• by Fern Siegel , December 5, 2024

The Navy's latest recruitment campaign — "Strike Group" — is a multi-scenario, mobile mixed-readyexperience that highlights the branch's technology and career options.

Developed by VML, a division of WPP, the work runs on America’s Navy YouTube channel. The creative is used by local Navy recruiters to promote upcoming Strike Group activations, noting the depths of Navy STEM careers — from nuclear engineering and aviation to special warfare and medicine. There is no paid media component.

Via virtual reality, the Strike Group provides users with a fully immersive, hands-on look into the technology and teamwork central to every Navy role.

“Because Strike Group is modular, it can be presented as a nine-cube experience, or it can be broken into smaller groups, allowing Navy recruiters to annually activate at three-times more events than it currently does,” says Heidi LaRochelle, VML Group connections director, experiential. “The Strike Group can accommodate 450,000 participants a year, which is nine-times more than the Navy’s previous experiential activation.” 

Strike Group comprises seven distinctive, interactive challenges:

All Hands

Players will test their skills on the flight deck of an aircraft carrier in a five-person virtual reality game. Participants will don a Meta Quest 3 headset and be transported out to the USS Gerald R. Ford where they will team up to launch an F-35C Lightning II jet.

Support

The Navy conducts humanitarian missions around the globe through a variety of ship platforms and communities. Participants will navigate an interactive map of the world with a range of Navy ships and vehicles to explore the breadth and depth of these operations at strategic, geographic locations. 

Fly

Players will experience Naval aviation. This full motion flight simulator will drop participants into the cockpit of an F-35C Lightning II, where they will launch from an aircraft carrier with their wingman on a training mission.

Dive

Navy Underwater Construction Teams are on call if an undersea repair is needed. In this interactive virtual mission, participants will take on the role of a Navy diver, driving a boat to a location after a storm, then use their dive and welding skills to help repair a damaged pier. 

Achieve

America’s Navy has hundreds of roles available in every field. To help participants see themselves in one of these careers, they can take a personality quiz that will pair them with a list of jobs best suited to them.

Seek

To showcase the “Silent Service,” participants will undergo a real-life submarine mission — an Ice Exercise (ICEX) near the North Pole. Players will work together and use their skills in nuclear propulsion, sonar, and navigation to successfully break through the thick sea ice during the Arctic Ocean operation. 

Train

Navy SEALs have a legacy of strenuous training and intense qualifications. In this experience, a Navy SEAL trainer will guide participants through a series of challenges that test their physical strength, mental fortitude and willpower.