharon Nesmith, General Officer Commanding Army Recruiting and Initial Training Command, said: “The Army is incredibly proud of the progress that has been made towards gender equality. Huge changes have taken place over the last few years, and we want to continue to make positive changes to attract and retain the best talent regardless of gender. We hope that ‘A Solider is a Soldier’ challenges people’s perceptions of female soldiers and highlights the incredible work all of our soldiers do, in order to inspire potential new recruits to consider Army jobs.”
Siobhan Penrose, Head of Marketing for the British Army Recruiting Group, continues: “We’re proud to be launching a campaign with the Army that directly addresses our attitudes to diversity and inclusion. We hope to build on the success of previous campaigns and ultimately offer all soldiers a chance to reach their full potential through a great career in the British Army.”
The latest in the ‘This is Belonging’ series, the campaign “challenges perceptions some people may have of the Army. In this case, gender labeling,” says Studzinski. It runs across cinema, video-on-demand, radio, and social media.
The initiative also includes a partnership with social media publisher LADbible, which reaches two-thirds of 18–34-year-olds in the UK and half of its audience is represented by women. The group discovered that when one types “British soldier” on Google, 99% of the first 100 results are images with men. Based on this, the team created content showcasing women soldiers sharing stories about their jobs and “hacked” Google to make sure that more females are seen as soldiers when users search online.
Credits:
Client: Capita for the British Army
Client Name: Siobhan Penrose, Capita for the British Army
Client Job title: Head of Marketing
Creative Agency: Karmarama
Chief Creative Officer: Nik Studzinski
Executive Creative Director: Adam Kean
Creative Directors: Meigan Brown, Tobias Owen
Head of Planning: Amy Gilmore
Planning Director: Rhonwen Lally
Creative Producer: Cydney Chadwick
Head of Design: Simon Wakeman
Deputy Head of Design: Josh Lowe
Producer: Ben Honour
Production assistant: Georgia Middleton
Chief Client Officer: James Denton-Clark
Deputy Managing Director: Zoe Eagle
Account Director: Will Bright
Account Manager: Joe Bowen-Hall
Account Manager: Murray Borthwick
Production Company credits: K-Studios
Director: Hannah Berry George
Producer: Angelica Polonczyk and Beverley Wells (Post Producer)
Executive producer: Jon Harvey
Production manager: Grace Matthews
Director of Photography: Kia Fern Little
1st AD: Janine Frank
Offline Editor: Ryan Robinson
VFX: nineteentwenty
VFX Supervisor: Chrys Aldred
Colourist: Kai van Beers
VFX Producer: Paul Branch
Sound: 750 MPH
Engineer: Mike Bovill