A Few Good Women

The Marines have announced a new marketing campaign targeting women. Charlie can't decide which is more surprising: that they didn't do it before, or that they're doing it now. But, per usual, their messaging is spot on: “There are no female Marines. Only Marines.” Nice. Whether this is true or not (signs generally point to "not"), it's in keeping with their best traditions of savvy marketing. (The slogan of "A Few Good Men" has long been studied in business schools as a classic branding exercise; see the Army's vain efforts to come anywhere close in their own branding for supporting evidence.) So far, however, it hasn't markedly improved female recruitment, but we'll obviously stay tuned.

PS Be sure to look at the accompanying slide show for an historical review of "WM's." At least now they let us fly...

PPS Charlie has also been following the (escalating) war between Marine and Army recruiting, as the Corps not-so-subtly implies that while the Army may be scraping the bottom of the barrel for recruits, the Marines would never do such a thing. The opening salvo of "We don't take applications, only commitments" was a shot across the bow. But more recent "No Compromises" is like a shot to the mizzen-mast, no? (Or, at least, a giant middle finger to the Army.)