Dive Brief:

• Burger King's brand mascot, the King, is taking on a new look for Movember, the yearly event raising awareness around men's health issues including prostate cancer, testicular cancer and mental health and suicide prevention, per a press release.
• The King has shaved his trademark mustache in order to grow a new "kingstache" for the Movember challenge, where men are tasked with not shaving for the entire month of November.
• Stemming from that, the brand is encouraging fans to share their own Movember 'staches with a #kingstachechallenge hashtag. The King will also have a profile on The Movember Foundation's website, movember.com, so people can follow his whisker-growing journey.

Dive Insight:

Movember has grown incredibly popular in recent years as an easy, fun way to raise awareness while also providing an excuse for men to let their facial hair run wild. Burger King's latest play capitalizes on the trend while still putting its long-running and recognizable mascot front-and-center in the marketing, including through a digital video spot:   

Beyond attaching the Burger King name to a positive cause, the brand should drum up some user-generated content through the #kingstachechallenge hashtag. Plenty of fans and followers are likely already planning to share their scruff on social media and might be hoping for a retweet from the brand to reach a broader audience. Since Movember runs through the entire month, the campaign might also have a long tail, driving more impressions and engagements. 

Burger King partnering with The Movember Foundation shows it's serious about the cause beyond marketing stunts. The multinational charity group has raised $769 million for men's health programs in the areas Movember is focused on, the release said.