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

Think of a guy in your life. Imagine he’s suffering from some sort of health issue. Did he take care of it straight away? Did he immediately call a doctor? Or, we’re guessing, he probably sat around and waited…. If he ever acted on it at all. 

We learned that this story is unfortunately true for the majority of men. We learned 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. 

This insight into men’s instinctive tendencies regarding their health, evoked our strategy. Because 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.

These statistics gave us a clear objective: raising funds and spreading awareness for men’s health issues including mental health and suicide prevention, as well as prostate cancer and testicular cancer. Based on the insight, the strategy was formed to stay away from the classic scare tactics used in the category, and get men engaged with the serious topics with a lighthearted and humorous campaign.

Besides crushing business KPIs, the strategy ensured positive societal impact regarding serious health issues. 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. We saw 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. In the current campaign, Philips and Movember took it upon themselves to start this conversation and offered a lighthearted way to engage with the topics at hand.

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. Of course during a timeframe in which men from the US and Canadian markets were most likely to join on social media.

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 found 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 information about the issues involved.

The ideation process began 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. The lighthearted and humorous tone ensured high audience engagement, whereas scare tactics would have resulted in men clicking our ads away.

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 your Mo”. The solution to the problem is always ‘right under your nose’ (*and a moustache magically appears*).”

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 went live on Instagram and Facebook to engage in conversation, answer 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 as well as being 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 we will never truly measure the effect 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 the unseen success of awareness being raised, father-son conversations being had, doctor visits being made, and balls being checked.