{"id":134253,"date":"2022-12-02T11:20:56","date_gmt":"2022-12-02T16:20:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/valorguardians.com\/blog\/?p=134253"},"modified":"2022-12-01T15:03:15","modified_gmt":"2022-12-01T20:03:15","slug":"army-recruiting-campaign-included-plan-to-leverage-call-of-duty-streamers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/?p=134253","title":{"rendered":"Army recruiting campaign included plan to leverage Call of Duty streamers"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The US Army had a recruiting strategy to leverage the video game world to reach Generation Z prospects. Included in the plan was the sponsorship of esports tournaments, Call of Duty streamers, and Twitch events. They wanted to grow their audience among Generation Z, mainly among women, Black, and Hispanic individuals. Unfortunately, a wave of sexual harassment complaints against Call of Duty’s publisher put a stop to the Army’s using this plan.<\/p>\n

From Vice:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The U.S. Army allocated millions of dollars to sponsor a wide range of esports tournaments, individual high profile Call of Duty streamers, and Twitch events in the last year to specifically grow its audience with Gen-Z viewers, and especially women and Black and Hispanic people, according to internal Army documents obtained by Motherboard.<\/p>\n

In many cases the sponsorships ultimately did not happen\u2014the Army ordered a stop of all spending with Call of Duty\u2019s publisher Activision after the company faced a wave of sexual harrassment complaints. But the documents provide much greater insight into the Army\u2019s goals and intentions behind its planned integrations with Call of Duty and other massive entertainment franchises.<\/p>\n

\u201cAudience: Gen-Z Prospects (A18-24),\u201d one section of the documents read. \u201cFocus on the growth of females, Black & Hispanics.\u201d Motherboard obtained the documents through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).<\/p>\n

A table included in the documents lists the funds the Army planned to spend on various platforms, events, and streamers. At the top, is Twitch and its HBCU [Historically Black Colleges and Universities] Showdown. Previous seasons of this esports league had players compete in Madden and NBA games. The Army planned to spend $1 million on sponsoring the event.<\/p>\n

The documents show that the U.S. military considered gaming and, in particular, Call of Duty, as a potentially useful branding and recruiting tool. For example, the Army proposed using Twitch influencers to “create original content videos showcasing the wide range of skillsets offered by the Army,” and to use influencers to “familiarize [their] fans on Army values and opportunities.” The Army also wanted to throw tournaments that featured “soldiers & top names in gaming.” Another goal of the campaigns was to increase the Army’s “favorability” in viewer surveys.<\/p>\n

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According to the table, the Army intended to spend $750,000 on a mix of the official Call of Duty League Esports tournament, streaming service Paramount+, and the HALO TV show, which aired on Paramount+. The Army also planned to spend $200,000 on sponsoring the mobile version of Call of Duty, including with \u201creward-based inventory.\u201d The documents suggest the campaign would provide in-game currency to players who viewed Army video ads.<\/p>\n

The Army allocated $150,000 to be spent on Stonemountain64, a popular streamer who often plays Call of Duty: Warzone to his audience of 2.32 million subscribers on YouTube. Stonemountain64 often uploads gameplay footage of himself roleplaying as a tongue-in-cheek commanding officer during matches of Warzone.<\/p>\n

The documents also mention high profile streamers Swagg, who has 2.66 million subscribers on YouTube, and Alex Zedra. Zedra previously provided the likeness for the character Mara in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019) and is a self-described \u201cAll American, 2A [second amendment] Gun Slinger.\u201d Swagg and Zedra are listed next to an asterix under the table, which says the Army will reallocate funds based on conversations with the streamers. None of the streamers or their representatives responded to a request for comment.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Vice has additional information here<\/a> and here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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The US Army had a recruiting strategy to leverage the video game world to reach Generation … Army recruiting campaign included plan to leverage Call of Duty streamers<\/span>Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":661,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[359,232],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-134253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-army","category-army-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134253","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/661"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=134253"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134253\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=134253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=134253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=134253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}