The U.S. Army wasted tens of millions of dollars on marketing programs that failed to demonstrate significant returns in fiscal year 2016, according to an internal audit review conducted over nearly two years and acquired by Adweek through a Freedom of Information Act request.
The findings follow an earlier version of the audit, first published in January, that labeled dozens of taxpayer-funded projects “ineffective” and concluded that the Army spent $930.7 million “on marketing efforts that potentially didn’t provide best value to support Army recruiting” between 2013 and 2016, Adweek reports.
The audit cites several shortcomings in the Army’s approach to promoting itself, including:
- an absence of specific goals.
- a lack of concrete processes to evaluate AMRG’s performance.
- a failure to ensure that relevant data is “recorded completely and accurately.”
- an inability to identify and discontinue projects that “aren’t cost-effective compared to other options.”
The final document confirms that 20 of 23 programs costing $36.8 million in 2016 had not “generated a positive impact.”
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