The first day of December marks both the start of summer and time for Movember participants to shave off their moustaches, much to the delight of many high schools after a campaign by The Dentsu Aegis Network targeted schools with clean shave rules.
Called ‘Right to Grow’, the Movember campaign aims to tackle New Zealand’s rate of male youth suicide by starting a conversation about men’s health. This year, Barnes, Catmur & Friends Dentsu, Carat, MKTG and Amnet decided to bring in teenage males by extending the campaign to high schools.
It centres around an open letter distributed directly to 178 schools, asking principals to relax the clean shave rules for November. “You can give them the chance to grow, not just a moustache, but a healthy mindset,” it reads.
Creative director Mick Stalker says the creative tapped into a rights issue for young men.
“It doesn’t seem fair that those most at risk are not allowed to participate in Movember. Getting these guys to talk about their issues when they’re young, gives us the best chance of real change.”
The letter was distributed with a poster and, after being sent to schools, copies of the letter were then shared with nationwide news media while a targeted Facebook campaign drove the conversation online.
Full page press ads then appeared in all major newspapers, featuring the letter on a principal’s desk and an invitation to the public to have their say. This was all supported by nationwide OOH and digital media campaign featuring the 2017 global Movember brand creative.
Dents Aegis Network head of strategy Jacquie Bennett describes Movember as her passion project as mental health is a serious issue in New Zealand and it is too often ignored.
“Every year we search for new ways to generate talk ability for Movember, which has become increasingly challenging as the charity sector is so cluttered now.”
Initial results indicate the ‘Right to Grow’ campaign has been successful in generating over 30 news hits, including several television and radio impressions. Registrations are up with a solid 25 percent increase in 15- to 19-year-old participants, and a significant 40 percent year on year increase in donations has been achieved to date.
The entire campaign was delivered as a pro bono initiative for the Movember Foundation and all media placement was donated by media owners free of charge.
Credits:
Ament
BC&F Dentsu
Carat
Dentsu Aegis Network
MKTG
