As Movember’s Senior Copywriter from 2019–2021, I headed up the global charity’s distinctive tone of voice – the tone of voice that saw Movember dubbed ‘the bad boys of the charity world’ when the organisation first burst into NFP territory 18 years ago.
Maintaining a tone that is consistent and sincere, youthful and respectful, fresh and bold – it’s an ever-evolving balance, and something that required daily consideration of the nuances of tone and language across major global markets including Australia, the UK, Canada and the US.
Working in close partnership with Movember’s Senior Designer, I relished creative concepting opportunities for global campaigns, innovative men’s health projects and Movember’s health promotion sub-brands.
I continue to work with Movember on a freelance basis.
Seeing my concept (a collaboration with our Senior Designer) and copy up in lights in New York’s Times Square was pretty damn awesome. 2020’s GivingTuesdayNow moment aimed to encourage people (in the guts of the globe’s first wave of pandemic lockdowns) to give time, assistance or something else to others (as opposed to donating money).
2020 was wild, that’s news to no one. We needed to make sure Movember kicked off with a mega bang, drawing as many people in as possible to shake off the year’s shittiness, have some fun and do some good. Lockdown Shave Down Get Down was our campaign to create a global moment, encouraging everyone to shave off their lockdown looks, get around Movember, and have a damn good time. Complemented by a killer jingle and TikTok challenge, it was a huge success.
Cast your mind back to early pandemic. The weirdest times on record when lockdown and WFH were still fresh. We were hard at work at Movember showing up for our community. We pulled together a campaign, the focus of which needed to encourage connection, but in a way that didn’t sound or feel like what every other brand across the globe was saying and doing.