Transferring Marketing Experiences from the Military Sector into the Public Sector: A Conceptual Framework

Interdisciplinary Description of Complex Systems 23(5), 508-529, 2025 TRANSFERRING MARKETING EXPERIENCES FROM THE MILITARY SECTOR INTO THE PUBLIC SECTOR: A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK Marija Gombar1, * and Marija Boban2 1Croatian 1Zagreb, Defense Academy “Dr Franjo Tuđman” Croatia 2University 2Split, of Split Faculty of Law Croatia DOI: 10.7906/indecs.23.5.6 Regular article Received: 22 April 2025. Accepted: 16 October 2025. ABSTRACT This article proposes a strategic communication model for the public sector, drawing inspiration from military marketing experiences, including segmentation, storytelling, and adaptive feedback loops. The background of the study lies in the growing need for civic legitimacy in fragmented trust environments, where traditional public messaging struggles to maintain credibility. The aim is to explore how emotionally resonant narratives and psychographic segmentation, which have been proven effective in defence and security communication, can enhance public engagement and resilience to disinformation. The research draws on secondary data from defence communication campaigns, including policy reports, social media analytics, and recent public campaigns. Methodologically, the article integrates simulated metrics with insights from defence-based messaging strategies such as the U.S. Army’s “What is Your Warrior?” and the UK’s “Snowflake Generation”. These cases are used to illustrate the model’s applicability. Findings suggest that strategic messaging, supported by real-time analytics, increases the perceived relevance and trustworthiness. Simulated scenarios involving vaccine awareness and environmental campaigns show how narrative alignment fosters stronger engagement, particularly among younger audiences. The model is conceptual and normative but offers a scalable framework for empirical testing. It emphasises ethical constraints, transparency, and accountability as prerequisites for legitimate strategic communication in complex democratic settings. KEY WORDS conceptual framework, knowledge transfer, marketing approaches, organizational learning, public sector CLASSIFICATION ACM: I.2.0, I.2.1, K.4.2 APA: 2710, 2720, 2800, 3000, 3610 JEL: O33 *Corresponding author, : ; +385 98 970 9793; -; * Transferring marketing experiences from the military sector into the public sector: a conceptual ... INTRODUCTION Effective communication is essential for public governance, particularly in fostering trust and citizen engagement. Digital platforms have transformed government–citizen interactions, introducing opportunities and challenges, such as fragmented attention and the rapid spread of misinformation. In Central and Southeast Europe, these issues are amplified by historical mistrust, linguistic diversity, and varying levels of digital literacy [1, 2]. This is illustrated by the inconsistent uptake of COVID-19 vaccination campaigns in Croatia, Serbia, and Romania, where segmented trust levels and language diversity influenced message receptiveness despite uniform public health policies [3, 4]. Addressing such complexity requires innovative, citizencentric communication strategies. Public communication efforts in complex environments must surpass generic transparency goals. They should consider scepticism’s deep-rooted cognitive and emotional drivers, including institutional fatigue and algorithmic overload. In this context, fragmented trust refers to declining confidence and a dynamic and adaptive public perception shaped by selective engagement, media distrust, and perceived message irrelevance. According to framing theory, tailored messaging can influence audience perception by emphasizing selected aspects of communication [5]. This study conceptualises fragmented trust as an adaptive socio-technical system and introduces a military-inspired communication model as a system-level intervention. The approach emphasises strategic storytelling to reframe public sector messages – for example, positioning vaccination campaigns as expressions of civic responsibility and social care. This narrative approach draws from affective design experiences and strategic empathy models, which have proven effective in overcoming resistance in emotionally polarised audiences. Public messaging can generate resonance even in highly fragmented attention ecosystems when aligned with individual values and cultural codes. Defence-sector communication campaigns such as “What is Your Warrior?” and “Snowflake Generation” demonstrate how segmentation, analytics, and emotionally resonant storytelling enhance engagement [6, 7]. The Croatian defence sector further illustrates how knowledge networks within defence clusters can inspire innovation transferable to the public sector [8]. Moreover, big data and psychographic profiling enable real-time personalisation and increased message relevance [9, 10]. The term public sector strategic communication in this article refers to a set of strategies, tactics, and communication approaches originating from the military sector [5], aimed at building reputation, attracting and retaining personnel, and strengthening public support. These practices, while rooted in the context of defense institutions, have gradually expanded into other areas of the public sector, echoing earlier analyses of e-democracy and digital participation. As a result, the adaptation of marketing experiences from the military sector has influenced government institutions, health systems, education, and emergency services, particularly in the fields of recruitment, image management, and crisis response. In this process, social media platforms such as Twitter have increasingly served as arenas of institutional communication [3], where official narratives interact with citizen-driven discourse. By examining how strategic communication has transitioned from the military sector into broader public use, this article highlights the hybrid nature of contemporary public sector communication, where techniques of persuasion, branding, and legitimacy-building merge with practices of public accountability and civic engagement, in line with the emphasis on transparency and trust as fundamental conditions of democratic governance [4]. This study proposes a scalable and ethically grounded communication model that applies public sector strategic communication experiences to foster trust, engagement, and transparency in emerging European public governance. Drawing on interdisciplinary literature from communication, marketing, and public administration, the proposed framework focuses on three key components: 1) audience segmentation, 2) storytelling, and 3) adaptive feedback 509 M. Gombar and M. Boban mechanisms. These elements are embedded within a sociopolitical context marked by low institutional trust and fragmented media ecologies. The main aim of this article is to propose a strategic communication model for the public sector that recalibrates military-derived tools for democra (...truncated)