It’s November, and all around the world men are sporting facial hair. It’s the ultimate masculine accessory of the moment, but it’s also an image which men’s health charity Movember tapped into and promoted long ago for its annual fundraiser. This was before facial hair – moustaches to be precise – were considered cool.

Every year, in November, Movember turns moustaches into a symbol of support for its cause. But given their widespread popularity, this year they’ve adopted a different tack – convincing men to clean shave their bushy faces and start from scratch for November.

Do you think they’ve succeeded?

The story of how Movember began is quite well known now. Like any good tale, it started when two men walked into a bar. In 2003, two Australian friends were catching up over a beer in Melbourne and, as an inside joke, came up with the idea of getting all of their mates to take a nostalgic trip back to the 70s by growing devilishly suave moustaches.

But the following year, they turned their joke into what has become a hugely impressive fundraising and awareness campaign for prostate cancer. In their first campaign, the group of 30 friends rustled up £21,184, and in the next year £527,492. Now, the total amount of money raised stands at £346 million with people from 21 countries around the world regularly getting involved.

So how was an idea thought up during some idyll bar banter transformed into the biggest non-government fundraiser for prostate cancer in the world?

With a clever, funny and very social marketing strategy. In fact, they’ve created an entire brand experience that is built around shareable content .

By sending out daily moustachioed selfies, Movember practically takes over social media streams across the month. Just by searching #movember on Instagram alone you’re met with well over one million hirsute images. And last year over 1.5 million tweets were published that mentioned Movember.

A few tweets from #Movember2014

Every year, this social trend is bolstered in the lead up to – and during – November when the charity rolls out a brand new campaign aimed to educate, entertain and challenge the masses. Looking back at early examples, like ‘Are You Man Enough to be My Man’, it’s clear humour has been at the heart of their delivery. And still is.

This year, the campaign is . This digital-focused effort really homes in on the theme of community – long a feature of the charity’s work – and aims to get people supporting their local ‘mo growers’, their local heroes.

In fact, they’ve even coined the affectionate term ‘Mo Bro’, which is given to participants, as part of the strategy. The beauty of it? This encapsulates the community spirit of the campaign, creating a group of ‘cool kids’, which every man should want to (and hopefully will) be a part of. Females aren’t excluded either; those supporting the charity and the participating me are given the title ‘Mo Sista’.

It’s an extremely social campaign in that it gets people talking, taps into men’s competitive instincts, inspires shareable content, and works as a conversation starter.

The Movember website integrates a wide variety of highly shareable content

Online, Movember has created a community hub , which is bursting with attention-grabbing, highly shareable content. It allows people to interact with the brand, and much of the content is user-generated, furthering the community aspect.

Take a look at the website and you’ll instantly be hit with a plethora of content, ranging from short videos (such as Moustaches Make Food Taste Better, which explores the benefits of having a ‘flavour savour’); competitions (for example a short film contest with prizes being awarded at The Moscars in December); interviews with people considered to be a ‘Mo Bro Hero’; and styling/grooming tips. There’s also an app available and a range of events being held across the month to celebrate the Mo Community.

Movember is an entire brand experience. And it’s engaging, entertaining, inspiring and utterly shareable.

Even if you’re not taking part this year, it’s a great example of how effective community content hubs can be – a strategy Quad is very passionate about.

The question is, when you wade through the sea of facial hair, has their marketing strategy worked for you?

If you’re looking to create a community hub of your own, get in touch here .