5 digital marketing tactics discovered whilst growing a moustache

Author: Gavin Parkinson Marketing Manager at Hitch Marketing

One man and his increasingly hairy upper lip take a journey of discovery, to find out how Movember adopt a variety of digital tactics to entice and retain their Mo Bros.

As a marketing manager at Hitch, a socially conscious behaviour change agency, I deliver a wide range of projects for charities big and small. I’m always keen to learn from inspiring campaigns and adopt approaches to improve outcomes for clients. One such opportunity recently revealed itself whilst enjoying a meal at a Chinese restaurant. I opened a fortune cookie to discover one word on the slip of paper inside: Moustache. There was not a moment’s hesitation, it was time to grow a hairy upper lip for Movember and discover how the Movember Foundation fared when it came to enticing and engaging men to support their cause, whilst changing their appearance for a whole month!

It wasn’t my first Mo, I had taken part in Movember in 2012. At that time, every other man’s face adorned a Walrus or a Handlebar. Men proudly promenaded the streets, adorning their new hairy companions, and Facebook was awash with Mo Bro’s. More recently, whilst Movember is a well established and recognised brand, my personal encounters with Mo Bro’s have been increasingly infrequent.  I was counting on the Movember Foundation to support and encourage me and make it as easy as possible to make it through to 1 December adorning my hairy upper lip, raising money for good causes along the way.

I took the first step and visited the Movember website to find out what was new since I last participated. The experience was pretty good overall. To start with I was presented with an advert for a mobile App (which I’ll cover later). Important options to donate, join and search were all really visible. The site included lots of imagery of men (and women) of all ages, to appeal to all potential Mo Bros. I quickly identified a theme for the challenge too (besides growing facial hair), which was Moving - physical activity.

Goal setting is a great tactic and one that we regularly use at Hitch. The website connected to my personal activity tracker, to record my daily steps against my goal. The website missed some additional opportunities to encourage participation. Whilst the campaign offers a really simple proposition: Stop Men Dying Young, I struggled to learn more, such as how donations are spent or how Movember has made a difference to date. Case studies from men who had previously taken part or planning to take part would have offered a chance for tempted participants to get a feel for what’s involved in Movember, connect with like minded souls and remove barriers.

I tried my trusty long standing and over-used username and password and was delighted to discover that Movember remembered me from 2012! After re-engaging with my Movember account, I received an initial email from Movember, welcoming me back. I loved this personal touch, which helped me to reconnect with the charity and further encouraged me to take part. The emails adopted other powerful personalisation tactics, including a to do list feature acknowledging that I had set a fundraising target but was yet to upload any hairy selfies. The emails also included those all important subscription preferences. This will be even more important when GDPR comes into force in 2018, changing the way us marketeers obtain and store customer data.

Follow up emails continued to be useful and relevant, such as moustache styling tips after 7 days, tailored personal profile reminders that encouraged me to share my experience on social media, and offers to send me a campaign pack by post. Emails were led with imagery of men around my age, so presumably the emails could be programmed to show photos that would match participant profiles and resonate with readers.

The IOS mobile App is a simple, functional affair with facilities to take and store selfies and add captions to photos. Most importantly, the App allowed me to easily obtain links to my profile, to share on social media and encourage my friends to support me and donate. Humorous images of Mo Bros and their ridiculous upper lips are at the heart of the campaign. The Mo Tracker feature made it easy to save selfies to the App and regularly share them through my Facebook. The App also allowed me to save my physical activity, for my interested supporters to view.

After three weeks of Movember I have fallen in love with my beautiful Mo and I’m more than halfway towards my Moving goal! It’s also proved to be a valuable opportunity to pick up some top tips for enticing and retaining in the charity sector. For me, Movember’s personalisation is a real winner. They made the most of the limited data provided to welcome me back, encourage me to participate and get more involved. They worked hard to make it as easy as possible for me to share my experience and encourage friends to support me and donate. If Movember are to continue to improve the experience, they might consider providing more of a ‘what happens next?’ narrative, so provide assurances that donations go to good causes. This narrative could also be simplified, for Mo Bros to share with friends to further incentivise donations.