[RYAN ROBERTSON] WHEN YOU GO TO TRADE SHOWS LIKE THE ONES AUSA, AFA, AND THE NAVY LEAGUE HOST, YOU SEE A LOT OF EYE CANDY SO MUCH SO THAT BRANDS ARE ALWAYS LOOKING FOR WAYS TO ONE-UP ONE ANOTHER.
AND THAT’S THE SUBJECT OF THIS WEEK’S COMMS CHECK. WHILE WE WERE IN WASHINGTON D-C FOR AUSA 2024, THE DISPLAY FOR THE GENERAL DYNAMICS MISSION COMMAND ON THE MOVE BOOTH, YES, THE ONE WE PROFILED EARLIER, WAS SOMETHING THAT CAN BEST BE DESCRIBED AS A CROWD STOPPER.
LOOKING LIKE SOMETHING STRAIGHT FROM TIMES SQUARE, ONLY INSTEAD OF ADVERTISING THE NEXT MINIONS MOVIE OR PUMPKIN SPICED LATTE, IT’S AN EIGHT-WHEELED STRYKER LOOKING LIKE IT’S ABOUT TO DRIVE OFF THE SCREEN AND ONTO THE EXHIBITION FLOOR.
[DAVE CORBETT] “This, the goal was not necessarily to inform with information. It was to just kind of get some eyeballs and have people stop. And they are, seems like they’re kind of stopping. So, so these rules that we come up with, we apply them to every project and every client, and then we sometimes it’s just flat screen stuff, which we have up here too, and sometimes it’s crazy like this.”
[RYAN ROBERTSON] DAVE CORBETT IS THE EXECUTIVE CREATIVE DIRECTOR FOR PLUTO, A CREATIVE CONTENT AGENCY. A QUICK GLANCE AT THEIR WEBSITE SHOWS THEY ROUTINELY WORK WITH COMPANIES LIKE THE U-S POST OFFICE, ALDI GROCERY STORES, AND TOP GOLF, JUST TO NAME A FEW. SO WE WANTED TO KNOW IF WORKING FOR A CLIENT LIKE GENERAL DYNAMICS PRESENTED ANY SPECIAL KIND OF CHALLENGE.
[DAVE CORBETT] “Sometimes it’s just, it’s very important stuff, and we’re showing it to the right people at the right time. And it’s, it’s got to be so it’s, there’s some gray area with other other brands and products. Getting it right is not always. This has to be dead nuts every time there’s no there’s no wiggle room, which is very difficult when you also have that and you also have a deadline. So you know, but, yeah, some, some of the, some of the people at Pluto find there’s some kind of purpose with it, and some just think it’s way cooler, because there’s things fire in and these things are so epically giant that that they’re just impressive looking and to be around.”
[RYAN ROBERTSON] AND IF YOU’RE WONDERING HOW LONG IT TAKES TO CREATE SOMETHING LIKE THAT, DAVE TELLS US PLUTO’S ARTISTS SPEND UPWARDS OF EIGHT MONTHS ON EACH VEHICLE.
[RYAN ROBERTSON]
TO WRAP UP THIS WEEK, FOLKS, I’M GOING TO SPEND A FEW MINUTES SPEAKING ON THE DIRE CONSEQUENCES OF INACTION…SPECIFICALLY HOW U-S AND WESTERN INACTION IS PROLONGING THE WAR IN UKRAINE.
WHILE MOST OF YOU MIGHT SAY THE WAR BETWEEN KIEV AND MOSCOW STARTED IN 2022–FOR THE UKRAINIANS, THE WAR STARTED BACK IN 2014–WHEN VLADIMIR PUTIN ORDERED A SOFT INVASION OF EASTERN UKRAINE AND ILLEGALLY ANNEXED CRIMEA.
NOW, BECAUSE OF A SECURITY AGREEMENT CALLED THE BUDAPEST MEMORANDUM–THE UNITED STATES WAS OBLIGATED TO COME TO UKRAINE’S DEFENSE–BUT DIDN’T. U-S INACTION ALLOWED RUSSIA’S ILLEGAL INVASION AND ANNEXATION TO STAND.
IN THE DECADE SINCE, UKRAINE ASKED OVER AND OVER FOR HELP FROM ITS WESTERN PARTNERS TO FIGHT OF THE RUSSIANS–AND DEFEND AGAINST FURTHER AGGRESSIONS.
REMEMBER THAT PHONE CALL DURING THE 2020 ELECTION CYCLE BETWEEN THEN PRESIDENT TRUMP AND UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY? THAT CALL TOOK PLACE BECAUSE UKRAINE NEEDED AIR DEFENSE WEAPON SYSTEMS.
THE WHITE HOUSE AND OTHER LEADERS IN THE WEST OFTEN BLAME THEIR INACTION ON THE NEED TO NOT EXACERBATE THE SITUATION…OR BECAUSE THEY DON’T WANT TO CROSS ANY RUSSIAN RED LINES.
THAT’S WHY–AFTER THE FULL-SCALE WAR BROKE OUT–
ADVANCED WEAPONS SYSTEMS LIKE ABRAMS TANKS, PATRIOT MISSILE BATTERIES AND F-16S WEREN’T SENT TO UKRAINE FOR MONTHS–OR YEARS IN SOME CASES.
ZELENSKYY TOLD UKRAINIANS JUST LAST WEEK–INACTION AND INDECISION FROM THE WEST TRANSLATES TO DEAD UKRAINIANS.
I’M NOT A MILITARY EXPERT–BUT TO ME–THAT IS A LOSING STRATEGY–
AND IT ALLOWS OUR ENEMIES TO DICTATE THE PACE AND PLACE OF BATTLE.
US TROOPS AREN’T ENGAGED WITH RUSSIAN FORCES IN UKRAINE, YET–
BUT IF THE UNITED STATES CONTINUES TO TAKE A PATH OF INACTION OR DELAYED ACTION IN UKRAINE–RUSSIA AND ITS ALLIES WILL SEE THAT AS CONTINUED WEAKNESS–AND WILL WANT TO SEIZE MORE OF EUROPE. PUTIN AND HIS CRONIES SAY AS MUCH NEARLY EVERY NIGHT ON RUSSIAN STATE MEDIA.
THE US, WESTERN EUROPE AND MOST OF THE INDUSTRIALIZED WORLD WANTS PEACE IN UKRAINE. PUTIN WANTS WAR. AND HIS ACTIONS PROVE IT.
IT’S WHY THE KREMLIN IS WORKING WITH IRAN AND NORTH KOREA TO GET NOT JUST WEAPONS–BUT NOW SOLDIERS AS WELL. AROUND 10 THOUSAND NORTH KOREAN SOLDIERS ARE EITHER IN RUSSIA OR EN ROUTE TO RUSSIA–WHERE THEY’LL HELP FIGHT AGAINST THE UKRAINIANS.
NOW, ACCORDING TO THE LATEST CASUALTY NUMBERS–THOSE 10 THOUSAND OR SO SOLDIERS REPRESENT ABOUT 10 DAYS WORTH OF CASUALTIES ON THE RUSSIA SIDE–SO IT’S PROBABLY NOT ENOUGH TO SWAY THINGS AT THE FRONTLINES–
BUT IF THE WEST DOESN’T ACT ON THIS LATEST ESCALATION BY RUSSIA–TO HIRE FOREIGN SOLDIERS TO HELP FURTHER ITS INVASION OF A SOVEREIGN DEMOCRACY–THEN THE ENEMIES OF PROGRESS AND PROSPERITY WILL ONLY BE FURTHER EMBOLDENED.
IT’S TIME FOR DECISIVE ACTION AGAINST RUSSIA–BUT THAT TAKES DECISIVE LEADERSHIP. LET’S HOPE WE GET THAT AFTER NEXT WEEK–WHEN US VOTERS CAST THEIR DECISION ON WHO WILL LEAD THE NATION FOR THE NEXT FOUR YEARS. BECAUSE IF U-S INACTION CONTINUES –THE CONSEQUENCES WILL BE DIRE.
THAT’LL DO IT FOR US THIS WEEK ON WEAPONS AND WARFARE. PLEASE REMEMBER TO LIKE AND SUBSCRIBE TO ALL OF OUR SOCIAL FEEDS AND SHARE THE SHOW WITH YOUR FRIENDS!
FOR SENIOR PRODUCER BRETT BAKER, VIDEO EDITOR BRIAN SPENCER, AND GRAPHICS ARTIST DAKOTA PITEO, I’M RYAN ROBERTSON WITH STRAIGHT ARROW NEWS, SIGNING OFF.
