OVERVIEW
Armed Forces Entertainment (AFE) provides morale-boosting performances for U.S. troops and family members on assignment outside the continental United States. AFE was established in 1951 with the mission to provide free entertainment to U.S. military personnel at military bases around the world to bring them fun and relaxation through comedy, music, theater, magic, dance, and sporting events. AFE provides military installations with marketing materials to advertise events.
AFE’S NEEDS
After decades in existence, AFE saw a decline in attendance at performances by younger servicemembers. AFE sought to employ new strategies to engage the target audience of servicemembers 18 to 25 years old and their families.
STRATEGY
Schatz found a significant opportunity to rethink the online engagement strategy to engage with the audience. On the basis of market research conducted by Schatz, promotional efforts needed to be tailored to entice young enlisted servicemembers and their families by revamping creative materials to more closely align with modern marketing materials of major entertainment venues. Schatz also saw a need to significantly increase social media engagement and the incorporation of video on the website. In addition, Schatz recommended a rebranding of the website. The Schatz team redesigned the website and made content updates to draw in younger audiences. Those updates included items such as updating the featured artists to include more recent performances, heavy-hitting names, and evergreen content. Schatz found that social media interactions could be vastly improved by using engaging content that prompts users to interact with posts and build excitement around upcoming shows. The Schatz team developed fresh outreach techniques using outdoor advertisements, print materials, videos, and giveaways. Schatz also recommended partnering with performers, influencers, and military bases on social media to leverage mutually beneficial promotions of events.
APPROACH
Schatz created a new, modern take on the previous branding to enhance and elevate brand image and perception. To entice the target audience, the Schatz team developed a highly interactive social media campaign that included polls, trivia, stories, repost challenges, giveaways, and Spotify playlists. The Schatz videography team developed exciting, high-quality videos through both post-production and live event coverage. Videos were developed with an approach to draw attention to upcoming artists and build excitement around shows. Techniques used in this approach included real-time artist shoutouts on social media; live event coverage, including backstage interviews; and compilations from previous shows and music video footage. Schatz also provided a dedicated social media team to increase post frequency, consistency, engagement, and integrated platform interactivity. For each tour, the Schatz team develops press releases, webpages, and downloadable digital and print promotional assets for bases. In addition, Schatz developed strategies to engage servicemembers during events and bolster excitement through unique giveaways, backstage passes, and other event-related activities, such as the Pro Blitz football helmet QR code sweepstakes.
RESULTS
- As a result of these efforts by the Schatz team, AFE’s overall social media performance vastly improved, and the website experienced an above-average click-through rate of a full percent higher than the industry standard.
- The number of AFE Facebook posts increased 335 percent, prompting post engagement to increase 53.2 percent. Post comments and replies increased 52.6 percent, and the organic post reach increased 88 percent. New page likes showed tremendous increases at 6,900 percent, and page story clicks increased 2,300 percent.
- Instagram also showed massive increases with the improvements incorporated by the Schatz team. Post reach and engagement showed outstanding increases of 40,900 and 22,000 percent, respectively. Interactive posts aiming to encourage interaction showed a 51.2 percent increase.
- By incorporating the recommendations by the Schatz team, AFE’s X (formerly Twitter) account increased the number of tweets 254 percent, and the post engagement experienced a 1.38-percent increase.
