Alumni Profile: Tom Aiello '02

Tom Aiello '02 sees opportunity in 'Band of Brothers'
Web-based affinity group helps advertisers connect with military

By Kari Richardson

As a 2002 Kellogg School graduate, Tom Aiello knows firsthand how close-knit, lifelong relationships form when team members rely on one another to thrive under challenging circumstances. Now he draws on his Kellogg skills to help connect another tightly bonded group: people who have served in the U.S. military.

As vice president of Military Advantage, a position he has held for the past year, Aiello oversees part of a Web-based affinity group called Military.com, dedicated to the needs of military personnel, veterans and military spouses. With a mouse-click, servicemen and women can access military news, blogs specific to their branch of service, pay schedules and discounts from more than 700 companies.

The portal also allows them to stay connected to friends they have made during their service. Military.com, a division of Monster Worldwide, provides career support for the 250,000 veterans who leave the military each year and some 14 million vets currently in the work force. 

"There aren't a lot of media vehicles to reach this group," Aiello notes, adding that travel-heavy schedules, atypical work hours, frequent relocations and scattered geography make it difficult to reach troops through print or television. Technology has changed that, he says, leading Military.com to "grow like wildfire," expanding from 5.5 million to some 7 million members in the last year.

Advertisers take note. Numbering about 30 million active members and veterans, the military community, or as Aiello likes to call them, the "Band of Brothers," represents a growing power in the marketplace. "They have strong shared experiences," Aiello says. "They even have their own language. But while their experiences are somewhat homogenous, they are an incredibly diverse group of people."

Advertisers such as Cingular, Jeep, Electronic Arts, Wells Fargo and Nabisco have turned to Military.com to reach this elusive audience. More than 700 companies offer discounts, reaching out to a large, loyal market with more than $2 trillion in annual consumer purchasing power, according to Aiello.

Though recruitment information is included on Military.com, Aiello says the site has no stake in whether or not visitors enlist and that it takes pains to preserve credibility by offering an "Insider's Guide to Joining" developed by people who have served. The site steers clear of political commentary, instead striving to provide "even-keeled facts in a volatile climate," he says.

"The site is about people, not politics," he adds. "We inform, empower and connect the community."

A graduate of the U.S. Military Academy who served as a captain in the armored cavalry, Aiello finds himself in a unique position to help military members and veterans. He worked on the U.S. Army account in his previous position as a vice president with Leo Burnett advertising agency in Chicago, helping to develop the award-winning "Army of One" campaign.

Aiello says his Kellogg School experience left him well-prepared for future endeavors: "West Point taught me leadership. Leo Burnett gave me sharp marketing skills. The Kellogg School helped me put it all together."

Part of his job now includes oversight of veteran career services, helping to match employers with some of the hundreds of thousands of former military who seek positions each year after leaving the service. Hiring a vet sounds like an employer's dream when Aiello starts ticking off some of the group's attributes: They're mature problem solvers with perspective who make good team players. 

But veterans, he notes, must sometimes overcome stereotypes about what sort of employee they would make. "Employers picture the media's image of a Marine Corps sergeant," he says, an image that some may think too inflexible for a collaborative professional context.

For Aiello, the work of helping military and vets achieve their potential continues. "I have a ton of passion for what I do," he says. "I know the incredible amount of success veterans can achieve."