Army to run new "Be All You Can Be" ads without Jonathan Majors during Final Four games
The Army has recut a "Be All You Can Be" ad without the actor Jonathan Majors, and will air the new version during the NCAA Final Four games of the men's and women's college basketball tournaments, which begin Friday.
The Army pulled its two ads featuring Majors following his arrest last week for domestic violence charges until an investigation is complete, but it still intends to use the ad time it purchased.
The new ad that will run beginning this weekend is a recut version of the "Be All You Can Be" trailer the Army released as a hype video ahead of the debut of the ads featuring Majors. The trailer has been re-edited into 60-second and 30-second versions that will begin to air this weekend.
The Army spent $117 million on the new ad campaign and released it months early in an effort to boost recruiting, as the service faces one of its worst recruiting environments in history.
A large portion of the overall cost is the $70 million advertising buy it made to feature the new campaign across media including streaming, digital billboards and television channels. The new campaign debuted during the men's and women's NCAA March Madness tournaments.
After Major's arrest, the Army pulled the ads that were slated to run during the Elite Eight last Sunday. The value of those spots was about $1.8 million, but to compensate for the lost time, CBS gave the Army an additional 30-second spot valued at $1.974 million during the men's championship.
From Monday through Friday this week, the Army has used the time it paid for to run old ads, not ads from the new "Be All You Can Be" campaign. The spots running this weekend will resume the campaign.
Depending on the outcome of the allegations against Majors, the Army may eventually be able to use the ads that feature him. Part of its campaign budget included paying Majors for his time to shoot the ads and attend the unveiling of the new campaign in Washington, D.C.
The Army rebooted the "Be All You Can Be" campaign hoping to replicate its success in the 1980s and 90s, when it had a 20-year run. No other Army campaign has matched its longevity. The hope in bringing back the slogan and campaign was that the new version might have a similar run.