Strolling into the Saxo Bank headquarters in Hellerup last Friday night wasn’t that different from walking onto the set of the US series ‘Mad Men’, only this time set in the 1970s.
The occasion was the bank’s annual Movember Awards Show and Bar, and everywhere we looked, there were suited-up bad-asses strutting their stuff, sporting Handlebars, Dalís, Imperials, Fu Manchus and Pancho Villas.
Confused? Well, Saxo Bank is Denmark’s biggest supporter of Movember, the worldwide charity initiative in which participants grow moustaches for the entire month of November to raise awareness of prostate cancer and other men’s health issues.
Although this is not Saxo Bank’s first year taking part, it is Denmark’s first official effort and with 7,582 registered participants, the country has recorded the highest number of first-year entrants since Movember began in 2004.
Saxo Bank has raised in excess of 147,000 kroner – 35 percent more than last year and 20 percent of the national total – and it was confirmed on the night that the bank will match the total raised by its employees at the end of the month, a gesture that could see the final national total exceed one million kroner.
Five of their employees are in the country’s top 20, with Kurt Vom Scheidt, an American who has lived in Denmark since January 2008, the outright leader on over 35,000 kroner and counting.
“Saxo’s 2010 participation and contribution to Movember was instrumental in the decision by the foundation to launch Denmark as an official country in the 2011 campaign,” he said. “Our objective this year was to post high scores on the leaderboard so that the other thousands of participants could see what they too could be capable of, not only this year, but also in future years.”
Vom Scheidt has had donations from more than 70 contributors, the youngest of whom was only ten years old: his son Mitchell. “There are few prouder moments as parents than those when he, himself, chooses to share his birthday money and savings with different programmes that benefit people in need rather than buying the latest toys or tech.”
Vom Scheidt went on to pick up the award for Mr Movember 2011, but failed to score highly in the ‘beauty contest’ – a highly entertaining ten-minute display of posturing, shamelessness, and pure bravado as the participants tried to outdo each other and woo the female judges. While some took the Burt Reynolds pure testosterone approach, others played it suave like David Niven.
The awards included ones for best handlebars, weirdest tash, the Godzilla prize, and Miss Movember – lest we forget the Mo Sistas who have been getting in on the act as well.
All in all, a great night, and a great month for Saxo Bank, who are no doubt already planning their tashtics for next year.
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