The Leukaemia Foundation and OMD Aus continue partnership for World’s Greatest Shave

OMD Australia’s partnership with the Leukaemia Foundation is continuing for a second year to support the World’s Greatest Shave.

The announcement:

OMD Australia continues its partnership with Leukaemia Foundation for a second year to support their largest annual event, World’s Greatest Shave. This event was created to inspire all Australians to step up and shave, cut or colour their hair in support of those living with blood cancer.

This year, Leukaemia Foundation turned the campaign on its head, shifting away from their famous upside-down chins and opting for a dramatic creative overhaul with new tagline, ‘That’s Bloody Beautiful’.

Monique Cerreto, head of communication and media at Leukaemia Foundation, says; “Working with OMD has not only helped elevate and amplify our new brand campaign and tagline nationally, but connected the dots so beautifully between the way Australians consume media, and what will inspire them to take that next step of signing up. Put simply, it’s bloody beautiful”.

The new brand direction is aimed at encouraging communities to come together and support the cause, driving participation and donations through power in numbers – all while helping to make the world less lonely, scary and difficult for blood cancer patients.

Zeroing in on the campaign’s call-to-arms brief, OMD assembled multiple media outlets and, in a media first, united two rival radio networks Nova Entertainment and ARN for Leukaemia Foundation to come together and promote the campaign on air, and through a Bondi Beach activation led by OMD Create, the agency’s creative content division, and hosted by Smallzy and Mitch Churi.

Laura Henry, head of OMD Create Brisbane, adds; “It’s bloody beautiful to see two of the most unlikely allies bury the hatchet and put their differences aside for the greater good. This is such a special campaign and we’re thrilled to be able to bring it to life in a new and distinctive way this year. Every day, 53 Australians will hear the words ‘you have blood cancer’, so we are passionate about bringing attention to this important cause. The campaign is a great display of OMD’s diversified media capabilities in action and it’s wonderful to work with a client who is willing to do things differently to make a positive impact”.

OMD’s media approach has taken this year’s World’s Greatest Shave campaign to new heights, including the rollout of custom bar coasters delivered to popular venues and nightclubs with QR codes to sign up, gym screen media, dynamic out-of-home countdowns, a TikTok influencer campaign, and Today Show integration, including a weather cross with former NRL football star Sam Thaiday.

Also new to the media mix is oOh!media’s ‘barber shop’ bus shelters, located across Australia’s Eastern Seaboard, providing more than just a place to wait for the bus, but a symbol of hope, support and community coming together to fight against blood cancer.

Chris Tanti, Leukaemia Foundation’s CEO, says; “The campaign celebrates the everyday heroes in our community doing bloody beautiful acts of shaving, cutting, colouring or donating. It is a clever play on words and nod to Aussie colloquialism, but it also creates a mutual connection and shared goal between those living with blood cancer and our incredible participants”.

As an agency, OMD expanded on their inaugural 2023 fundraising efforts and hosted World’s Greatest Shave events in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney offices. OMDers and media partners from ARN, Nova Entertainment and oOh!media joined forces to shave, cut or colour their hair and cheer on 18 brave participants. Together, they surpassed last year’s total to raise $44,394.60 for Leukaemia Foundation.

Source: OMD