The New Cadet Recruiting Brochure

[Major Carrales]

Bottom line in this discussion is what is the "target market" for our overall recruiting effort?   Locally in our squadron, we've seen an influx of younger cadets.  Maybe it's better to recruit younger, have them "grow up" as well as progress in the program.

RM

I'm sure a committee of volunteers with experience in PR/PA/recruiting, could come up with material better than provided by National. Better meet the neds in the field, rather than a flyer written for 12 year olds and not of interest to older prospective cadets.

Younger is the way to go.   Traditionally, in our area, the High Schoolers are too busy with dozens of other things (even ones that joined in the 6th grade and developed into High Schoolers).  Young cadets "emotionally invest" in the program and make it theirs.

[Rotorhead]

Nice concept.  Any chance you could get a picture with a female and/or minority cadet?

The cadet in the middle is female, but it's hard to tell in BDUs. I was going to reshoot this with her in blues.

Good idea, both for the obvious reason, but also to display another uniform.

[Eclipse]

Sneak peek

Cover

Lose the beret.

I agree younger is better - every day past their 12th birthday that we don't have them is one less day on the Spaatz clock, for starters.

And there are any number of opportunities and activities that are closed, practically speaking, to cadets who start too old, because they either literally can't make Mitchell, or the odds of them making it are low (obviously in proportion to their age).

[Gunner C]

Sneak peek

Cover

Lose the beret.

Ditto.  Also, the picture needs better lighting.

[RiverAux]

Nice concept.  Any chance you could get a picture with a female and/or minority cadet?

The cadet in the middle is female, but it's hard to tell in BDUs. I was going to reshoot this with her in blues.

Good idea, both for the obvious reason, but also to display another uniform.

Actually, I would recommend putting them ALL in the same uniform (whether BDU or blue) as including multiple uniforms iin the same photo s just going to be confusing and distract from the message.  If you want to have another photo elsewhere in the brochure showing cadets in blues doing something, that would be fine, especially if it is readily apparent why they are more dressed up (color guard/honor guard, etc.).

[ELTHunter]

I think my unit has at least three different versions of brochures that have been created by National over the last few years.  I thought the last one (I think) was the best because it addressed both cadet and senior membership instead of having two separate ones.  My experience is that people pick up a brochure first and start to walk away before looking at it.  If you can't catch them in time, they get away with the wrong one.

That being said, my problem with this one is that it mentions flying right up front......this, IMHO, is false advertising.  While there are opportunities for cadets to fly in CAP, they really are fewer and father between than our recruiting suggests.  For instance, something like 9 O-flights in a potential seven years, and most of these are back seat rides.

I get a lot of people that come in and say "I heard I can learn to fly in CAP".  I then have to give them my "while it is possible, there are better, cheaper ways to learn" speech.  Otherwise, you risk dissappointed members that don't hang around all that long.

[DC]

Walkman, that's freaking awesome!

That being said, my problem with this one is that it mentions flying right up front......this, IMHO, is false advertising.  While there are opportunities for cadets to fly in CAP, they really are fewer and father between than our recruiting suggests.  For instance, something like 9 O-flights in a potential seven years, and most of these are back seat rides.

I get a lot of people that come in and say "I heard I can learn to fly in CAP".  I then have to give them my "while it is possible, there are better, cheaper ways to learn" speech.  Otherwise, you risk dissappointed members that don't hang around all that long.

That varies between squadrons though, yours is obviously not on the best position to offer flying.

My squadron on the other hand has O-Flights nearly every month, and has an excellent relationship with the local flight school that enables our cadets to solo, and possibly get their license at a fraction of the normal cost.

NHQ cannot account for the variances between individual squadrons, and aviation and Aerospace Education is a large portion of the cadet program. I have found that there is a common misconception among potential members expecting to recieve full flight training as part of their membership, but there are only so many ways to say we offer exposure to aviation.

And for the record: Cadets are entitled to five powered flights, five glider flights, and as many backseat rides as they can get on..

I agree that National seriously needs to come up with ONE LOOK for all recruiting materials. gocivilairpatrol.com isn't bad for a recruiting site ( I hate it for the member content though...), but that look needs to be conveyed across the board. To do otherwise is sloppy and sends mixed messages.

I also agree that pictures of cadets need to be a little less cheesy 'hey look at me' and a little more like 'the camera isn't there, action shot' stuff.