This Is For You
Visit the site- Brand
- Canadian Armed Forces
- Year
- 2025
- Objective
- Lead Gen & Recruiting
- Industry
- Other
- Mechanic
- Other
- Platform
- AR & VR
- Agency
- Array Of Stars
- With
- Feast
Objective
Recruiting for the Canadian Armed Forces had stalled as the department competed with other employers for talent and ran up against outdated assumptions about military service in a changed job market. The campaign set out to widen awareness of a CAF career among Canadians 18–34 — including people job-hunting or weighing a career change who'd never considered the military — and to show them that everyday traits like compassion and problem-solving already make them fit candidates.
Solution
Visitors reach the experience through a QR code — on a recruiting-centre window decal or in campaign ads — and scan it on their phone, since the desktop site just displays the code and asks them to switch devices. On mobile, a portrait-mode AR experience opens with a MISSION SELECT screen offering three branches: Army, Navy, or Air Force. Picking one drops the player into a real-world CAF scenario told from the inside — flying supplies to Canadian Forces Station Alert with an air crew, helping civilians through a natural disaster as an Army soldier, or serving aboard HMCS Harry DeWolf as its crew responds to a research vessel in distress at sea. From the same site, players can browse How It Works and Mission Documents for more detail on each role, then jump straight to forces.ca to start an application.
Results
In the video phase of the campaign (2023), Start Application clicks rose 106.2% year over year, total CAF applicants doubled from the previous year, and conversion rate increased 104.6%. Supporting media metrics for that phase also improved: click-through rate up 67.38%, impressions up 38.95%, clicks up 47.82%, and cost per click down 20.05%.
- 1
On desktop, the experience opens on a gateway screen prompting players to switch to a mobile device and scan a QR code — the same code appears on window decals at recruiting centers nationwide. Scanning it launches the AR experience directly in the mobile browser, with no app to install.
- 2
The experience runs in portrait only; turning the phone sideways covers the screen with a prompt to rotate back to portrait mode.
- 3
A Home screen offers a How It Works section explaining the AR experience before players dive in.
- 4
Players open a Mission Select menu and choose one of three branches to play as: Army, Navy, or Air Force.
- 5
Each mission places the player inside a first-person AR scenario tied to that branch: the Navy mission casts them as a sailor aboard HMCS Harry DeWolf whose crew discovers a research vessel in distress; the Air Force mission puts them on a crew delivering supplies to Canadian Forces Station Alert; the Army mission has them acting as a soldier helping civilians during a natural disaster.
- 6
Within a mission, players can branch off to a Mission Documents section for supporting material and use a "Return to the experience" button to pick the mission back up.
- 7
Players exit through a "Visit Forces.ca" link that leads to the Canadian Armed Forces recruiting site, where they can submit an application.
