Recruiting efforts focus on  three initiatives. DOD Has Revised Advertising Programs and Increased Funding

After most of the services experienced recruiting shortfalls in the late  1990s, DOD reviewed its advertising programs and identified opportunities  for improvement. DOD has revamped its advertising programs. Today, all of the active services are meeting or  exceeding their overall recruiting goals. Internet and Web-site recruiting have also  increased significantly from fiscal year 1998 through fiscal year 2003. All of  the active military services have increased the amount of advertising on  the Internet and have used interactive Web sites to complement their  traditional recruiting and advertising methods. Total  advertising funding for all of the services increased 98 percent, from $299  million in fiscal year 1998 to $592 million in fiscal year 2003. DOD Does Not Adequately Measure Advertising’s Effectiveness

DOD does not have adequate outcome measures to evaluate the  effectiveness of its advertising as part of its overall recruiting effort. This information would include public  awareness of military recruiting advertising and the willingness of young  adults to join the military. Without adequate information and  outcome measures, the Office of the Secretary of Defense cannot  satisfactorily review the services’ advertising budget justifications nor can  it determine the return on their advertising dollars as part of their overall  recruiting investment. Enlisting  in a military service is a profound life decision. They scrutinize the quality and quantity of recruits and  gather data about the uses of advertising funds. DOD has altered its advertising  and recruiting strategies and is spending much more on advertising. This is crucial because DOD is now spending  nearly $592 million annually on recruiting advertising, or about $1,900 per  enlisted recruit. In addition, the total funding for all of DOD’s recruiting  efforts is now almost $4 billion. Recommendations for Executive Action

To improve DOD’s ability to adequately measure the impact of its  advertising programs on its recruiting mission, we recommend that the  Secretary of Defense direct the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel  and Readiness to issue guidance that would (1) set clear, measurable  objectives for DOD’s advertising programs; (2) develop outcome measures  for each of DOD’s advertising programs that clearly link advertising  program performance with these objectives; and (3) use these outcome  measures to monitor the advertising programs’ performance and make  fact-based choices about advertising funding as part of the overall  recruiting investment in the future. To assess the adequacy of the measures used by DOD to evaluate the  effectiveness of advertising, we reviewed information on outcome  measures used to evaluate the effectiveness of advertising provided by  each of the active and reserve components; the advertising agencies that  are their contractors; and the DOD Joint Advertising, Market Research,  and Studies program. Military Recruiting: More Innovative Approaches Needed.
Why GAO Did This Study

The Department of Defense (DOD) must convince more than 200,000 people each year to join the military. To assist in recruiting, the military services advertise on television, on radio, and in print and participate in other promotional activities. In the late 1990s, some of the services missed their overall recruiting goals. In response, DOD added recruiting resources by increasing its advertising, number of recruiters, and financial incentives. By fiscal year 2003, DOD's total recruiting budget was approaching $4 billion annually. At the request of Congress, GAO determined the changes in DOD's advertising programs and funding trends since the late 1990s and assessed the adequacy of measures used by DOD to evaluate the effectiveness of its advertising. GAO recommends that DOD set clear, measurable advertising

What GAO Found

Since the late 1990s, DOD has revamped its recruiting advertising programs and nearly doubled the funding for recruiting advertising. The military services have revised many of their advertising campaigns and focused on complementing traditional advertising, such as by increasing the use of the Internet, and participating in more promotional activities, such as sports car racing events. DOD's total advertising funding increased 98 percent in constant dollars from fiscal year 1998 through fiscal year 2003--from $299 million to $592 million. The advertising cost per enlisted recruit has nearly tripled and is now almost $1,900. The military services agree that the revised strategies and increased investments have energized their advertising campaigns and better positioned them to recruit in an increasingly competitive marketplace. Today, almost all of the active and reserve components are meeting their overall recruiting goals in terms of the quality and quantity of new recruits. DOD does not have clear program objectives and adequate outcome measures to evaluate the effectiveness of its advertising as part of its overall recruiting effort. Thus, DOD cannot show that its increased advertising efforts have been a key reason for its overall recruiting success. Isolating the impact of advertising on recruiting efforts is inherently difficult because joining the military is a profound life decision. Moreover, DOD has not consistently tracked key information, such as public awareness of military recruiting advertising and the willingness of young adults to join the military. Such data could be used to help evaluate the effectiveness of advertising. Without sufficient information on advertising's effectiveness, DOD cannot determine the return on its advertising funding or make fact-based choices on how its overall recruiting investments should be allocated.