Brokers, get your follicles ready: it’s time to enroll in the 2015 Movember Insurance Challenge of Canada (MICC).
The competition, part of the global Movember campaign, aims to draw attention to such male health concerns as prostate cancer, testicular cancer and mental health.
“I heard about Movember and it was just sort of perfect, because I love growing a moustache and now it’s for a great cause,” said Simon Hermant, account executive at
HUB International and founder of MICC.
MICC is open to any insurance-related organization in Canada, including brokerages, claims management firms and adjustment bureaus. Its first year boasted 50 participants, which has grown to 125 firms across the country.
Although November may seem far away, any organization interested in partaking should act now to organize a team. The leader or captain of that team can then enroll the company on the Movember Canada website, where each participant will create a profile page that showcases that individual’s photo, fundraising stats and personal background.
While the campaign’s primary goal is to raise awareness around preventative health, MICC has also been remarkably successful in raising money – in 2014 alone, such insurers as
Aviva Canada and
Guy Carpenter helped to donate more than $310,000.
Globally, the Movember community has raised over $600 million, which has had "an everlasting impact on the face of men's health." But in addition to these altruistic benefits, the competition also helps to foster employee bonding and increased office morale.
“Whether you look silly or not, it’s something you do together,” Hermant said. “In my office, we all grow moustaches and we may look silly, but we look silly together and it’s fine.”
Women also participate as “Mo Sistas,” an important role that’s needed to sustain the tradition, says Hermant.
“The biggest role of the Mo Sista is to be supportive of the moustache. My wife hates it and thinks I look stupid and ugly and ‘ugh,’ but she still backs me every year,” said Hermant. He encourages women to compliment moustache-donning men in November, since “it requires both a brotherhood and a sisterhood.”
Hermant enjoys distributing a link his profile to various family and friends, then he requests donations “like I would for a marathon, but a marathon that takes place on my lip.”
“I send out an email around mid-October, near Thanksgiving, and say that anyone who donates to me before November 7
th has a vote as to which kind of moustache I will grow,” he said. Past styles have included a handlebar moustache and the “Tom Selleck.”
Men can begin growing their moustaches anytime, but Harmont prefers that everyone shaves on November 1 and then avoid the practice again until the start of December. While the moustached look has not been a success for him, the campaign itself has.
“Movember encouraged me to go to the doctor for the first time in 12 years,” he said. “It made me realize that I was being stupid, and at 31 years old, I should probably get a check-up.”
Any interested participants are encouraged to sign up here:
https://ca.movember.com/get-involved/network-challenges
