The US Air Force (USAF) awarded Euro RSCG responsibility for redesigning its primary recruiting Web site after a four-agency pitch. Euro RSCG expects the redesigned Web site to launch in the fall.
Euro will be collaborating with the USAF’s primary agency GSD&M Idea City LLC to weave elements of its current recruitment campaign “Above All” into the redesigned Web site.
The “Above All campaign is designed to show potential recruits the diverse opportunities available in the USAF, such as the many civilian opportunities, said Kevin Newby, director of digital services at Euro RSCG San Francisco.
“It’s not just flying jets,” he said, noting opportunities in fields such as IT, civil engineering, and culinary arts. “We want to bring all those together (on the Web site) into a scalable platform.”
Newby said ideally, the redesign will lead to a Web site where a user can get the exact information they are looking for in one or two clicks.
Newby said the USAF Web site was “a little old” and the agency is tasked with updating and streamlining it to reflect the current recruiting campaign. “The current site supports that to a degree, but the usability is a little weird,” he said. “There are layers and layers of content and it can be hard to get through.”
“We are going to be building a site that lacks digital eddies, and black holes you have to click out of,” he said.
Part of how Euro plans to accomplish this is by streamlining content. While current USAF site has plenty of content, Newby said the goal is to make the content that people are most seeking more easily reachable.
“But we don’t want to throw out the something amazing content already on there,” he added. “It’s going to be converted into a new asset with this site.”
Newby said the redesigned site will be search engine optimized to appear when internet users type words or phrases relating to the job opportunities the Air force offers into search engines.
Euro will also continue to maintain the redesigned site after it has gone live.
The will feature some “tricks of the trade”, Newby said, like Flash applications built into it.
There will also be a content management system created that will allow the Air Force and Euro RSCG to edit content as necessary.
The two agencies have previously collaborated on a number of USAF digital advertising and marketing initiatives since 2005, according to Euro RSCG.
