Marine Corps Marketing: The Few, The Proud and Battles Won

Marine Corps marketing rests on a single recruiting line, "The Few. The Proud. The Marines.", which agency J. Walter Thompson launched in 1977 and which the Corps still uses. The branch markets scarcity and prestige, not benefits, and in 2017 it added a second campaign, Battles Won, to show what Marines actually do. This guide covers the history, the strategy and the public relations lessons.

Who created the Marine Corps recruiting slogan?

The advertising agency J. Walter Thompson created "The Few. The Proud. The Marines." in 1977, according to Marine Corps Times and Associated Press reporting. The line launched a few years after the draft ended, when the services had to compete for volunteers. It earned a place on Madison Avenue's Advertising Walk of Fame in 2007, according to Snopes.

The agency and the Corps have a long partnership. J. Walter Thompson described itself on its website, as quoted by Patch, as a partner of the Marine Corps for more than 65 years. Another account puts the agency's role as the Corps' official advertising agency at 1947.

What came before The Few. The Proud.?

The Marine Corps advertised early and aggressively, long before 1977. Historian Heather Venable, author of How the Few Became the Proud, told CIMSEC that the Corps used marketing earlier than most observers expect, and that a recruiting officer coined "once a Marine, always a Marine" around 1907.

Marine Corps Times lists other slogans the service has used, including "Tell That To The Marines," "We Don't Promise a Rose Garden," "The Marine Corps Builds Men," and "The Change is Forever." During the same years as The Few. The Proud., the Corps also ran "If Everybody Could Get In The Marines, It Wouldn't Be The Marines" and "We're Looking for a Few Good Men."

Why does the Marine Corps slogan work?

The slogan works because it sells exclusivity, and exclusivity is the product. A recruit hears that membership is rare and earned, which turns the difficulty of joining into the reason to join. Marine Corps Recruiting Command spokesman John Caldwell said the line does a great job distinguishing the Marines from the other branches and making them prestigious to recruits.

The same quality is its limit. Caldwell told Marine Corps Times that the slogan does not say what the Marines do or why they exist. The service chose to keep the slogan on materials while it developed a new campaign to fill that gap.

What was the 2016 rebrand debate?

In 2016 the Marine Corps said it might replace its slogan as part of a new advertising push. Commandant Gen. Robert Neller approved the updated strategy, and J. Walter Thompson prepared the campaign material, according to Marine Corps Times.

Caldwell said the new work rested on three ideas: fighting self-doubt to become a Marine, fighting the nation's battles, and fighting for what is right in communities. He said the campaign would frame everything as a fight the Corps intended to win. He also said a new tagline was not the main focus.

The public discussion itself was a communications event. Local and national outlets ran stories on whether the Corps would drop a slogan with four decades of recognition, and the coverage reminded readers of the brand.

What is the Battles Won campaign?

Battles Won is the Marine Corps recruiting campaign announced in March 2017, built around television spots and online clips. According to Associated Press coverage, the content included Marines unloading Toys for Tots boxes and real video of a Marine veteran tackling an armed robber.

Officials said the campaign targeted recruiting-age Americans in general, not one demographic. The Corps wanted to portray who Marines are and why the branch exists. Caldwell said the campaign speaks to the breadth of what the Marine Corps is, and the slogan continued on promotional materials and on T-shirts for the time being.

The campaign launched while the Corps aimed to grow from 182,000 to at least 194,000 Marines and add more women. AP reported that Gen. Neller acknowledged a nude photo scandal could hurt female recruiting. Marketing specialist Isaac Swiderski criticized the spots for failing to show women in leadership roles.

What can communicators learn from Marine Corps marketing?

The Marine Corps record offers five lessons for communicators.

1. Keep one line for decades. The 1977 slogan still anchors the brand, and its recognition lowers the cost of every new execution.
2. Sell identity, not benefits. The Corps competes on who recruits become, not on pay or perks.
3. Know the slogan's limit. A prestige line says who you are, and a second campaign has to say what you do.
4. Show real behavior. Battles Won used service members in everyday acts, which carries more credibility than scripted heroics.
5. Treat a rebrand discussion as a news event. The public debate over changing the tagline renewed attention before a single new ad ran.

The Corps also faced a reputation test in 2017 when a scandal threatened its efforts to recruit women. A brand built on a code of honor has little room when conduct contradicts it, a pattern we cover in our crisis PR guide.

How does the Marine Corps compare with other military branches?

The Marine Corps differs from the other branches in its use of a single, stable message. A commenter in a military forum thread noted that the Corps' message has stayed pretty much the same for decades while other services changed theirs, and that none of the other services found a line that resonated across generations. That view is opinion, but it matches the Corps' own account of its slogan.

For comparison, read our analysis of Army social media, our overview of PR in the military, and our profile of Navy Recruiting Command. The reserve component is covered in our look at Army National Guard public relations.