Guest Author: USAF PR
Mike (No Angst Zone) continues to have connectivity problems so we’re continuing in the Joint spirit to host his posts over here. – SJS
I’ve talked before over at my place on a few occasions about the USAF’s message or lack thereof. Thus far it has ranged from moderately inspiring with tasteless and bland music to dangerously cheesy to just plain dumb. I have previously exhorted the USAF to take advantage of its 60th Anniversary to come up with a great advertisement tying the Airmen of today to those of yesteryear. Their first effort on this came up quite short in the music department. There was also this problem:
“In the larger marketing picture, to my knowledge this video has not been disseminated to the public at large. That really is the problem. Until this video has been divided into smaller segments and aired in the manner of the Marine PSA, it’s not serving the purpose I laid out in the quote at the top of this post.”
I came across a few videos that were also highlighting the 60th Anniversary. Let’s see how they measure up:
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*Yawn* Oh, are they over? Sorry, I fell asleep. Seriously, does the Air Force ever do anything or do we just sit around pondering our existence while ethereal music plays? These videos leave me with the impression it’s the latter. This is even worse than the other 5 minute long video they came up with. At least that one had cool visuals. Granted, these are cut down to be more of a commercial length, but when they’re this bad, who cares? Try again.
Now, I know there is the defense that the USAF just isn’t exciting as the other services, what with the Navy and their ships and the Army/Marines and their ground pounding and gun shooting. While I don’t agree with that, check out this RAF ad and see how another air arm has managed to make its ads exciting enough to avoid putting people to sleep:
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Way more exciting and motivating than anything I’ve seen the USAF put out. That’s the way to do it.
Oh, and while we’re picking on the USAF’s PA department, what’s with their latest Airman’s Creed effort? How do you turn something this cool:
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into this?
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If, like me, you are incredibly frustrated by this whole exercise and need some relief, I have the solution. Go pull up the 5+ minute video I referenced above, but pause it and mute it. Pull up the Army Strong video in another window and then go back and watch the USAF video muted while the Army Strong music plays. It’s much better. Also worth a try is Fanfare for the Common Man.
If we may take some editorial license and jump into the fray – submitted below is the Seapower video rolled out with the announcement of the Maritime Strategy earlier this fall. We think it is pretty compelling because it is different than that which is normally expected and yet it wraps an admittedly complex topic – seapower together with the combined efforts of the three maritime services into a neat package that could well serve during a Superbowl halftime. At least we think so:
…and a catchy tune to boot… – SJS
YouTube must be having issues today. I watched the entire USN/Google video before beginning to type this comment, and the USAF videos are still loading. I’m noticed the same thing with other blogs I’ve visited in the past two hours or so, too.
Your point is well-taken and I’m in agreement, Mike. Our PA people suck. No two ways about it. And that’s a shame, coz we have a great story to tell, and a magnificent history which relates to that story, as well.
The only Air Force commercial of late (last few years) that I ever liked was the kid who jumped off the waterfall to retrieve a family backpack and when he surfaced he was a PJ. I always thought that one was really cool. But that’s it. While I like the new AF symbol, why did we need it? Likewise with the Airman’s creed. I absolutely hate it. The whole thing smacks of ripping off traditions from the other services.
I think the AF is “trying” to look cool instead of just being cool. That’s a huge turn off and it looks fake. For a long number of years we’ve had a failure in leadership within the AF. It was one of the reasons I got out. I was sick to death of what my “leadership” thought was important. Until we get rid of some of the pantywaists who are in there now, it will not improve. It has to come from the top and it can’t be packaged nice and pretty by ANY Public Affairs effort. The AF has become the PC service and it’s sickening.
“I think the AF is “trying†to look cool instead of just being cool.”
That’s my assessment as well, Jason. It is a huge turn off, and it does look fake. As for becoming the PC service, it’s a DoD wide phenomenon, but I agree, we’re the only service that has the “101 critical days of summer,” as well as the only one where you pretty much have to have a safety briefing if you’re going to do anything beyond wipe your own ass. Hard to believe that this is the same service that guys like Chuck Yeager and Robin Olds came from.