Navy Providing Commercial Endorsements?

Navy for Moms

July 29th, 2008

First of all, congratulations to NavyForMoms.com for achieving your first real membership milestone of 3500 new members in just a few short months! Navy for Mom’s was created to provide parents a forum to exchange information about their experience with the Navy. An excerpt from a recent press release;

“NAVYForMoms.com has become a valuable resource for potential Navy
parents, as well as an online gathering spot for current Navy moms,” said Rear
Adm. Robin Braun, Deputy Commander, Navy Recruiting Command. “We highly
encourage everyone to take a look at the website to view this powerful online
community. The site has enabled many strong friendships and support groups to
develop and provided a place where potential Navy parents can get information.
Its success is a true testament to the value of such a community.”

The web site states in it’s terms of service;

This website (“Site”) is sponsored by the United States Navy (“NAVY”) and produced and maintained by Campbell-Ewald Company (collectively “we,” “us,” “our” “NavyForMoms”) through Ning.com (“Ning”).

Campbell-Ewald (CE) is the company the United States Navy uses to run the Navy.com web site (among others) and also is responsible for generating all the Navy advertising you see on TV, hear on the radio and read in print. A government agency really has to outsource it’s advertising requirements for a few reasons but one of the main ones is legality – a contractor provides a means of keeping things at arms length such as a perception the Navy may be “endorsing” commercial products. Kind of like the Navy NASCAR used to have a co-sponsor “Super-Cuts” – that marriage was quickly broken up and the Navy became the “sole sponsor”. The car still had smaller stickers advertising oil filter companies and such and I suspect is one of the factors in the Navy’s decision to stop all the left hand turns by severing its ties with NASCAR altogether.

Campbell-Ewald’s position as the Navy’s advertising giant will be coming up for bid this year. Unlike the popular Navy.com web site, NavyForMoms.com is “owned” by Campbell-Ewald and interestingly the site provides links to web sites selling products (tee-shirts and such) for profit! Who is profiting from our tax dollars (assuming “sponsored by the United States Navy” is in the form of cash)? Is the NavyForMoms web site domain registration an indicator that CE doesn’t expect the contract to continue? Are we seeing the end of “Accelerate Your Life”?

On a side note, Navy.com, the web site “owned” by Navy Recruiting Command is set to expire in 2009, most other domains registered by the Department of Defense are purchased for very long periods of time, example – militarypay.us doesn’t expire until 2053. Navy Recruiting Command should follow suit with the Navy.com domain and secure that puppy!


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7 Responses to “Navy for Moms”


  1. EG says:
    July 29, 2008 at 6:34 pm

    So who actually owns navyformoms.com the Navy or CE?

  2. Ouch says:
    July 29, 2008 at 6:59 pm

    According to the domain registration CE owns the web site.

    Registrant:
    Campbell-Ewald
    30400 Van Dyke Avenue
    Warren, MI 48093
    US

    Domain Name: NAVYFORMOMS.COM

    And for the Navy.com web site;

    Registrant:
    Navy Recruiting Command
    5722 Integrity Dr.
    Building 784
    Millington, TN 38054
    US

    Domain Name: NAVY.COM

  3. EG says:
    July 29, 2008 at 8:04 pm

    So do you work for the Navy or Ce? or are you just a blogger. I have been curious to how navyformoms started.

  4. Ouch says:
    July 29, 2008 at 9:11 pm

    I retired from the Navy Dec 2006 as a Master Chief Navy Counselor (Career Recruiting Force). I have served on CNRC staff and as the Chief Recruiter of two Navy Recruiting Districts.

    I think the web site navyformoms.com is a good idea – a forum for parents to share thoughts and anxiety. I have two sons that also joined the Navy and even with my experience my wife loved the chance to talk and share with other Moms. NFM web site has only been up and running according to the article for a few months – I expect it to grow.

    My questions are not about the sites function as much as the links to online stores and the fact that it isn’t registered in the name of CNRC (as navy.com is) is that an indication of CE’s belief they may not be the advertising agency for Navy Recruiting this time next year. It may have just been an administrative error but if so, why no direct link from Navy.com to NFM? Is CE building a brand in the name of the Navy to hedge their bets?

  5. EG says:
    July 29, 2008 at 9:58 pm

    Tom let me start by saying thanks for your service. My son recently enlisted in the Navy. I found navyformoms in searching for answers to my sons future. I looked for a dads site and couldn’t find one. So I started navydads.com I thought a mother started n4m’s and found out about the Navy’s involment and CE’s. We have even linked together in the other navy communties forum in our about this site. I have been researching how n4m’s got started and stumbled on your blog. I too wonder why the Navy would not own n4m’s or n4d’s. Like I said my son is a newbie but I know Master Chief is way up their so thanks for your help and insight. Also please join us dads. I’m sure their is alot you can help us with. EG

  6. Denise says:
    August 12, 2010 at 4:50 pm

    I was wondering what the navy spend to keep Navyformoms up and running?

  7. NCCM(ret) says:
    August 12, 2010 at 5:13 pm

    Denise,

    I do not know the actual cost; I am sure that the cost is bundled in the advertising dollars that is paid to CE.

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