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Dwayne \u201cThe Rock\u201d Johnson is your quintessential tough guy. The 52-year-old former WWE wrestler and actor is an imposing man, standing at 6-foot-5-inches and weighing more than 250 pounds. He has that classic don\u2019t-mess-with-me look along with name and image recognition, which made it a no-brainer for The Army to ink a marketing deal with him to juice its recruiting efforts. Since 2013, the Army has faced a recruiting crisis, with male enlistments dropping a staggering 35%, according to service data<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Earlier this year, the Army signed a deal with the United Football League, the minor league football league in the U.S. that Johnson co-owns. The deal said Johnson would also serve as a brand ambassador for the Army. But the Army said he fell short on his end of the deal by not publishing enough service-related posts to his social media accounts, according to internal emails and documents reviewed by Military.com<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n Now, the Army is in negotiations with the UFL to review and finalize the details of the partnership, which Military.com<\/em> says was \u201cso catastrophic\u201d it led to a projected loss of 38 enlistments, according to an internal review of the plan reviewed by the publication. The Army, however, says it\u2019s too early to decipher the effects of the campaign.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe won\u2019t have a clear view of the results of the partnership or impacts to the Army\u2019s financial investment until all marketing elements are complete,\u201d an Army spokesperson told Fortune<\/em>. These marketing elements include Army branding on UFL player uniforms and fields, \u201cactivations\u201d during the championship game, and high school clinics.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThis partnership allowed the Army to increase awareness and engage with a wider audience for Americans to learn about the possibilities of Army services,\u201d the spokesperson said.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Army didn\u2019t really know exactly what it was getting when it inked a deal with Johnson and the UFL. While \u201con its surface, the Army\u2019s attempt to enter into a partnership with The Rock seems like a can\u2019t-miss opportunity,\u201d the opportunity isn\u2019t really what they thought it would be,\u201d Megan Sweeney, a former senior adviser for communications at the U.S. Department of Defense, told Fortune<\/em>.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWhile the Army may have thought they were getting The Rock, they were instead primarily getting a partnership with a minor football league,\u201d Sweeney said. \u201cThe Rock is an investor of the UFL, but it\u2019s not like he\u2019s on the sidelines of every game. As a result, the Army seems to have paid Hollywood-level sponsorship money for minor-league exposure.\u201d<\/p>\n The true appeal of the deal the Army thought it was getting was Johnson\u2019s social-media reach; he has 396 million followers on Instagram<\/a>. The Army had valued each social media post at $1 million, according to documents obtained by Military.com<\/em>, but Johnson had only made two of the five promised posts.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIn the Army\u2019s defense, they allegedly did not receive the level of social media exposure they were promised by The Rock\u2019s team,\u201d Sweeney said. \u201cIt may have cost the Army millions, but this incident will certainly damage Rock\u2019s reputation as a brand ambassador without a further explanation on his end.\u201d The UFL did not respond to Fortune<\/em>\u2019s requests for comment.<\/p>\n To that end, it appears as if the failed deal isn\u2019t necessarily due to a mismatch in brand appeal, but rather unfinished business.<\/p>\n \u201cSome of the problems here seem to be contractual rather than tactical,\u201d Jenn Szekely, president of global branding and design consultancy Coley Porter Bell<\/a>, told Fortune<\/em>. \u201cIf [Johnson] hasn\u2019t delivered what was promised, that\u2019s a failing of the deal, not the brand proposition. It\u2019s not just about signing a name, it\u2019s about execution.\u201d<\/p>\n However, the problem with the deal could be larger than just tying up a few loose ends. The Army needs young recruits, yet only 23% of Gen Z say they\u2019re passionate about sports, according to a 2021 Fandom Analytics Initiative survey<\/a> of nearly 1,400 people.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile The Rock is a huge star with gravitas and status, the UFL is a relatively new entity,\u201d Szekely said. (The UFL just started play in March 2024<\/a>). \u201cOn top of that, we know a large portion of Gen Z doesn\u2019t even care about sports, so the UFL as the center of gravity for the campaign was not necessarily the winning strategy.\u201d<\/p>\n The Army told Military.com<\/em> it\u2019s working with the UFL to \u201crebalance the contract,\u201d and \u201cThe Rock remains a good partner to the Army.\u201d Yet, it also said \u201cit\u2019s unfortunate he was pulled away at a time when we expected him to be present with us to create content for his social media channels.\u201d<\/p>\n Situations like these are a case for rock-solid contracts for brand ambassadorships, experts said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s important to include provisions in brand ambassador contracts that protect both parties in the event one side decides to desert their responsibilities,\u201d Sweeney said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nWhy the deal went south<\/h2>\n