The Movember Foundation was suffering from low participation rates and wanted to create a deeper connection with the British public. They partnered with Sky Sports on a variety of innovative content based ideas across multiple platforms, uniting sporting legends to pull together for one cause. As a result, the charity saw a 16% uplift in fundraising income and a 45% increase in understanding of the causes behind Movember.
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Increase in Fundraising and negative growth was arrested
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New signups to Movember (highest to date)
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Increase in understanding about the causes behind Movember
Challenge
The Movember Foundation is a charity that addresses health issues faced by men, namely prostate cancer, testicular cancer and mental health. In recent years, whilst awareness of Movember was high, understanding of the charity’s causes was low, impacting on participation rates and donations. They needed to create a deeper connection with the British public, to make Movember mean something more than just the moustache, and give it back its Mojo. The challenge was all the greater with a budget that equated to less than 0.2% of the charity sector’s annual spend.
Insight
To drive mass participation, the campaign needed to reach a mass male audience, and there was no better partner than Sky Sports. With unrivalled scale across linear, VoD, Mobile, Digital, the partnership could reach millions of males across the UK. Furthermore, through the vast array of sporting talent across Sky Sports, the partnership could offer the first collaboration between rugby and football legends, coming together for one cause.
Idea
The partnership was built around three phases to meet the three key objectives –
Talk the difference. Getting men to open up and talk about the issues.
See the difference. Showing men the good causes supported by the foundation
Be the difference. Encouraging and celebrating participation and donation
The campaign idea was born. #FOMO(VEMBER) – based on the idea that, although many men fear speaking out about certain health issues, the fear of missing out was much greater. It was designed as a rallying cry to encourage men across the UK to take part in Movember, to raise awareness of its causes and to start conversations with their friends and loved ones.
Activation
The partnership started by recruiting Sky Sports Rugby and Football legends; Paul Merson, Max Rushden, Scott Quinnell, Sean Fitzpatrick and Alex Payne as on-screen “Mo Bros”. In a united approach, all talent discussed their defining sporting moments along with pertinent male issues, creating a unique TV ad to raise awareness amongst the Sky audience and highlight key campaign messages.
This was followed by a unique red button takeover, where the button fashioned a moustache on screen, and a “Find Out Mo” call to action message that directed viewers to the dedicated “Bro’s with Mo’s” VoD tile on the Sky homepage.
The VoD tile ran for the month of November in primary position on the Sky Programming Homepage, and featured 24 boxsets and films that showcased male stars with moustchaes across hero content such as True Detective and Top Gun. The tile could be accessed widely via the red button, Sky Go or Sky+/Sky Q. For part of the month, it had permanent placement on the My Q and Sky Go homepage across millions of Sky homes in the UK.
On top of this activity, Sky acquired a three part cotent series called “Man Up”. An Australian show that highlighted issues around masculinity and male suicide and also people’s unwillingness to talk about these issues. The specially acquired series was broadcast across Sky Sports and was also available to download on demand, driving viewing across multiple platforms and audiences.
Taking the partnership one step further, a special edition of “The Debate Show” aired on Sky Sports Premier Legaue Channel, highlighting the story behind mental health and Movember. Hosted by Kelly Cates, with special guests Paul Merson, Ian Wright and Chris Kirkland, the sporting legends talked openly about their personal battles with mental health in a unique editorially defining moment, landing Movember’s messaging in the hearts of audiences across the UK.
Wrapping things up, the partnership with Sky extended to its digital content producer, Diagonal View, and other media partners such as News UK, and Talk Sport. Activity on these channels included; social media promotion, homepage takeovers across digital platforms, specially created radio shows and video content featuring Peter Andre and Shane Ritchie discussing their personal experiences and commitment to Movember.
Lionsgate Films
