One company asked me what my favorite social media campaign was on an interview, and I thought it was a great question, so I’m sharing it with you here (this campaign is bizarre balanced by genius).

Mark McIntyre, a testicular cancer survivor and hilarious, chubby do-gooder, was chosen to live at home in nothing but skivvies for 25 days while being broadcasted live 24/7 on the internet for the world to watch - all for the sake of raising awareness for testicular cancer.

This was the creative project of John St. Advertising in conjunction with Stanfield’s, an old school Canadian men’s underwear company who wanted to re-vamp their image to attract a new demographic of younger consumers. An internet phenomenon was born around the central idea “We Support Men” to raise awareness for testicular cancer via partnering with the Canadian Cancer Society. For every “Like” received on Facebook, Stanfield’s donated  $1 towards research - simple as that. By the end of the campaign, they had raised $52,000+ and Stanfield’s went from having 0 tracked mentions online to becoming the fastest growing Facebook branded page in Canada. Also worth mentioning is its 3 million minutes of live streaming, 1.3+ million page views, and 43 million media impressions (in just under a month).

The campaign endearingly shed light on an uncomfortable, yet realistic and common disease among men in an open, lighthearted, and authentic way. Mark’s average-joe body and goofy personality coupled with the credibility of having gone through testicular cancer himself made this campaign entertainingly buzz-worthy and contagiously real. Viewers got to interact with Mark via Twitter and Facebook chat, and vote on what his daily challenges would be (ie. go on a blind date, get a tattoo, fry bacon in a pan of hot oil). All you had to do in return was click “Like” on their Facebook page to show support.

3 things made this social media campaign successful:

1. It was perfectly aligned and focused from start to finish with what the brand was all about - “We Support Men” (yes literally and emotionally). It made sense to partner with a cause like testicular cancer (the most common cancer found in young men) to raise awareness in a way that resonated with Stanfield’s primary target audience. Everything they were doing made sense (in an odd way).

2. It was authentic and transparent - the two big things that social media is known for. The audience could watch Mark whenever they wanted, interact with him through Twitter and Facebook chat, and vote on his daily activities via Facbeook polls. The whole thing was highly interactive done through real people, real causes, and real-time marketing.

3. It was a 24/7 non-stop online community campaign - which is hard to pull off but the internet never sleeps, and this campaign didn’t either.

Plus who doesn’t like to watch a little reality TV while supporting a good cause?