Hi judges, the answer to good men’s health is right under your nose!

Whilst Philips and Movember both operate on a global scale, for the ‘Right Under Your Nose’ campaign it was most important to join forces and create traction in the US and Canadian markets. 

Here are the scary facts. In the US and Canada, prostate cancer is the second most common cancer in men; testicular cancer is the most common cancer in men aged 15-45; and men die by suicide almost 4 times more than women. At Philips, we couldn’t bear to watch this from the sidelines. We had to act, but we couldn’t tackle them on our own. So, in partnership with Movember we created awareness for these serious topics by focusing on being present locally and starting the conversation in a lighthearted way.

Besides crushing business KPI’s, Philips and Movember’s collaboration raised awareness for men’s health issues and made the world a better place by doing so. That is where the real success of the ‘Right Under Your Nose’ campaign lies.

We created a campaign for Philips and Movember that motivated men to stay healthy in all areas of life by tackling the health issues that are right under their noses – emphasising social connection, having an open dialogue about physical and mental health, and normalising mental health support. In the campaign it was Philips’ role to start the conversation and Movember and Dr. Jake Taylor we partnered with, to be there to engage in conversations locally.

Furthermore, Philips and Movember partnered with Dr. Jake Taylor to create a more serious counterpart. Dr. Jake Taylor functioned as a credible conversation partner in the dialogue where Philips was just there to open it up in a lighthearted way. On Instagram and Facebook live, Dr. Taylor invited different specialists to discuss men’s health topics while people could interact and ask questions, adding the needed credibility to a campaign addressing such serious issues.

Each November, Movember encourages men and women around the world to come together to grow, move, host or Mo their own way, raising funds and spreading awareness for men’s health issues including mental health and suicide prevention, prostate cancer and testicular cancer.

Rooted in its purpose to improve people’s health and well-being through meaningful innovation, Philips partnered up with Movember, the leading global charity changing the face of men’s health in Canada and the US. 

To promote this partnership for the first time, we wanted to create a widespread, long-lasting impact with a campaign motivating men to stay healthy in all areas of life. Our primary objective was to raise funds towards key Movember research projects by encouraging men to participate in Movember. We wanted to do so in a distinctive way, with credibility, and Philips’ hero shaving product – the OneBlade. 

We came up with a fitting strategy to connect all the dots, by creating a quirky and lighthearted conversation starter of a campaign, which stayed away from the classic scare tactics used in the category. The Movember website and Dr. Jake Taylor, were the fitting counterparts to the lighthearted conversation starter, functioning as local touchpoints and adding credibility to the dialogue concerning such serious issues. With this two-folded strategy Philips and its hero product – the OneBlade – respected their place as a conversation starter, leaving space for Movember and Dr. Taylor to provide in-depth and credible information about the issues involved.

The ideation process started with the shocking realisation that, in the US and Canada, prostate cancer is the second most common cancer in men; testicular cancer is the most common cancer in men aged 15-45; and men die by suicide almost 4 times more than women. These are alarming statistics.

The insight was that those most at risk from men’s health issues, are also the least likely to do something about it and get engaged with certain topics. Even when it’s all under their noses.

That is Philips’ role in their lives, after all: to take care of the literal moustaches under guys’ noses. So we thought, why not extend our role into taking care of the internal problems under their noses too? 

It’s time we make men realise that and take action for their health. 

We broke through the apathy of guys at risk of health issues, by pointing out the solution was right under their nose. It’s obvious: acknowledge the problem and talk to someone. 

We explained this in the most obvious way possible, but always with a quirky, lighthearted humour. It was a tongue-in-cheek way to provoke men into action, breaking the category conventions of fear mongering advertising that tried to scare men into action. 

And we did this in a way authentically linked to Philips OneBlade: the best shaving tool for men to stylishly look after the moustache they grow for Movember.

But how should Philips convey the in-depth information about these health issues? They shouldn’t. This is where the Movember website and Dr. Taylor were given the space to do what they do best, educate and converse.

We put a spotlight on things that should be obvious topics of conversation but aren’t talked about enough. From a man hanging upside down checking his balls to two friends in a doctor’s waiting room discussing changes to their bodies, two bowling alley buddies analysing cancer statistics or even a heartfelt father-son conversation – our campaign touched men where it matters the most and asked them to “care for your health like you do for you Mo”. The solution to the problem is always ‘right under your nose’ (*and a moustache magically appears*).”

Our tongue-in-cheek YouTube pre-rolls, bumper ads, carousels, instant experiences and all campaign content engaged, enticed and provoked men all over social and digital in the US and Canada (heck, we even put a real doctor on national TV to give health advice).

We launched across social channels with teasers for the wider campaign on October 10th, World Mental Health day. The teaser asked men to get ready for Movember, starting on November 1st, where new content was released, urging men to join the cause, raise their Mos and donate.

Across all the social channels, the Movember website was linked to convey more in-depth information about the addressed health issues. Dr. Taylor also went live on Instagram and Facebook to engage in conversations with experts in health, give answers to pressing questions, and spread in-depth information in a credible manner.

Our campaign reached a lot of men in the US and Canada. The combination of digital, social, TV and PR efforts resulted in 525M+ impressions with 280.000+ comments, shares and reactions. 
The Philips Movember page and Movember.com saw a staggering unique number of visitors – 4.4M – during the period of the campaign. But on top of it all: 32M (dollars) were raised during the month of November 2021, with an impressive 117,518.000 new Mo registrations throughout the US and Canada.

The campaign was the pick of the day for AdAge and ad of the month for The Drum. But more importantly, local US & Canadian newspapers, business and beauty publications talked about the campaign and highlighted the need for men to start taking action for their health – helping us fulfil the real objective of raising awareness and funds for key Movember research. 
 
We are extremely happy with the impact numbers and to be quoted by news shows and recognised by our audience on social media. However, the unmeasurable impact which remains unseen, might just be more important. Especially with regard to creating local awareness. We hoped to be a conversation starter and create a butterfly effect of which the effects we’ll never truly measure in its entirety.

But with the high number of impressions, comments, website visitors, dollars raised and registrations surrounding Philips x Movember, we are confident in saying that our strategy contributed to awareness being raised, father-son conversations being had, doctor visits being made, and balls being checked.