Situation

• Toxic masculinity is on the rise, partly due to popular social media personalities like Andrew Tate who have built their platforms on outdated notions of manhood.

• Male depression and suicide rates are rising around the world, partly due to social stigmas around vulnerability.

• 1 in 2 men say they’ve never opened up to anyone.

• L’Oréal Men Expert has worked with Movember since 2017 to raise awareness and funds for causes related to men’s health.

Brief

• Come up to focus on male mental health crisis

• Redefine male strength as both physical and emotional

• Break the stigma around men’s mental health

Objectives

• Raise awareness on men’s mental health

• Connect with diverse communities

• Create a space where men feel comfortable showing vulnerability

• Train men on how to support peers struggling with their mental health

• Capitalize on local and online communities

Traditionally, masculinity has been associated with emotional restraint and physical strength. But as male suicide and depression rates continue to rise, we need more men to be comfortable with opening up.

So for L’Oréal Men Expert’s sixth year partnering with Movember, we started the conversation with Unboxing Masculinity: a global creative platform that redefines what it means to be strong that got Tom Stoltman, the man’s literal strongest man, to show the strength in vulnerability.

We identified stereotypically macho communities (sports, fitness, grooming, etc) and partnered with leading influencers from the category to target hypermasculine men worldwide, transforming typical “unboxing” videos into Masculinity Unboxing with our branded packages. We spread our message further with an emotional workout social media filter, a peer support chatbot, barbershop pop-ups and events, OOHs, and hero films.

By redefining male strength, Unboxing Masculinity showed the heaviest weight can be lifted by starting a conversation.

How do you redefine what it means to be strong? You get the World’s Strongest Men to do it. We partnered with Tom and Luke Stoltman, two of the World’s (literal) Strongest Men to open up about their mental health journeys and show the strength in vulnerability.

We created two more hero films with Jake Daniels, the UK’s only openly gay male pro football player, and Jordan Stephens, a rap prodigy, to share their own mental health struggles.

We shared their stories across social media and on targeted OOHs placed in high-traffic areas like Manchester Picadilly Gardens and various Undergrounds.

Then, we rebranded our products with names that encouraged vulnerability, sending them to “strong men” influencers with hypermasculine communities in the Masculinity Unbox PR kit. We hijacked trends, like unboxing and fitness content, with the Masculinity Unbox and emotional workout filter, using traditional social media codes to challenge cultural beliefs.

Implementation

- Product rebrands with names that encouraged vulnerability

- Masculinity Unboxing with influencers

- Emotional workout social media filter

- 3 hero awareness pieces starring Tom Stoltman (World’s Strongest Man) Jake Daniels (the UK’s only openly gay pro football player) and Jordan Stephens (a chart-topping rap prodigy).

- High traffic OOH with tailored messages

- Peer support chatbot

- Barbershop pop-ups and partnerships

- Internal Movember campaign (+4,000 employees trained)

Placement

- POS in +1,000 stores including Sainbury’s, Tesco, ASDA and Auchan

- High impact sites in Manchester Picadilly Gardens and various Undergrounds

- DOOH and media walls with tailored messages

- NFL Frankfurt in-stadium activation

Scale

- Campaign rolled out across Canada, France, the UK and Germany

- Promoted on Meta, Youtube, Instagram, Twitch, TikTok and Snapchat

England

- 6 national interviews in the UK including BBC Newsbeat, CBBC Newsround & BBC BBC Sounds

- 32 media interviews across national & regional broadcast and online/print coverage

- 27M+ audience reach across TV/radio

- 71M+ online reach across print and online

- L’Oréal Men Expert Barber Club experienced P12 growth in majority of accounts, including +59.9% in Sainsbury’s, +18.1% in Boots, and +13.8% in ASDA.

- +£20,000 raised in internal events

- +17.2% market share winning

- #1 men’s grooming brand

Germany

- +36% e-commerce sales

- 22M+ total reach

- 9.58 sec average play time for snap chat lens

- +18.5% market share winning vs PY

- #1 men’s grooming brand

France

- +4.3% value sales

- #1 men’s grooming brand

Total (incl. Germany, France, Canada and England)

- +122M reach

- +152M impressions

- +255 influencer emotional workouts

- +41M views