Australia’s most iconic fundraising campaign, the World’s Greatest Shave, is bidding farewell to its famous upside-down chins, marking the end of an era and the dawn of a new vibrant, bold, contemporary, and more personal campaign to support the growing number of Australians impacted by blood cancer.
For over 15 years, Australians young and older, from every corner of the country, have watched the fun and unforgettable chins grace our TV screens, billboards, and newspapers, embodying well-known local and global celebrities and cult figures.
From Arnold Schwarzenegger’s ‘I’ll be back’, Bruce McAvaney’s commentating, and ‘Brangelina’s ‘Instachin’, plus a cast of other aspiring and loveable characters including a cheerleader, choir, skydiver, and cat lady, all have urged us to ‘be brave and shave’ while raising funds for the Leukaemia Foundation.
Chef Manu Feidel lent his ‘magnifique’ chin to the cause in 2016, with another highlight including 5x gold Chinnie award-winning CHNN anchor ‘Bon Rurgundy,’ who, in 2017 helped the Leukaemia Foundation broadcast important updates about World’s Greatest Shave.
The chins era culminated with the introduction of Max Shaver, a Bond-esque style character, who in 2021 took a ‘shaven, not stirred’ Bond approach to kicking blood cancer’s butt. Max’s introduction was timely, given how impossible life became for Australians, and especially those living with blood cancer who are immune compromised, during the COVID pandemic.
“Covid created the most formidable challenge that the World’s Greatest Shave has ever faced in its 26-year history,” said Charlotte Webb, general manager fundraising &growth at Leukaemia Foundation.
“Suddenly, the World’s Greatest Shave campaign as Australians knew it, which united people in homes, schools, pubs, and clubs across every corner of the country, transformed to participants being forced to shave, cut, and colour their hair behind closed doors and on digital platforms”.
“As a result, our beloved community events were cancelled, and our fundraising took a significant hit impacting the work and support the Leukaemia Foundation provides for the growing number of people in Australia living with blood cancer”.
Fast forward to 2024, and the World’s Greatest Shave is going back to its roots and bringing the Australian community along for the ride, with the introduction of a fresh, new bold look and slogan, ‘That’s Bloody Beautiful.’
“Whilst we sadly say goodbye to the chins and honour our extraordinary past, we are incredibly excited to unveil the World’s Greatest Shave new look this month,” said Webb.
“We hold an ambitious vision – a future where no life is lost to blood cancer – and to achieve this, we must usher in a new era for World’s Greatest Shave, designed to bring our communities back together and reflect the deeply personal nature of this campaign”.
The new look World’s Greatest Shave celebrates the everyday heroes in our community doing ‘bloody beautiful’ acts of shaving, cutting, colouring, or donating, while helping to make the world less lonely, scary, and difficult for blood cancer patients.
“Every single strand of hair that Australians change this World’s Greatest Shave, whether they choose to shave, cut, or colour, is going to help champion change for the 140,000 Australians living with blood cancer today”.
“The reality is, there are more people diagnosed with blood cancer now than ever before, underscoring the urgent need for increased support, additional resources, and ultimately more funds needed to assist the growing number of Australians impacted”.
The Leukaemia Foundation engaged creative agency, Jack Nimble, to create the new and disruptive creative direction, as they specialise in short-form, social-first content which is complimentary to World’s Greatest Shave.
“The partnership with Jack Nimble promises to not only create a new-look World’s Greatest Shave campaign that is synonymous with blood cancer, but one that inspires people of all ages to take the plunge and sign up to participate in 2024”.
Around 20,000 people sign up to participate in World’s Greatest Shave each year. With the incidence of blood cancer soaring 47% in the past decade, funds raised through the campaign go towards providing vital support for the 53 Australians diagnosed with the disease each day, as well as funding life-changing blood cancer research.
“Since 2000, the Leukaemia Foundation has funded over 360 blood cancer research grants, representing over $86.5 million in blood cancer research funding in today’s current dollar value” Webb said.
“This funding is helping to make significant strides into finding better and more targeted treatment options for Australians living with blood cancer, with the hope of one day finding a cure”.
More than two million Australians have sacrificed their hair, or donated to someone who has over the past 25 years, with more than 300 million dollars raised through World’s Greatest Shave since it first began as ‘Shave for a Cure’ in 1999.
