Lunchwork's latest outing welcomed charity entrepreneur and viral campaign guru Patrick Cox. Patrick has founded two major UK charities - Male Cancer Awareness Campaign and the Small Charities Coalition. He has also had support from a whole host of inspirational people including actor Chris O'Dowd, photographer Rankin and the creators of Family Guy. Patrick attended Lunchworks to share his experiences of creating successful campaigns and to offer advice to some leading figures in the North West's third sector...
What people have said:
"Every time I come to Lunchworks I am inspired" - Nick Clifford, Senior Fellow, Public Policy and Management: Manchester Business School
"So inspired! Useful, relevant, full of ideas, great food - loved it!"
"Thank you, your sessions are a useful and valuable resource!"
"Wonderful to see quality speakers coming from London to Manchester!"
"Fab event - interesting and accessible. Thank you!"
@thefactoryyz: Awesome #lunchworks event with @mac_charity #inspiring
@Naomi_Kaye: Another successful #lunchworks. Patrick Cox is an inspirational speaker!!
Media expert and Gaydio broadcaster Emma Goswell attended the Lunchworks event and wrote her own blog of the event:
They’re probably the 3 words every campaigner wants to hear – its gone viral!
But how do you get that gem, that nugget that colleagues forward to friends, friends forward to relatives and before you know it it has over a million hits on Youtube and even your cat has downloaded it?
Enter stage right Patrick Cox – he’s a man who’s taken charity campaigning to a whole new level, ripped up the rule book and well and truly taken it by the balls. Literally. As founder of the Male Cancer Awareness Campaign (MCAC) he’s not just run a marathon dressed a giant testicle, he’s made sure over 7 million people have heard his message of reducing embarrassment and increasing understanding of male cancers.
How much would pay to hear how he did it, pick his brains and network with other like minded people in the 3rd sector? How about a fiver? And that includes a tasty lunch of Cissy Green's famously tasty growlers (don’t worry – that’s a pork pie). Welcome to Lunchworks!
On a scorching day in the Northern Quarter the audience were treated to a master class in making viral videos. It quickly became apparent that getting a million ‘clicks’ was nothing to do with luck and everything to do with hard work. Cox says each of his campaign video projects have been at least a year in the making. Way before anything is shot, self-confessed movie buff Cox recommends running through his checklist. Words like Cleverness, wowness, original and brilliant fill the screen. Like a grown up Charlie he’s constantly searching for Willy Wonka’s golden ticket. His nugget. That gem of an idea that will open doors and define the campaign like Star Wars defines Lucas. He takes his inspiration from the silver screen and urges everyone there to think about what inspires them.
One of his most viewed and most outrageous charity campaigns shows lingerie model Rhian Sugden teasing the camera and asking the viewer if they want to see her touch herself. She then reaches into her pants and pulls out a pair of testicles and proceeds to tell men how they can check for signs of cancer. Bold, daring, innovative - and now with 4 million views on Youtube. The most startling revelation was when Cox told us about the cost. To hire Rhian, renowned photographer Rankin and 28 of his staff for a day should have cost £95,000. How much did Cox pay? £500. A saving of £94,500 pounds is testament to Cox’s passion and determination. From netting Hollywood star Chris O’Dowd to star in his films for nowt to accosting Finley Quay in the street to sign away music rights, Cox is a master at cutting costs and networking. It’s not all about take, take, take though – Cox believes that charities should be charitable too and that we should be helping each other out by sharing best practice and collaborating. Some of his latest work has seen MCAC team up with ‘Coppafeel’ - another ground breaking small charity, but one that raises awareness of breast cancer in men.
Don’t be fooled into thinking that once you’ve come up with your gem, shot it and got it in the bag you can post it, sit back and wait for it ‘go viral’. Even a corker of a concept like the topless female trampolining world championships (look it up) needs a bit of leg up. According to Cox – post production’s when the hard works starts. That’s when you hammer your media contacts urging everyone to mention it and share it online until you’re sat chatting about your campaign on This Morning. Oh and avoid launching a campaign on a Monday (I’m tooooo tired to care!) or a Friday (yay it’s the weekend!) and don’t even think of clashing with Children In Need or Comic Relief.
Cox also had a cautionary tale for anyone trying to work with celebrities. He and his team were thrilled to learn that actor Tom Hardy had agreed to star in one of their campaign videos. They were less thrilled two years later when it still hadn’t happened and Tom had left his agent and signed to do another charities promotion. How had that charity managed it? They’d simply bumped into him at a party and asked him face to face.
Tellingly, the phrase NETWORK, NETWORK, NETWORK was right up there in his list of golden rules. He maintains that you should spend 50% of your week simply networking. If that seems like quite a lot - you might want to make a start by signing up for the next Lunchworks.
So how do you say thank you to the head of the UK’s boldest, most daring and innovative charity (his description and I don’t know anyone who’d dare disagree)? A baked loaf in the shape of a giant pair of testicles of course! The presentation from Cissy Greens bakery marked the perfect end to Cox’s inspirational talk. Anyone for a testicle shaped sandwich?
Click here to view some of MCAC’s campaign videos… http://www.youtube.com/user/MCACtv
Patrick Cox has also just launched his new charity project raising testicular cancer awareness: Skyballs! Find out more about this airborne campaign here: http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/chris-o-dowd-mcac-present-skyballs?c=home