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Featured Case Study

Awareness Campaign for the Exceptional Family Member Program

Military Community and Family Policy (MC&FP), Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (OUSD) for Personnel and Readiness (P&R)

Challenge

The Department of Defense (DoD) has launched a five-year, sustainable Awareness Campaign for Military Families with Special Needs to heighten awareness, increase knowledge, and increase enrollment into each of the Service’s Exceptional Family Member Program (EFMP). The purpose of the EFMP is to ensure appropriate military assignments are made for service members with an exceptional family member, and to provide information and resources to assist and support the family as they navigate the challenges of a military lifestyle.

Solution

Drawing from several years of innovative communications expertise and military quality of life programs, The Bowen Group initiated the launch and managed the implementation of a highly successful, 360 degree Strategic Communications Plan for the Office of Community Support for Military Families with Special Needs. Under the leadership of the Office of Special Needs, the Bowen project team facilitated diverse, multi-Service working groups to establish goals, objectives, strategies, and tactics for the five-year Strategic Communication Plan. Key outcomes of these facilitated sessions included the identification of target audiences, development of key messaging for each audience, and repositioning of the EFMP brand through creation of a value proposition, thereby highlighting positive aspects of the program supporting military readiness, retention, and professional support services. To facilitate the rebranding of the EFMP, the Bowen project team conducted focus groups and online surveys with members of key audiences, collecting meaningful information that drove the development of an award-winning new logo and collateral promotional materials. To further reinforce the refreshed brand, a call to action slogan was created, “Exceptional Families. Exceptional Service.” Various communications media were utilized in an organized, systematic effort to generate recognition of the newly branded EFMP. The Bowen Group was also instrumental in utilizing web-based and social media tools including Facebook, Twitter, MC&FP flagship websites Military OneSource and MilitaryHOMEFRONT, and MC&FP’s secure social networking site HOMEFRONTConnections , to generate recognition and push information and key messages to target audiences. Concurrently, collateral marketing and promotional items were created to further accentuate and distribute the powerful message to families DoD-wide: “We Know the System. We Can Help.”

Result

The new brand was rolled out at the DoD Joint Services Conference: Improving the Quality of Life for Military Families with Special Needs in November, 2009 in Jacksonville, Florida. The overwhelming majority of the professional service providers attending the conference were “extremely satisfied” with the new brand, with numerous participants offering unsolicited written comments reflecting their excitement and approval of the Awareness Campaign. Both the EFMP logo and collateral promotional materials received awards from the National Association of Government Communicators, with the conference materials receiving a coveted second place in its category. Due to the success of the first phase of the Awareness Campaign, The Bowen Group was again retained to further support the Office of Special Needs in the next phases of the campaign to include the provision of expert consultation services and the development of multi-media products.

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