U.S. Army’s $11 Million Deal With The Rock Backfires

The U.S. Army’s $11 million deal with actor Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has backfired.

Earlier in the year, the U.S. Army inked a brand deal with the UFL, an alternative to the NFL, and in that deal, it included a brand ambassador deal with the Rock, who owns a percentage of the UFL.

Despite spending millions on the Rock as a brand ambassador the Rock’s brand deal led to zero new recruits.

It gets worse.

The Military reported, the Rock “did not fulfill his end of the bargain to publish a specific number of service-related posts on his social media accounts.”

SCOOP: The Army's troubled $11 million marketing deal with The Rock went bad, yielding no recruits — and the service is trying to get some of its money back https://t.co/nPHruioUmW

— Steve Beynon (@StevenBeynon) July 30, 2024

This is so embarrassing I can’t believe anyone thought this was smart ⁦@thespybrief⁩

The Army Bet $11M on The Rock and UFL Ginning Up Enlistments. It May Have Actually Hurt Recruiting Efforts. | https://t.co/rdyj1Cbsqe https://t.co/QsEHMBW2Py

— The Editor Devil (@fairchild01) July 31, 2024

Here’s what The Military reported:

The Army is seemingly having buyer’s remorse after an $11 million marketing deal with the United Football League and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.

The high-dollar, high-profile deal likely didn’t lead to a single new Army recruit and may possibly have had a negative impact on finding new enlistments, internal documents and emails reviewed by Military.com show. The service may even seek to get some of its money back.

The Army inked the deal earlier this year with the UFL, the upstart minor league alternative to the NFL that had an inaugural season from March through June with a disappointing debut. More importantly, the deal included Johnson, a global superstar and owner of the league, who was supposed to serve as a pseudo brand ambassador for the Army — though the service said he did not fulfill his end of the bargain to publish a specific number of service-related posts on his social media accounts.

The news comes as the Army is in the midst of a historic recruiting crisis that has been partially worsened by the service struggling to navigate modern marketing trends. Much of its efforts are still geared toward funneling money into cable TV-style ads and marketing deals with other traditional television broadcasts, such as sports, even as Gen Z’s media diet has left most of those old-school mediums behind.

Amazing—the Army inked a $11M marketing deal that included The Rock as a “pseudo brand ambassador.”

The deal “likely didn't lead to a single new Army recruit & may possibly have had a negative impact on finding new enlistments.” Now trying to get $ back https://t.co/a2OPz8ua4q

— Vera Bergengruen (@VeraMBergen) July 30, 2024

Per The New York Post:

This deal sank like a stone.

Legendary pro wrestler Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s $11 million partnership with the US Army was so disastrous that it appears to have actually hindered recruitment efforts for the military branch, according to a report.

The Army is now trying to recoup its money after claiming “The Rock” didn’t hold up his end of the deal by sharing an agreed-upon number of social media posts during the United Football League season, Military.com reported.