The DevComms Movember Campaign

What is Movember?

Aleksis: Movember is an annual event that takes place during the month of November, with its name being a portmanteau of "Moustache" and "November." The primary goal of Movember is to raise awareness about men's health issues, particularly prostate cancer, testicular cancer, and mental health. The movement encourages men, known as "Mo Bros," to grow Moustaches throughout November as a visible symbol to spark conversations about these often-overlooked health concerns.

While the Moustache is the iconic centrepiece of Movember, the movement has expanded over the years to include broader conversations about men's well-being. Movember encourages open discussions about mental health challenges that men may face and promotes overall well-being through initiatives such as physical activity and a healthy lifestyle.

By blending advocacy, fundraising, and a distinctive visual symbol, Movember has become a global phenomenon, engaging millions of people in discussions about men's health and contributing to significant advancements in research and support for those affected by prostate cancer, testicular cancer, and mental health issues.

Why did you decide to initiate Movember at DevComms?

Nicholas: DevComms’ Movember campaign has been organised by Aleksis, Lily and me, having first been suggested by Lily.

Having all recently graduated from university, and having taken part in similar campaigns before, we were all keen to bring our experiences across to the professional world and see what we were able to do with regards to raising awareness and funds for a great charity.

DevComms have given its employees a great deal of space to pursue initiatives such as Movember in order to add social value from the business. We would also suggest that DevComms has benefited from taking part in Movember through increased social cohesion, a sense of shared purpose and supporting staff wellbeing through promoting health awareness.

What did DevComms do to support Movember?

Lily: This year, DevComms decided to raise money for Movember in two ways. Firstly, the men of the company competitively grew their moustaches. We curated selfie updates each week and posted them to social media which fostered a jovial atmosphere within the company. With our initial fundraising target being set to £750, we surpassed our own expectations, raising a total of £2200!

In order to get the women more involved, we decided to do an additional movement challenge named ‘All Roads Lead to MOreton’ where we challenged the whole DevComms team to move a total of 350km within the month. Our initial goal was 350km and we ended up smashing it within our third week of November, moving a total of 585.6km!

Has it brought the company together?

Nicholas: Our Movember campaign has brought the company together in several ways; through fostering team spirit, increasing engagement between colleagues regarding non-work-related topics as well as an increased understanding of men’s mental and physical health issues.

The campaign has actively encouraged employees to participate, share their progress and engage in conversations about health in general. For those growing moustaches, the Mo has been an interesting topic of conversation and a great way to break the ice by talking about why you're growing one, through this we are able to lead on to more serious conversations about men’s health.

By undertaking a Movember campaign in DevComms, the business has been able to create a positive and inclusive environment which has led to increased social cohesion. Through participating in Movember actives, employees have gained a sense of shared purpose, which has added to our sense of community as well as made a positive impact beyond the workplace.

How many employees got involved?

Aleksis: Everyone at DevComms got stuck in and did their bit to help raise funds and awareness for the Movember Cause. It was great to see everyone come together and get involved.

Who grew the best mo?

Lily: After participating in a poll, the DevComms team voted in majority that our Head of South East, Paul Vicary, grew the most impressive moustache! However, we would also like to award our account manager, Dominic Stanford, with the greatest selfie angles and our Commercial Associate Director, Sam Oliver, with the best effort…

What lessons have we taken away from this experience that we will then bring to future fundraisers?

Lily: The biggest lesson I have walked away with after taking part in Movember is that anybody can make a difference. Our DevComms team had just as many women participating and raising money as men and ultimately, this resulted in the whole team getting closer and joining together for a fantastic cause. In the future, I will never doubt our company’s capabilities for participating in something so meaningful.

Aleksis: For the past five years I have been an enthusiastic participant in Movember. As I reflect on how this year's journey of growing moustaches and engaging in meaningful conversations, it has made me think about what I have learnt this year in particular. Movember is more than just a month-long event; it's a journey of connection, education, creativity, community, and consistency. I think the key takeaway for me this year is, that absolutely everyone has their own story that relates to the Movember cause, and it always helps bring us closer together with people we know and work with.

Nick: DevComms’ Movember campaign has shown to us that we can effectively mobilise the business in order to raise awareness and a significant amount of funds for an incredible cause. This means we will be able to move forward, especially within the Social Value Committee, with more experience and higher expectations with what else we could achieve. In this sense, the Movember campaign has been a big confidence boost; revealing the enthusiasm and determination of DevComms’ staff to get involved and do their bit to support some incredible causes.

Aleksis Butler, Lily Priscott, Nicholas Roberts