The army is on the ads on the web

VAT New

Wednesday, 14 February, 2018 20:03

UPDATE
Wednesday, 14 February, 2018 20:05

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The links between the federal government and the giants of the web are more and more close, such as the announced VAT New this week. This is particularly the case for the advertising campaigns of the canadian armed Forces.

The canadian armed Forces are in urgent need of staff as they do not have enough members, women and specialists, as evidenced by a report of the Auditor general.

The recruitment is by far on major advertising campaigns, but national Defence has recently changed policy.

In 2014-2015, the national Defence has spent no less than $ 8.8 million in advertising campaigns, broadcast both on tv and in the newspapers, at the cinema, on billboards and on the Internet.

The following year, the budgets have decreased significantly, dropping to $ 3.2 million. This year, the campaign has been broadcast on tv and on the web.

Finally, last year, the budgets have yet melted, rising to $ 2.7 million and, this time, the national Defence has focused exclusively on the web.

“The digital campaign is important, in the sense that one wants to go join a public target, so the young people, so that they look the canadian Forces as an employer of choice,” explained major Andrew Berdais, the recruitment group of the canadian armed Forces.

Not the best strategy

Bloc quebecois mp Michel Boudrias, himself a former infantry officer in the canadian army, believes that it is not necessarily the best strategy.

“You can’t be against the trials and errors, here. There is a consensus that social networks and all the ads computer or electronic that you can know are valid, but we must not neglect the traditional methods,” said the member of parliament for Terrebonne.

The conservative mp Pierre Paul-Hus has spent 22 years in the canadian Forces. According to him, there is a problem in the fact that the web giants don’t pay taxes in Canada.

“It is necessary to diversify the advertisement, it must be diversified, it is necessary to reach people in different ways, and just focus in big american industries, this is not necessarily the best of things”, said the member of parliament for Charlesbourg–Haute-Saint-Charles.

A campaign 100% digital, which occurs at the same time where we find these links increasingly close between the giants of the web and the Trudeau government. VAT News revealed on Tuesday that representatives of Google, for example, have met with government decision-makers at 49 times.

And the results…

But what have been the results of this campaign? Up here, the $ 2.7 million invested on the web have not made any miracle.

The campaign has allowed us to reach and recruit 4000 new soldiers, but “some of the objectives of recruitment to the occupations more specialized and have not been achieved”, admitted the canadian armed Forces.

Even with advertising, 100 % digital, the Defense is far from having resolved its problems with recruitment.