New research launched by the Movember Foundation reveals nearly half (47%) of men feel they are unable to confide in friends about their problems, compared to 63% of women who do.

This may be attributed to men having fewer social connections. On average, the men who were surveyed said they had three close friends, although nearly a third (27%) said they did not have any close friends or any friends at all.

The research also revealed that these friendships get weaker as they get older with men aged 55+, spending half the amount of time with friends than 16-24-year-olds. Over one in five (22%) men in this 55+ age group said they never saw their friends for a catch up.

Almost two in three men aged 16-24 (67%) would prefer to be known for having a ‘short fuse’ than ‘vulnerable’, and almost half (47%) would rather speak to a salesman for half an hour than a counsellor further highlighting the belief that men are reluctant to talk about their problems and feelings.

A previous study from the University of Harvard has shown that the biggest indicator of long-term health and well-being is the strength of your relationships with family, friends and spouses. According to the study, having someone to rely on has many health benefits, including helping your nervous system relax, your brain stay healthier for longer, and reduces both emotional and physical pain.

The Movember research also found men aren’t creating opportunities to meet up with their friends, for example; nearly two in five never go out for drinks (38%) or food (38%) with their close friends. Further to this when it comes to life challenges, only one in 10 (10%) of men go to family and friends for help when they face a challenge in life.

Owen Sharp, CEO of the Movember Foundation said: “Previous studies have proven that poor social connections have a negative impact on physical and mental health and this has to change. This is what the whole month of Movember is all about and the year-round initiatives we fund to tackle social isolation and loneliness. Three out of the four people who take their own lives every year are men and it’s the biggest killer of men under the age of 44.”

Movember’s annual month-long fundraiser calls on men across the UK to grow a moustache. The campaign aims to not only to raise awareness and funds, but to encourage men to connect with friends and create real change for men’s health. The charity also invests in innovative year-round projects that help foster quality relationships, whilst building the evidence of what works to support men building and maintaining stronger social connections.

One example of this is the Men’s Pie Club in Newcastle; socially isolated men are brought together to learn the skills they need to cook and create great food, as well as an opportunity to build relationships with each other. Another is Brothers Through Boxing in Peterborough, which provides boxing training sessions to young men who are not in employment, education or training, and who are at risk of social isolation and loneliness. Through training and coaching they are able to build social relationships among other young men, leading to a stronger sense of belonging, and a greater ability to stay mentally healthy.

The Movember Foundation is the leading charity dedicated to changing the face of men’s health in the UK and around the world. The foundation recognises that men are dying six years younger than women around the world. It campaigns to ensure that men take their health more seriously and act when necessary, as well as raising funds for vital research to combat prostate cancer, testicular cancer and male suicide. The foundation is aiming to reduce the number of men dying prematurely by 25% by 2030.

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This summer, people across the UK will be able to take free preliminary hearing checks and advice as part of a Specsavers roadshow. The campaign launched on 26th July in London and will run for 22 days across the UK. Everyone taking a hearing check will get the chance to win a VIP ticket package for an upcoming major entertainment event.

Run by global brand experience agency Sense, the experiential campaign will raise awareness of the importance of having regular hearing checks, as well as encouraging dialogue around hearing loss to help normalise what is a very common problem.

“People will be welcomed onto the Specsavers bus, where they can undergo an assessment to see if they need to take a full check at their local branch,” explained Sense Account Director Jess MacGillivray. “Visitors will also be able to experience what it’s like to suffer from hearing loss through a special simulator and exclusive video guide.”

Commenting on the campaign, David Legge, Marketing Manager at Specsavers, said: “Around one in six people in the UK experiences problems with their hearing, which can have a significant impact on their quality of life and relationships with family and friends. We want to draw attention to the importance of going for regular checks and protecting your hearing, as well as reducing the stigma of wearing hearing aids, which can transform the lives of people suffering from hearing loss.”

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Yakult is giving customers the chance to enjoy a range of activities that are rewarding for both body and mind, in a on-pack promotional campaign created to celebrate ‘The Science of You’.

Customers can claim a free sports or wellbeing session with every promotional pack of Yakult and Yakult Light. Various activities on offer include tennis, swimming and golf lessons, personal trainer sessions and even out-of-the-ordinary experiences such as Disco Yoga and outdoor boot camps with British Military Fitness. There are over 3,000 venues taking part in the campaign nationwide.

For those more into wellbeing for the mind, Yakult has also collaborated with The Mindfulness App to offer three months free subscription to its premium meditation service.

Reshma Patel, Marketing Manager at Yakult UK & Ireland, says: “‘The ‘Science of You’ campaign aims to drive penetration over the summer-time, when people are increasingly looking for positive lifestyle choices. The simple mechanic, celebrating wellbeing and the science of the human body, connects the brand with our core values while also helping us deliver on our business objectives.”

The campaign is running until July 31^st, 2018 across 2.5 million packs. Customers who register within the promotional period can still download vouchers until September 30th, with vouchers being accepted at venues until December 3^rd, 2018. Promotional packs can be purchased in all major supermarkets and independents across the UK and Republic of Ireland.

To take part, consumers buy purchase any promotional pack of Yakult or Yakult Light, visit www.yakultactivities.com, register their details and enter their promotional code. They will then be able to browse thousands of independent studios, pools and gyms to find those in their local area and download a voucher. To claim their free activity, customers they must present the voucher at their chosen venue.

Campaign concept, partners and creative, which includes in-store POS, OOH media as well on-pack stickers, was developed and is being managed by London-based agency TLC Marketing. TLC also designed and built the campaign microsite, with the ‘Yakult Activities’ portal, which uses an interactive quiz to educate customers about what activities can help their body and why.

Martin Covill, Director of Business at TLC Marketing, said, “Dr Shirota, the scientist who created Yakult, believed that true health stemmed from both physical fitness and mental wellbeing. The ‘Science of You’ campaign embodies the history and vision of Yakult, but also pays homage to Dr Shirota – honouring his legacy with body and mind orientated rewards.”

TLC Marketing previously worked with Yakult on a 2015 campaign to celebrate the brand’s 80th anniversary with an on-pack ‘Culture Pass’ promotion.

TLC Marketing Worldwide is a global leader in loyalty, incentive and reward campaigns. It is the Institute of Promotional Marketing (IPM) Agency of the Year 2017 and won The Queen’s Award for Enterprise in International Trade in 2016. In the past two years, the agency has also won awards for its work with Continental Tyres, Bupa, Pallas Foods and Braun. Other clients include Eon, HSBC, First Direct and Yakult.

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Persil UK has been encouraging families in London to get outdoors and active to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the launch of the brand’s ‘Dirt is Good’ marketing platform with ‘Get Out Here’, a Digital Out Of Home (DOOH) activation delivering content triggered by the weather in real-time.

Running on Ocean’s full motion Eat Street screen at Westfield London, the campaign uses live weather data to trigger video content allowing the display to show current temperatures, weather conditions and the walking distance to Holland Park, their nearest source of outdoor fun.

Families can connect to the screen’s Wi-Fi to access a map and directions to the park, which is a short walk from the shopping centre.

Get Out Here reflects Persil’s commitment to get families outdoors and embrace dirt. The brand cites consumer research which reveals that dogs are five times more likely to be taken out to the park than children – and that only one in three kids has ever climbed a tree.

Created by MullenLowe London, Get Out Here was one of the commercial winners of Ocean Outdoor’s eighth annual digital creative competition, which aims to reward great creative concepts that push the boundaries of digital out of home (DOOH) advertising.

Video footage on the screen will also include a dynamic count of fun activities families can enjoy in the 22.5 hectare park, including the number of birds to count, muddy puddles to jump in and snowmen to build.

The idea is that families will break out of the urban jungle to experience the freedom of the real outdoors like kids used to, playing on Persil’s 10th anniversary of “Dirt is Good.” The campaign broke on March 1st 2018 and runs for two weeks.

Jennifer King, Senior Brand Manager for Persil UK, says: “Families love getting outdoors but we know that life can get in the way. This is an innovative way to nudge us all to embrace the outdoors and make more happy memories.”

Alex Okada, Global Executive Creative Director for Dirt is Good, adds: “Sometimes we are so immersed in our busy lives, distracted by the always on digital world that we don’t stop to think how close and accessible nature is to us. The idea is to use technology and data in order to remind and inspire people to enjoy the outdoors. Not having enough time outdoors is not a only problem for kids, but also a problem for all of us.”

Ocean Outdoor head of marketing Helen Haines comments: “Get Out Here is a really simple idea that actually works in all sorts of environments and out of home locations. It’s a fun execution and a wonderful way to encourage more families to go play and get messy. That’s why it was chosen as an Ocean competition winner.”

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Easy-to-digest milk brand a2 Milk has just run a digitally-powered “Try Me Free” campaign to increase visibility in store at the point of purchase and drive trial.

a2 Milk is a pure cow’s milk that’s naturally free-from the A1 protein found in regular cows’ milk, which some people have challenges digesting. a2 Milk hand-select cows that naturally produce only the easy to digest A2 protein so that many people can enjoy the benefits of dairy without stomach problems.

To increase awareness of the brand and the promotion, over 200,000 bottles were promoted using a “Try Me Free” neck collar. On purchasing the promotional product in-store, consumers opened the neck collar and were prompted to visit www.trya2milk.co.uk where they could claim their free product.

The promotion and the supporting website were created by Activate by Shopmium through a completely digital redemption process. Consumers registered on the site, provided feedback on their experience with the product, uploaded a picture of their receipt, entered either their PayPal or Bank Account details and then received their cashback.

The campaign was initially trialled across Waitrose over the course of November 2017 and was successfully rolled out across all retailers during January and February 2018.

Sarah Shakespeare, Social & Digital Content Manager at a2 Milk, says: “The Try Me Free campaign has gone very smoothly. The neck collars delivered good stand out on shelf and the redemption process was very easy for our consumers to use.”.

Activate by Shopmium is a Quotient Technology brand, enabling brands to drive measurable sales from their digital, on pack and in-store marketing spend.

Quotient Technology Inc., which was previously known as Coupons.com Incorporated, is a leading digital promotion and media platform that connects brands, retailers and consumers. It distributes digital coupons and media through a variety of products, including: digital printable coupons, digital paperless coupons, coupon codes, and card linked offers.

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A new campaign to support the launch of Super Juice, innocent’s most ‘nutritionally dense’ juice, is giving Londoners the chance to try the three recipes (Apple, Pear and Cucumber, Raspberry and Cherry, and Orange and Blood Orange) while out and about in the UK capital.

The juices also contain ‘super suggestions’ attached to each drink to brighten people’s day.

The ‘Make Today Super’ campaign will visit Boxpark in Shoreditch, Wimbledon Plaza, Paddington Central and Angel among other busy London locations throughout February.

The sampling campaign was created for innocent by experiential agency Sense London.

Barbora Hrdlickova, Senior Brand Manager at innocent, said: “We’ll be helping Londoners shake off the winter gloom by showcasing the boosting effects of our vitamin-packed Super Juice drinks, encouraging a bottle-half-full approach to the day ahead.”

Anne Ellefsen, Senior Account Manager at Sense London, adds: “Our teams of brand ambassadors will be running activations across the capital from 8^th to 25^th February showing Londoners just how ‘super’ a truly healthy drink can taste.”

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PayAsUGym, the UK’s largest virtual gym chain, has appointed partnership marketing experts LIME Communications to manage its brand partnership program during 2018, after a successful trial at the end of 2017.

PayAsUGym first approached Lime in October 2017, asking them to approach relevant brands to help drive brand awareness and new customer acquisition. Since then, Tough Mudder, Gap Fit, O2 Priority, Simply Cook and eHarmony have signed up as partners, with more in the pipeline.

For the Tough Mudder relationship, PayAsUGym offered all Tough Mudder customers a 25% discount off a three month Monthly+ pass, while Tough Mudder offered all PayAsUGym customers 25% off Tough Mudder entry tickets. They also ran a joint competition with a prize of two Tough Mudder season passes, with everyone entering receiving a 25% discount off any future UK Tough Mudder event. The partnership was communicated across Tough Mudder’s newsletter, Facebook and Blog and across PayAsUGym’s social channels.

While no single UK gym operator has enough venues to serve a national customer base (even the largest gym chain only has around 150 clubs), PayAsUGym says it has built a network of 3,000 gyms and health clubs, which delivers scale and reach for brand partners.

Neil Harmsworth, COO & Co-Founder of PayAsUGym, says: “PayAsUGym is a unique proposition, and we are seeing a huge increase in customers looking for a gym services that offers total flexibility. We see partnerships being a huge part of helping us to raise awareness of what we have to offer in what is a very crowded and busy market place. We are really pleased to have Lime on board to help us achieve our objectives for the year ahead.”

Tim Hook, Head Of Brand Partnerships at Lime, adds: “Partnerships have become a huge focus for brands, due to the role they can play with helping drive brand awareness and acquisition, often at a fraction of the cost of traditional media. They also allow brands to talk to new audiences and unlock exciting and topical content and offers.”

PayAsUGym claims to be the UK’s largest virtual gym chain, with almost 3,000 participating gyms – almost half of all gyms and health clubs across the country – meaning it has a gym in 96% of postcodes in the UK

Consumers can use the network to exercise anywhere, anytime at thousands of gyms, pools, fitness classes and spas. They can sign up for unlimited membership to the whole network or pick and choose discounted day passes or bundles without the need to sign up to a contract with no admin, no induction process and the option to cancel anytime.

Lime Communications is a brand partnerships and sales promotion agency specialising in connecting brands with entertainment, sport and leisure. Clients include Mars, P&G, Pizza Express, Merlin, Rakuten and Interflora.

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Wholefoods snack bar brand Nākd is showcasing the winning doodles from two fans who entered its ‘Add a little Delight’ social media competition. The sketches will feature in the brand’s out-of-home advertising at London tube stations and rail stations from mid January till the end of the month, reaching 4.5m adults.

Launched in September this year, the break time campaign reached an audience of 2.9m consumers on social media alone by incentivising fans to submit their very own tea stain doodles on social media.

Linking in to the break time occasion, entrants were challenged to transform tea stains into creative sketches, with a chance to see their entry plastered all across London’s underground, as well as winning a year’s supply of Nākd goodies.

Marina Love, Marketing Director of Nākd, says: “It’s the community of fans that really make the Nākd brand successful and much loved so we wanted to create a campaign that was all about engaging with them at a time they regularly enjoy the products.”

Nākd is part of Natural Balance Foods, a British company founded in 2004. There are 30 fruit and nut wholefood products in the Nākd range, all made with 100% natural ingredients. They contain no added sugar and are gluten, wheat and dairy free and suitable for vegans.

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No alcohol beer Budweiser Prohibition has teamed up with Love Island star and personal trainer, Gabby Allen, to unveil a fleet of ‘beer floats’ that will travel the country giving away free Budweiser Prohibition Brew to UK consumers and help them ‘drink smart’ throughout 2018.

The campaign is part of AB InBev’s UK launch of Budweiser Prohibition Brew, the brand’s first alcohol-free beer.

To complement the partnership with Allen and the sampling push, Budweiser is also partnering with Time Out to raise awareness of the new Prohibition Brew and give a helping hand to consumers looking to moderate their drinking this January.

The partnership included a four-page cover wrap on the Tuesday 16th January issue, as well as the distribution of 50,000 product samples with each magazine at key stations across the capital, such as London Victoria, London Paddington, London Bridge and Liverpool Street. An additional 30,000 samples were distributed on the evening of Thursday 18^th January, targeting commuters as they started planning their weekends, who might be tempted to break their alcohol-free resolution.

Time Out has produced a digital hub, which will house content about the alcohol-free beer and advise Londoners on how they can make the most of going out with friends while moderating their alcohol consumption.

Budweiser Prohibition Brew is also working with street food operators Street Feast. Until 3^rd February, Dinerama Shoreditch and Giant Robot Canary Wharf will host the first-ever Budweiser Prohibition taste test, where people will be challenged to taste three different Budweiser beers and guess which is the new Prohibition brew – with winners receiving their next Bud for free.

The Budweiser Prohibition Brew campaign is being supported by an Out Of Home advertising campaign, as well as digital and social content across Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. These elements will focus on Budweiser Prohibition Brew’s great taste, and show consumers that they can still enjoy a beer with friends if they choose not to drink. The social activity will lead consumers to the campaign micro-site, www.budprohibition.com, where they can sign up for a free can of Budweiser Prohibition, redeemable at Tesco.

AB InBev worked with content agency The Story Lab for the partnership with Time Out, while social creative is being handled by Elvis. Anomaly is handling the OOH creative, and the nationwide sampling campaign and the partnership with Gabby Allen is being handled by PR agency 3 Monkeys Zeno.

Sascha Cordes, Senior Brand Manager Budweiser, says: “We are incredibly excited to launch Budweiser Prohibition Brew to the UK, our first ever alcohol-free beer, and even more excited to unveil our fleet that will be delivering the brew up and down the UK, helping the nation stick to their goals this January and beyond. People today are increasingly drinking less alcohol, as part of the broader healthy-living trend. In 2018, we predict this trend to continue, and don’t think there could be a better time for us to launch Budweiser Prohibition Brew for people who are looking for the great taste of beer, but with 0% alcohol.”

In the first two weeks of January alone, Hitwise data suggests searches for “alcohol free beer” increased 171% – but the data also suggests that consumers are finding it hard to stick to their resolutions, with recent searches tailing off.

AB InBev UK research reveals that, as a nation, Britons are definitely drinking less alcohol – a trend that is being driven by millennials – with the low and no-alcohol beer category growing 19.5% in the UK over the past year.

Budweiser Prohibition is the latest beer in AB InBev’s low- and no-alcohol portfolio in the UK, which already includes the market-leading alcohol-free beer Beck’s Blue and Bud Light, brewed to 3.5% ABV.

The expansion of the low- and no-alcohol portfolio is part of AB InBev’s Global Smart Drinking Goals, which includes a pledge that 20% of its global beer volumes will be low-to-no alcohol by 2025, alongside deeper investments in programs that measurably shift social norms and behaviors around the harmful use of alcohol.

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Breakfast cereal brand Weetabix is running a free fruit on-pack promotion to help people start 2018 in a healthy way.

The ‘£5-off’ fruit promotion runs from the start of January until March 28^th and will be supported with the brand’s “Have You Had Yours” TV commercial, being screened throughout January.

Weetabix has teamed up with Nisa on Weetabix 24-packs and with the Co-op and major supermarkets on 48- and 72-packs. The promotion is not running in Aldi and Lidl.

Customers who buy promotional packs during the campaign period will be able to claim 10 downloadable coupons, worth a total of £5 (€5 in the Republic of Ireland) off fruit, by going to the www.weetabix.co.uk/fruit promotional microsite and submitting the eight-digit alphanumeric Unique Reference Number (URN) printed on the inside of their promotional pack. They will also be asked to answer a multiple-choice survey question and say which retailer they bought the promotional Weetabix pack at.

The offer is open to residents of the United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland), Channel Islands, Isle of Man and Republic of Ireland.

The 10 coupons each have a different validity date, discount value, redeemable fruit type and unique barcode. The first coupon from the 10 received will be valid for redemption within seven days from the date that the participant downloads the discount coupons online. All the other coupons then have a specific seven-day redemption period covering the following nine weeks.

The coupons can be redeemed at participating stores, allowing customers to buy a different pack of fruit each week. Coupons will specify the discount value, the redemption validity date, the type of fruit the discount applies to, and the minimum fruit weight or minimum quantity required to purchase (for example, minimum 600g or 5-pack of bananas). The fruit the coupons can be redeemed against are pears, apples, bananas, strawberries, kiwis, blueberries, clementines, grapes, melons and raspberries, in that order.

Charlotte Hunt, senior brand manager for Weetabix, says: “Health benefits is one of the fastest-growing attributes that customers look for when choosing breakfast cereals. Our new ‘£5 off fruit’ campaign will help to further cement Weetabix as the natural choice for those looking for a healthier way to start the day. Value for money is also very important to customers and we’re really proud to offer added value with the coupons.”

Hunt adds: “Amongst a backdrop of declining sales within the cereal sector, we’ve grown 3% this year and are by a long way the nation’s favourite breakfast cereal. Last year’s ‘Weetabuddies’ campaign delivered a 14% year-on-year increase in Weetabix sales and our latest promotion will continue to inspire a new generation of cereal eaters and encourage a healthy breakfast culture for the whole family.”

Customers who do not redeem the coupons by March 28^th will still be able to enter a prize draw to win £500 towards a healthy year at www.weetabix.co.uk/fruit. The draw will be open to enter from March 29^th  to  June 30^th 2018.

The Weetabix brand is now owned by American company Post Holdings, which bought the company for £1.4 billion in July 2017 from Bright Food, a state-owned Chinese company.

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