Insight
It was 1986 when Mav told Goose that he had the ‘need for speed...' and so the world was instantly captivated. At the time, Top Gun was the epitome of cool, and as a result thousands of young men across the globe flocked to be fighter pilots.
Nearly 20 years on, today’s potential top guns weren’t stepping forward as much with YOY declines in enquiries and recruitment. The Air Force had lost its sex appeal.
The challenge went deeper than that. For most Aussie men, there was a perception that to be in the Air Force you needed a perfect academic record, rather than just the right balance of attitude, drive and determination.
Therefore, Ensemble needed to find a compelling and relevant way to make young men realise that the Air Force was more within their reach than they had initially thought.
Getting the attention of 16-24 year old males is no easy feat, especially when making them have a good hard think about their future.
Ensemble needed to find a new way to reverse the trend though being one of the hardest audiences to engage. The agency knew it needed to be noisy with a contagious idea.
Strategy
This wasn’t just a straight-forward message to communicate.
Ensemble only had one chance to connect with the audience to communicate an interesting, multi-layered story.
The agency had to show audiences that not only was the Air Force an exciting, out-of-this-world career, but was also full of relatable people just like them. You didn’t need a perfect academic record, but rather the right combination of attitude, drive and determination.
To unlock this combination, Ensemble needed to put it into the context of something that the audience loved and could relate to.
To be a fighter pilot, a genuine interest in engineering is needed. With its strong focus on engineering and mechanics, F1 was the ideal sport to compare with the Air Force.
How would Ensemble get young blokes really interested in becoming a fighter pilot? Two words: Daniel Ricciardo.
The Insight;
You don’t need to be a top student to have an out-of-this-world job, just like Daniel Ricciardo, it’s a case of ‘work hard, train harder’.
The Strategy;
Ensemble's strategy was to compare the career journeys of a fighter pilot and F1 driver.
This would allow the agency to highlight their lack of formal education, but their ultimate rise to success.
Execution
Ricciardo has one of the best jobs in the world and his inaugural Australian Grand Prix drive was a day he’d dreamed of as a little boy. Ensemble aimed to leverage this heightened interest, contrasting it with the rise of Hornet Pilot FLT LT Michael Keightly.
Two down-to-earth Aussies, with anything but down-to-earth jobs.
The Big Idea:
DAY JOB
A show-stopping on-ground and in-air activation comparing the career journeys of Daniel Ricciardo and FLT LT Michael Keightly, set against the backdrop of the coolest toys in the world.
Enseble paralleled their lives, allowing them to show off their skills as they reflected on humble beginnings, their lack of formal education, but their ultimate rise to success with the best jobs in the world.
The content premiered prior to the Australian Formula Grand Prix broadcast and was repackaged as a three minute online piece for digital distribution.
Producing this content was as difficult as putting the brakes on Maverick. Ensemble had to shut down an airfield, import an F1 car from the UK and coordinate a chopper, car and hornet to go flat out at the same time.
Limited access to Daniel meant every second counted on set. The agency had just three days to cut, grade, mix and deliver three variations of a three-minute execution.
Results
Ensemble's piece captured the hearts and minds of young Aussie blokes. Not only did they make front page headlines in both Australia and overseas, the agency also sent social media feeds and the Defence Force website into overdrive.
The video was broadcast on Channel Ten before the start of the F1 race and simultaneously released across both the Air Force and Red Bull social channels. Viewership of the content generated astounding numbers and garnered huge attention from the press:
• 1.2 Million views during the F1 Melbourne Grand Prix broadcast
• 1.7 Million online video views
• 6.6 Million reached via Twitter
• 67 million global PR impressions
• 85% increase in search impressions for term ‘fighter pilot’
• Millions of dollars of PR value including front page news
Attention is great but results are even better. Website views achieved over 400% uplift and enquiries increased by over 300% as compared with the previous period.
Young men may have lost that loving feeling for Mav and Goose, but Ensemble found a way to bring it back for the Air Force.