Military.com: The Army Bet $11M on The Rock and UFL

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4th&long
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Military.com: The Army Bet $11M on The Rock and UFL

Post by 4th&long »

I still think $11mm is peanuts to the Miltary $900b budget, and how could advertising turn off enlisting?
But have a read and see what you think... perhaps just an internal power struggle playing out.

https://www.military.com/daily-news/202 ... cruit.html

>>The Army is seemingly having buyer's remorse after an $11 million marketing deal with the United Football League and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.

The high-dollar, high-profile deal likely didn't lead to a single new Army recruit and may possibly have had a negative impact on finding new enlistments, internal documents and emails reviewed by Military.com show. The service may even seek to get some of its money back. <<
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johnnyangryfuzzball
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Re: Military.com: The Army Bet $11M on The Rock and UFL

Post by johnnyangryfuzzball »

Same story, same author, shilling for the army to shift its investment to ChiCom-owned TikTok.

I'm starting to think that guy is a Chinese spy.
laxtreme56
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Re: Military.com: The Army Bet $11M on The Rock and UFL

Post by laxtreme56 »

This reads more like an Army recruitment issue with the UFL being the scapegoat. They spent $80M advertising during NASCAR and didn't get a single recruit either. If you can't get 20 year olds from the deep South to enlist, then you have a big problem. With that said, The Rock, or more likely his social media manager, should've posted the 5 tweets that were contractually agreed upon. I'm thinking there's some "make goods" that will happen with either The Rock promoting the Army on his social platforms and/or the UFL making the Army an even greater partner in their broadcasts.
4th&long
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Re: Military.com: The Army Bet $11M on The Rock and UFL

Post by 4th&long »

laxtreme56 wrote: Wed Jul 31, 2024 9:38 am This reads more like an Army recruitment issue with the UFL being the scapegoat. They spent $80M advertising during NASCAR and didn't get a single recruit either. If you can't get 20 year olds from the deep South to enlist, then you have a big problem. With that said, The Rock, or more likely his social media manager, should've posted the 5 tweets that were contractually agreed upon. I'm thinking there's some "make goods" that will happen with either The Rock promoting the Army on his social platforms and/or the UFL making the Army an even greater partner in their broadcasts.


 
Yes, scapegoating and internally busting on the general who approved it.

How they can state that 38 recruits were lost makes no sense, too small too precise and no way of measuring.  In the End if Rock didn't do what he contracted to do is a breach,  He didn't do much for UFL either.  But getting tens of millions of viewers plus Rock for $11mm wasn't a horrible spend, if he followed through.   The Military has a USA cultural issue gaining recruits and UFL has nothing to do with that, you reap what you sow. 
More telling is him, at no surprise to me, not all that into UFL with his reduced ownership.

Having said that, I doubt UFL or Rock signed on to any 'recruitment" target, which is unverifiable - period.

However thsi story is making the rounds... ESPN and Front Office Sports among many others, and Rock is getting hit harder than UFL

https://frontofficesports.com/army-rock ... ship-deal/

https://www.espn.com/united-football-le ... l-ufl-rock

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/A ... ecruitment
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MarkNelson
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Re: Military.com: The Army Bet $11M on The Rock and UFL

Post by MarkNelson »

Seems to be a hatchet job on the UFL and The Rock. This is how you sell clicks these days. 
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steve42
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Re: Military.com: The Army Bet $11M on The Rock and UFL

Post by steve42 »

4th&long wrote: Wed Jul 31, 2024 3:31 pm
He didn't do much for UFL either.  
Come on! He let them run his energy drink and tequila ads multiple times per game, what more did you want?
4th&long
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Re: Military.com: The Army Bet $11M on The Rock and UFL

Post by 4th&long »

MarkNelson wrote: Thu Aug 01, 2024 10:31 am Seems to be a hatchet job on the UFL and The Rock. This is how you sell clicks these days. 

 
If the Army contract required him (the Rock) to tweet 5 times and he didn't - that's on the Rock and he is making the UFL look bad.

Having said that - it looks like an internal power struggle and they have easy target in Rock.  As far as losing 38 recruits - that makes no sense at ALL.

Having said that nothing is verified yet.
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BattleHawks
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Re: Military.com: The Army Bet $11M on The Rock and UFL

Post by BattleHawks »

Wow.

Shame on the UFL for basically stealing money from the US Army.
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Re: Military.com: The Army Bet $11M on The Rock and UFL

Post by MGB01 »

BattleHawks wrote: Fri Aug 02, 2024 8:21 pm Wow.

Shame on the UFL for basically stealing money from the US Army.
Yes the same Army that's been slowly bleeding recruits ever since their genius rebrand of 2001 (and who did they go to for help? Why XFL1.0 of course!), such a smashing success that they've done like six rebrands since, including their campaign to reintroduce "Be all you can be" a few years back like nothing ever happened. 11M is a pittance compared to not only that rollout, but I'm sure they probably spent that much in licensing for a remixed version of 25 or 6 to 4.

Meantime, while the piece backhandedly acknowledged (see what I did there) Rock leaving in mid-April to go film Smashing Machine, they had 43 live halftime spots to an audience of nearly a million on average (adding every platform). So let's not act like they weren't getting anything out of it--no not stealing.
4th&long
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Re: Military.com: The Army Bet $11M on The Rock and UFL

Post by 4th&long »

BattleHawks wrote: Fri Aug 02, 2024 8:21 pm Wow.

Shame on the UFL for basically stealing money from the US Army.


 
What are you talking about?  Stealing ?  Give me a break.

The only breach is on the Rock's side and was that was under the UFL contract, who knows?  - they'll need to sue him for the breach (either UFL or Army).  If the Rock's deal is separate that's not on the UFL.

Is this accusation even real?  I mean how hard is it to Tweet about the Army?  If Rock dropped the ball that's on him.

As far as the UFL they did all that was asked.  This resulted in 850k viewers a game, 580k in attendance, promos for the Army, Army command center etc.

Is there an official lawsuit or is this just internal armed forces grumbling?  Recruiting crisis is real, it isn't going away until changes are made, good luck with that.
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