Movember , How a Charity is ruling Social Media?

For men, November is placed under the sign of the mustache. Since 2003, the Movember campaign encourage men to grow a mustache during the month of November, to raise awareness and money for men health problem, particularly prostate cancer (a decease that only affects men indeed). Last years, Movember the campaign was followed in 21 countries all over the world, and managed to raise more than 147 million dollars. This year the movement is getting bigger, because of a very clever and efficient use of social media. Let's see what's the recipe for Movember's success on social media.

The Movember movement first strength is the fact that it has social media as its mainstays, meaning that it is a social movement to start with. The idea is for anybody who embraces the movement to grow a mustache, and there is nothing more social than a common "activity" or attribute. It is a remastered version of the tribal marketing from the beginning of the millennium, but applied to a wider community for a good cause. The founders of this movement understood and  integrated social media in their model. For example on the official website www.movember.com ,  a part of this website is dedicated to the "Mo" community, and people can share pictures of their mustache, the different ideas they had etc...

But the movement has other strengths that make it a success on social media. As we know being on social media doesn't make you a hit, you need branding , content and engagement. The branding is brilliant in the sense that it is simple. The logo of the mustache provides a very strong identity, easily identifiable and by its stereotypical aspect (it is the image image of the mustache anyone thinks about when they think about mustache) suggests a humorous based message. The content is created by the followers themselves, by sharing pictures of their mustache or stories about men diseases on social media. They even became ambassador of the cause by spreading the word to their friend and family, the whole idea being to show support for a good cause. It is easy to engage people in this movement because the only thing they have to do to be a part of it is not shaving their mustache. It is becoming a trend and men are looking forward to November.

This trend brought some strategic corporate partnerships because big brands dedicated to men like Gillette are supporting the cause. It bring these brand an exceptional exposure in their target audience at a strategic moment before Christmas. A partnership with a charity is always a good way to promote a brand because it sends a good message, and at the same time it helps the cause. It bring to the charity the exposure and the audience of the brands, which goes in the sense of raising awareness and funds for men health. Some celebrities are even growing a mustache to spread the word  The video below is the ad from Tom's shoes to show its support to the cause:

To conclude, Movember gives us a Social Media Marketing lesson. This movement uses all the right keys available on social media to raise awareness and they do it well. Content, engagement,virality, everything is the pot to get a really good campaign. The recipe is simple, the execution needs the little sparkle of cleverness to lit the fire. I'm due to shave today, but I think I will keep the mustache. Take it EZ.

Here are some example of brands helping Movember to grow: