Working in close collaboration with Transform UK, we have helped them to reshape the communications journey, to bring data to the heart of their planning, and to use a mix of channels across advertising, content, social media and PR in the most efficient way to reach and convert new and hard-to-reach audiences to apply for roles.

The traditional talent pool for the armed forces, young white males with a military history in the family, is shrinking. Now, only 15% of the country would even consider a job in the armed forces, and for female and Ethnic Minority audiences the percentage is microscopic.

To meet our objectives, our marketing strategy needed to focus on reaching distinct groups, that had no traditional association with (or awareness of) careers in the military. We specifically needed to reach women, Ethnic Minority audiences and school-leavers, all traditionally under-represented in the RAF. But reaching them was not enough: to successfully diversify the RAF we needed to consider the communications journeys that these groups and individuals need to be taken down, and the stories we tell at each stage.

We use inputs from creative performance, Google search data, social channels, call centre data and onsite behaviour to inform content performance, the shape of the campaign and the assets and creative we use with different audiences and individuals based on their journey.

This model informs all elements of campaign strategy. It is used to identify topics of interest for candidates where we need to produce content to respond to growing demand. One example is our Fitness Test content series, which responds to what data tells us our hard-to-reach audiences are asking and then places that content in the right stage in the consumer journey – in advertising, social media and the website.
Data is at the heart of everything we do at House 337 and Transform UK, and this agile understanding of our audience, coupled with agile production of content, has delivered ongoing efficiencies.

23/24 is looking to be the most effective year to date with our most recent campaign exceeding our annual target for Expressions of Interest (EOI). YoY new users to the RAF Recruitment website are also up by 201k.

The focus on audiences and journeys has delivered increasing cost efficiencies; for some roles decreasing the cost of application by up to 200%.

We have won multiple awards for our work, including CIM’s ‘Most Innovative Public Sector Campaign’ for our work engaging young women and black students, and Channel 4’s ‘Diversity in Advertising’ award for our film challenging female stereotypes.

2x

number of people considering RAF from diverse backgrounds

200%

reduction in cost per application

2019

The year the RAF became the most diverse air force in history