Press Release
Tuesday December 4, 2012

Movember Comes to a Spectacularly Hairy End for 2012

As we bid moustaches around the country a final farewell for another year, we congratulate over 15,000 Mo Bro’s and Mo Sista’s on their momentous Mo-growing and Mo-supporting efforts. Throughout the next few weeks, over $1.3 million dollars will have been raised for men’s health awareness programs in New Zealand alone.

Movember Country Manger for New Zealand, Robert Dunne said he was stoked with how well the campaign was received this year. “In 2012, registrations were up 15% which is fantastic. Now in its 7th year, Movember continues to attract more Kiwis than ever – initially those who might be involved just for a bit of fun, but who now really seeing the bigger picture of promoting key messages of men’s health awareness to mates, colleagues and family members.”

Throughout the month of Movember, New Zealand and Ireland were battling it out for Mo-domination, both vying to make the top five country list on the Global Summary leader-board. Ireland pipped us at the post, but with the 2012 campaign achieving more registrations than ever before, 2013 is boding well for us to dominate the Irish, in more than just rugby.

Mo Bro ambassadors were a stand out bunch of moustachioed males, led by Olympic Gold Medal winning athlete Eric Murray. All Black Brodie Retallick took his role of Mo Bro very seriously, organizing fellow All Blacks Richie McCaw, Beauden Barrett, Aaron Smith, Luke Romano, Julian Savea, Conrad Smith, Israel Dagg and Sam Whitelock to all grow a moustache whilst on the Northern Hemisphere Tour.

Black Caps Rob Nicol, Nathan McCullum and Kane Williamson and the Wellington Phoenix also grew throughout the month as did former All Black and Crusader Aaron Mauger, Jared Hoeata from the Otago Highlanders, extreme fisherman Matt Watson from the ITM Fishing Show, Emirates Team New Zealand Skipper Dean Barker and his father Ray Barker, and former Vodafone Warriors second-rower, now MaiFM Breakfast Host, Wairangi Koopu all adopted a hairy upper lip for 30 days.

Jay Reeve, afternoon host of ZM Radio and distinguished Willie Lose from Radio Live and Sky TV also joined the Mo crew in 2012 alongside the knowledgeable Jamie McKay from Radio Sport’s The Farming Show and Auckland DJ icon Murry Sweetpants from Ponsonby Radio.
New Zealand television presenter Brendan Pongia and sports broadcasting legend John McBeth adopted the hairy upper lip for the month alongside celebrity photographer Chris Sisarich and ‘Nothing Trivial’s Will Hall. Mo Sistas included sports star and Sky TV presenter Melodie Robinson as well as actress and TV Presenter Jo Holley.

Funds raised throughout the month of Movember go towards programs that focus on awareness and education, survivorship and research as run by the Cancer Society of New Zealand and the New Zealand Mental Health Foundation. Further details can be found by visiting http://nz.movember.com/about/.

The New Zealand Movember team continues to work closely with its partners to determine and establish the funded programs.

“We have a collaborative relationship with our partners, working together on opportunities to develop world-class research and survivorship strategies in line with long-term strategic goals,” said Dunne.

While the total tallies are still being finalised, so far this year Movember has raised over $138 million globally, with a full breakdown of the international donations available online at http://nz.movember.com/leaderboards/.

Since 2003, Movember has become an iconic worldwide movement, with official Mo campaigns running successfully all around the world. This year 21 countries were officially registered as Mo-growing countries, including our mates across the ditch in Australia, the UK, Ireland, the US, Canada, South Africa, Hong Kong, France, Spain, and of course, New Zealand.

This global growth has allowed Movember to build its Global Action Plan (GAP), an initiative of which the Foundation is incredibly proud, and one that New Zealand takes a leading role in.

“We’re in a position today where we are truly changing the face of men’s health through the programs we fund and the awareness being raised,” said Dunne. “This wouldn't be possible without the continued support we receive and we were blown away yet again by the level of commitment shown by our Mo Bro’s and Mo Sistas during this year’s campaign” he said.

Before 2012 is over, attention is already turning to the 2013 campaign for the New Zealand Movember team. “We are looking to really raise the bar next year” he said. “Expect bigger, better and bolder – and not just in terms of the moustaches”.

For everyone wishing to be kept up to date with Mo news in the meantime, check out the news room at Movember.com, and follow Movember on Facebook and Twitter.

(Ends)

Movember New Zealand
Thursday November 1st – Friday November 30th.
www.movember.com

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