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Tell us what you think: Navy’s new slogan

The Navy is no longer promising young people that enlisting will “accelerate their lives.” Now it’s pitching them the chance to become part of “a global force for good.”

The Navy’s new advertising slogan: “America’s Navy: A Global Force For Good,” has begun to appear online and in print, as part of a new campaign getting underway in time for the service’s 234th birthday Oct. 13.

One of the first print ads appeared in the Oct. 5 edition of Navy Times, which hit newsstands Monday, and one of the first TV spots in the campaign was posted on the Navy’s YouTube site.

As a narrator intones about the call to serve, the commercial includes footage of special warfare combatant-craft crewmen; sailors serving in the Pacific in World War II; and sailors helping flood victims. Reprising their appearances in this new campaign are the carrier Nimitz and the hospital ship Mercy, which starred in the Navy’s most recent “Accelerate Your Life” TV spots.

The Navy’s strategy is to change its appeal from young people’s immediate self-interest — enlist and you’ll get a good job, or go to college when you get out — to appealing to a higher sense of service.

“Looking to our audience today, these 17- to 25-year-olds, to them service is a big deal, service beyond self,” said Senior Chief Mass Communications Specialist (EXW) Tom Jones, a spokesman for Navy Recruiting Command.

“I’ve got an 18-year-old daughter, and from a dad perspective, it’s great to see my young daughter thinking beyond herself. They’re not the selfish ‘me generation.’ It’s, ‘What can I do to make the world a better place?’ That resonates through that age group,” he said.

Jones compared the new slogan to the Navy’s earlier recruiting pitches, each of which was geared to the audience of its day, he said.

“We’ve been looking at what the Navy does, and as you go back through recruiting for many years — since I’ve been in it was, ‘Let The Journey Begin’; when my dad was in it was, ‘Join The Navy, See The World’ — all these have an appeal to the audience at the time.”

“Accelerate Your Life” still appears on the Navy’s recruiting Web site, Navy.com, and its Spanish-language counterpart, elNavy.com, and it’s likely the two slogans will coexist for a few weeks until “A Global Force For Good” becomes ubiquitous in Navy advertisements.

We’d like to hear what you think about it. Does it describe the Navy’s mission better than previous slogans? Join the discussion by e-mailing reporter Philip Ewing.

DISCUSS: The new slogan