It’s a ballsy endeavour, to say the least.
A Canadian man is attempting to hitchhike across the country—clad only in Stanfield’s underwear emblazoned with a Facebook “like” button—in 21 days to raise $20,000 for testicular cancer research.
Developed by Toronto agency John St. for the Canadian underwear brand Stanfield’s, “The Gitchhiker” campaign—which formally launches on Wednesday—is being supported by a dedicated website that enables people to follow a testicular cancer survivor named Mark McIntyre as he thumbs his way from Vancouver to Stanfield’s headquarters in Truro, NS.
Along the way, McIntyre will engage in activities including swimming with polar bears. Consumers are also being urged to volunteer to give McIntyre a ride in exchange for a pair of free Stanfield’s underwear (he had received 25 offers at press time), or click a Facebook button that gives him a 1km ride in the “Gitchmobile” accompanying him on the 7,000-kilometre journey. McIntyre will also update his progress via Twitter at @gitchhiker.
When McIntyre successfully completes the trek, Stanfield president Jon Stanfield will present a $20,000 cheque to the Canadian Cancer Society for below-the-waist cancer research.
John St. co-creative director Angus Tucker said Stanfield’s is a “smaller, scrappier” brand in a category populated by the likes of Calvin Klein, Fruit of the Loom and Joe Boxer, which means it has to work harder to create awareness.
“They’re fully behind these types of programs,” said Tucker. “Partly because traditional media isn’t an option. They don’t have the kind of budget for national TV buys.”
While Stanfield’s has traditionally skewed older, the company has embraced social media tactics in recent years in an effort to woo younger customers. “Their main goal was to get Stanfield’s back on the consideration list for young guys,” said Tucker. “As social media has emerged as a more mainstream media, and one that their target is keen on, it just made sense for them to put a lot of weight behind it.”
Stanfield’s first established a social media presence with the wildly popular 2010 initiative “Guy at home in his underwear,” which live-streamed McIntyre as he spent 25 days lounging around his apartment in just his underwear. The program helped Stanfield’s grow its Facebook presence from zero to just over 53,000 likes in three weeks.
“We kind of thought that we’d done the guy at home, so why not do the guy outside of his home?” said Kurt Mills, senior copywriter at John St. “Stanfield’s tagline is ‘We support men’ so we’re putting the message out there of supporting men all across the country.”
McIntyre will wear a different pair of Stanfield’s underwear during each day of the 21-day trek, ranging from briefs to longjohns. “The prairies are a good way to show off Stanfield’s long underwear credentials,” said Mills.
You might call it a real testes of endurance.
