What have we been doing: the challenge and the videos
This Movember we have been working as a team to raise money for men’s mental health. As a company, we decided to grow our moustaches and walk 60km or the 60 men we lose to suicide every hour.
40km of this was moved independently and the final 20km we walked as a team over the Malverns. We have been blown away by the generosity of everyone who has donated and shared our campaign. Not only is this a really important cause and one that is super close to all of our hearts but we’ve had a lot of fun doing it. We have grown some pretty impressive moustaches and walked a collective 300 km in total!
We didn’t just want to walk the 60km and log it, we wanted to add some Bexmedia sparkle to the campaign and that meant a plan. The team started by brainstorming how we were going to document our fundraising journey. Naturally, video seemed like the obvious choice. Helmed by Alex, we each filmed a series of short clips showcasing the moustache growth, charities Movember supports, or thanking the many people who kindly donated. These videos aimed to showcase our personalities and the different ways we were all contributing. We are lucky enough to work in the beautiful Gloucestershire countryside and lunchtime walks come rain or shine helped us rack up some kilometers. Josh decided he wanted to run the entire independent 40km (stay tuned for whether or not this was an error of judgment) and we managed to document some, albeit at times soggy, content. All of this is up over on our socials (@bexmedia) if you missed it.
How much have we raised?
We had a chat about setting a financial goal and decided against it, we just wanted to see how far our campaigning and network could get us. With a team of 5 people, a variety of freelancers, and countless lovely clients we were sure that we would be able to raise a good amount, and boy did we raise a good amount.
Our final figure was £2,590!
We are so happy with the amount we raised and that we were able to do our bit to help support and raise awareness for men’s mental health. Knowing that we have contributed to Movember’s amazing efforts has been a really rewarding experience and one we have all loved being a part of.
ManUp Gloucestershire
As part of our fundraising campaign, we each chose a charity that Movember supports and talked a little about what they do and how they use the donations. Whilst this was great we realised that with all of our video skills and equipment, there was more that could be done. We needed to look more locally. We reached out to ManUp Gloucestershire, a men’s mental health group within the GL3 Community Hub Charity whose aim is to provide a safe space for men to come together and talk about how they are feeling. It is open to any men who have experienced mental health challenges to share their stories, inspire others or simply get out of the house and chat with like-minded people. We produced a short film with Daniel Cox to explain what ManUp Gloucestershire is and highlight the importance of men finding a support network when they are struggling.
To find out more about ManUp Gloucestershire please visit manupglos.org.uk
Some messages from the team
“This has been the first time Bex has done a proper charity effort and we wanted to really think about how to use our skills and knowledge to the best effect. That was the challenge. Knowing we had various touch points with our audience and producing content that sat well on all platforms. It’s been a great opportunity to reconnect with people as well, having conversations around the subject of male mental health. It’s been good to share some problems and get other people’s views on how they deal with them. It’s been so good to see how the Bex team has got behind this as well and that’s clearly shown in all the donations received from everyone. One of the “left of field” ideas has meant we have shone a brighter light on a local charity as well and I’m personally hopeful that our help with them will help them with their efforts too.”
– Craig Hellen
“Growing a moustache for the second time in my life was a challenge in and of itself. The last time I grew one, I got to day four before caving and returning to my clean-shaven face. The Movember challenge was a great reason to keep it this time. It’s been a wonderful conversation starter for this whole project and collectively our moustaches have raised a lot of money”.
– Alex Camper
“Wow, it’s been amazing to see the entire team come together for such a great cause! It’s been heartwarming to watch everyone grow their moustaches and complete the 60km challenge with such enthusiasm, come rain or shine. The support we’ve received from donations towards the Movember charities has been incredible! I hope it inspires others to join in and help out in any way they can”.
– Tom Zandt-Valentine
“The Movember campaign has been a fantastic team effort which has been extremely effective in raising awareness and so many donations. In addition to this, I have grown a tremendous moustache and have learnt that running isn’t as easy as it used to be. The 40k running total has been a great challenge and one that I have been determined to complete. The team should be super proud of everything it has achieved with this Movember campaign”.
– Josh Cook
“Despite struggling (slightly) to grow a moustache quite as well as the boys, this experience has been a super fun way of raising money and starting conversations around an incredibly significant cause. I think the collective excitement when we got a team donation was a great catalyst for everyone going out to try and get more donations. All in all a great experience for a great cause – excited for who we decide to support next year.”
– Lexy Condick
Written by Lexy Condick