NAM.2019-10-9-1

Filmed oral history interview with Lt Col Ben Wilde MBE, Mercian Regiment, 2019. Lt Col Wilde was Assistant Director of Army Recruiting. Interview conducted by Emma Harper at the National Army Museum for the special exhibition, The Art of Persuasion, Wartime Posters by Abram Games. Lt Col Wilde was responsible for the commissioning of the Army’s controversial recruitment campaign, ‘Your Army Needs You’, launched in January 2019. The posters highlighted what the Army see where others see labels or stereotypes e.g. compassion in ‘snowflakes’, self-belief in ‘me me me millenials’ and drive in ‘binge gamers’. The campaign, created by Karmarama, was the third execution of the ‘This is Belonging’ series, showing how the Army finds potential beyond Gen-Z and millennial stereotypes and identifying the essential skills needed in new Army recruits, such as compassion, self-belief and focus.