The Mo-Hair Suit

POLITIX x Movember

Making a statement for men’s health.

The Brief: Millions of men die from preventable causes every year, such as prostate cancer, testicular cancer and suicide. Too often, because they believe it's 'weak' or 'unmanly' to speak up about their health.

Australian menswear label POLITIX believes in helping all men look good, feel good and do good. That's why they partner with Movember every year, raising funds and awareness to help change the face of men's health.

But the POLITIX x Movember campaign was in danger of receiving little media attention in 2021, due to COVID-19 dominating all health discourse. They needed a massive PR boost to be heard above the noise of the pandemic.

The Idea: We leaned into POLITIX and Movember's famous brand assets (tailored suits and mo's) to create a fashion statement even 'men of few words' would talk about: a Mo-Hair Suit—made from real moustaches.

We partnered with artist Pam Kleemann-Passi to pioneer this world-first facial hair fabric. Pam had sadly lost her husband to prostate cancer, and immediately gravitated towards this project as a tribute to him, and a reminder for other men to get checked before it's too late.

We collected individual mo-nations from men with a personal connection to the Movember cause, and partnered with Sustainable Salons to source hundreds of mo's from their network of barbers across Australia.

Inside, the lining was printed with conversation-starters from people whose lives had been touched by men's mental health and suicide, prostate cancer and testicular cancer—making it truly 'Worn to be Heard.'

Worn to be heard.

The Mo-Hair Suit was the battering ram for our PR-led campaign, designed to turn heads and attract earned media attention.

It launched on national TV, with an (unpaid) feature on the Today show. Host Karl Stefanovic wore the suit while interviewing Pam about POLITIX x Movember's message, and Anthony 'the Blue Wiggle' Field about his struggle with depression.

We leveraged the suit's eccentricity to secure $2.7M+ in earned media across TV, radio, editorial and social. The campaign reached 26M+ people, sparking conversations about men's health around the world.

Oh, and Guinness World Records called. Watch this space.