Army recruitment campaign follow soldiers up Everest

The Army is launching a recruitment advertising campaign following the real life exploits of a team of soldiers undertaking the gruelling task of ascending Everest via its challenging West Ridge.

The ads, through the army’s agency Publicis, will use footage and sound recordings made by the soldiers during their ascent. The television ads, which break on Easter Sunday and run until the mission’s completion in mid-May, will be filmed as video diaries to create a mini-documentary of the mission.

At least four radio ads will be created from two-way radio conversations between the climbers and base camp.

The campaign comes as the army struggles to increase recruitment. The Ministry of Defence admits this is partly because of concerns over the Iraq war and bullying at the Deepcut base in Surrey.

The press and outdoor work will feature copy lines such as “You’ve reached the summit at Everest. Congratulations. You are half way there,” and “At 29,000 feet climbing is almost impossible. Harder still when you have had to climb 100,000 feet to get there.”

Grant Duncan, Publicis chief executive, says: “This campaign allows the whole country to share in the experience of the team. With soldiers as our high definition cameramen, an editor half way up the mountain and live footage beamed to us via satellite three times a week, we’re also attempting something unique.”