Society has changed dramatically but the methods used by the Swiss military to engage with young people have not kept pace. A radical adjustment in approach was needed but identifying the best way to do that was a challenge – after all, how do old white men in uniform know what teenage girls are interested in and how to get through to them?

“We decided it would be a good time to try something different, a bit experimental. We did not fully understand the priorities and interests of young women but felt we needed a new way to reach out to them,” Col. Rüegsegger said. “The internet and social media have had a massive impact on the way we live as a society and figuring out how to reach this target group was obviously going to be key to meeting the target we set.

”The army is a modern and adventurous organisation and wanted to illustrate that by coming up with something that really resonates with not just the youth of today but the next generation.”

Breaking through the digital noise of 21st-century life and today’s global, individualist mindsets is difficult in itself; appealing to the half of the population that has typically been an afterthought for decades would be a colossal challenge.

The Swiss Armed Forces use information days when young adults turn 18 to present them with information about the opportunities on offer, before those individuals come back a year later for an assessment day. In theory, this means that everyone should come back when they are 20 for their 18-21 weeks of military service fully informed and energised; the reality was that even reaching young men was proving tougher than expected. For women, the information days are optional.

For an organisation that relies on communication, the military faced a major problem as its messages were just not getting through to their intended audiences. A fresh communications approach was needed, one that would hit both head and heart, but real experts were needed to devise a campaign that would truly rally the next generation of troops.

Behavioural science is an increasingly prominent and influential form of research that explores human actions and thought processes. Through observation and controlled experiments, it is possible to learn how best to connect with a target audience and, in some cases, affect their decision-making tendencies. In this instance, getting inside the minds of Swiss teenagers would be pivotal to determining whether the military would meet its objectives.

Specialist consulting firm FehrAdvice was identified as being capable of giving the Swiss military the intelligence it needed, with Hyphen co-founder Michael Savolainen bringing the two sides together. The business has built a reputation for identifying solutions using scientific methods to organisational problems and laying the foundations for growth and change. Its evidence-based approach unearths what really matters to people through controlled experiments.

“The challenge faced by the Swiss Armed Forces is a prime example of a challenge in behavioural change,”, FehrAdvice chief executive Luca Geisseler explained. “Effectively changing behaviour requires three pivotal elements. Firstly, a sound, evidence-based understanding of current behavioural patterns – what motivates, what drives behaviour? And what barriers and hurdles do we need to overcome?

“Secondly, this data informs our joint design of prototypes – creating elements, such as communication narratives, we can use to change behaviour.

“And thirdly, testing these prototypes, generating causal evidence through experiments. What does really work – in this case, what does effectively lead to an uptick in registration?”

The Swiss Army’s head of transformation met with Luca to discuss potential ways to create a new youth-orientated communications strategy. Michael, who is a member of the Swiss Armed Forces’ general staff and who has held multiple command positions in the past, also helped to conduct an initial workshop and define the scope of the project.

Firstly, more than 1,000 teenagers outside the military took part in an online experiment conducted to collect an initial data set. This was then used to create a pilot campaign, trialled in one of the Swiss cantons. The findings were as startling as they were enlightening.

One prominent finding was that financial incentives – which were long used as one part of the campaign to entice new recruits – were found to have a counter-productive effect when it came to engaging young people. By placing such an emphasis on a ‘money for military service’ idea, the teenagers felt the nature of the connection between them and their armed forces was merely a transactional one. People instead want to feel like they are contributing their time and energy to purposeful activities that benefit their society. This would be central to the new approach.

“This trial was very insightful and vindicated our decision to try something new,” said Col Rüegsegger. “Understanding the psychological element of recruitment and communication, particularly when reaching out to people outside the military environment, is hugely important so working with experts like FehrAdvice has been a huge help. This is exactly what we hoped for when we entered this arrangement and will really shape what we do going forward.”

The research validated the hypothesis that the existing system was not effective and armed with the knowledge gathered during the trial, the team set about modernising the way the military appeals to young people. Based on the work done with FehrAdvice, new, more tailored communication materials were created, using keywords, narratives and themes to which research indicated young people would respond.

The impact of the trial was staggering, with a massive 50% increase in the number of women interested in the Armed Forces and signing up for the information day than was previously the case. This test was conducted in just one canton, but the message was clear: this could be scaled up and appeal to more people than ever before. The impact of the work done by the military-Hyphen-FehrAdvice coalition has the potential to change the way young people, and women in particular, first engage with the military. The outcomes of this research could also apply to other nations, tackling a continent-wide issue.

While recruiting more women was and is a key priority, the work also brought with it benefits in terms of understanding how to approach young men. The FehrAdvice-military work inspired changes to the ways the information and assessment days were conducted. These changes should in turn see fewer prospective candidates turn away from the organisation as the messages presented should resonate with them more clearly.

The results were communicated to military leaders and have been used to create a fresh and impactful campaign. By removing biases and looking at new datasets, the Swiss Armed Forces can now make better progress in drawing the interest of groups that might otherwise have turned away from the military and can build a more diverse, gender-equal military.

“The benefits of this potential partnership could be huge,” said Col Rüegsegger. “We are just one military organisation but the impacts of this could go well beyond just us. The use of data and behavioural science to improve perceptions and learn more about potential recruits has changed the way we approve this process and will create new opportunities for our country’s armed forces.

“Small changes can have a dramatic impact and the consequences of this could be massive for us in helping Switzerland to be a more equal country and increase military diversity.”

If you are interested in speaking with Michael Savolainen about this project and learning more about how this approach could help your organisation, please email michael.savolainen@hyphen.group

Photo credit: SPHAIR, Ben Hodges, Colonel (GS) Adrian Rüegsegger, Saskja Rosset