Engine agencies present a new-style British Army battling for ‘Normal Days’ in the world’s trouble spots

Engine agencies WCRS and Partners Andrews Aldridge are lunching a new campaign for the Army Reserve, ‘Normal Days,’ partly in response to research that shows a large part of its target market – 18-34 year olds – think the Army is less relevant than it was and its duties consist mainly mainly of peacekeeping and fighting the UK’s enemies (which, indeed, they do) but are unaware of other important activities like humanitarian aid and disaster relief.

So the new film shows the Army helping to turn some of the mayhem that seems to occur regularly in the work into ‘Normal Days.’ The campaign will also run in print, on posters and digital platforms.

Army head of communications Brigadier Nick Orr says: “We have launched this campaign to improve understanding about what the Army does, but also to showcase the people that make our Army the force it is for good. These skilled men and women help to ensure normality is preserved for people at home and overseas and this campaign helps bring that to life for a modern audience who, in part at least, may question its future role and relevance.

“We are proud of the Army’s values and role which is absolutely to protect the United Kingdom and fight its enemies, but also to prevent conflict and deal with disaster. While we recognise the clear need to adapt and change with the times, our role and relevance is enduring. The Army is as relevant now, if not more so, than ever before amid these incredibly complex times.”

“The campaign breaks new ground for the Army and vividly brings to life the many, and often under-recognised duties, it performs across a number of different communities and scenarios.”

It’s a brave attempt to tackle an obvious problem head on; namely the difficulty of recruiting when the Army has suffered heavy casualties (by ‘peacetime’ standards) in its interventions in Iraq and, particularly, Afghanistan. It would also take a particularly gung-ho soldier (or maybe Tony Blair) to claim that either of those countries are now enjoying ‘Normal Days.’

But the Army no doubt does a vital job in helping out in places like the Philippines following natural disasters, the subject of one of the accompanying documentaries on the Army’s website.

Agencies are advocates, of course, and the Engine duo make a pretty good fist of presenting a ‘new’ Army; one that’s learned its lessons from the disasters of the past decade. Let’s hope it has.

MAA creative scale? 6.5.