Be All You Can Be

Why it works

The line that rebuilt an institution's self-image. The post-Vietnam, all-volunteer Army was struggling for recruits and respect when N.W. Ayer copywriter Earl Carter's line — debuting during the New Year's bowl games of January 1981 — reframed enlistment from obligation or last resort into self-actualization with a jingle an entire generation can still sing. It ran for twenty years, an eternity in advertising, was credited with improving both recruit volume and quality, and was ranked the No. 18 campaign of the century by Ad Age (which also called the jingle one of the century's defining refrains). It is studied for institutional rebranding at national scale — and the Army's 2023 revival of the line is the strongest endorsement an old campaign can get.