How we created our CIPR Excellence award-winning PR campaign

I was on holiday when my colleague texted me that our Shape the Future campaign had won the CIPR Excellence award in the health and wellbeing category. Yes, sadly, I missed the ceremony, but four incredible colleagues and friends represented the team well. There is nothing sweeter than sharing an achievement like this with colleagues and friends who worked on the campaign. It's been great sharing this success as a team.  

We knew we had run a great campaign coinciding with the NHS 75th birthday to raise the profile of the NIHR (National Institute for Health and Care Research) in delivering life-changing research and encourage more people to sign-up to support health research. We focused on outcomes, we had a cohesive message, we were very clear on measurements, and we created great content that resonated with our audience.  

The campaign achieved: 

• 17,889 online engagement activities, over a target of 10,000. 

• 43% of all #NHS75 tweets in May mentioned “research” over a target of 10%.  

• 37% increase in visits to the website, over a target of 25%. 

• 2,548 registrations to Be Part of Research in a single day, the highest number of registrations ever recorded. 

• The campaign case study, ‘Grandfather who beat cancer urges public to join health research,’ was shared 7,000 times on Facebook and was covered by 230 national and regional media outlets. 

This success did not happen overnight. The campaigns team at NIHR had been entering awards for the last two years, learning something new at every step. Initially, it was intimidating to be in the same room as multi-award winners, household names, and some big, recognisable brands. But it was reassuring to realise that our collective way of thinking, planning, and evaluating was in line with past winners’ approaches. Our instincts were right.

Working environment and culture

Success has also been dependent on the working environment and culture. We have always been incredibly lucky that Lorraine Bridges – our head of campaigns and deputy director of communications – gave our team the ambition to aim high, the freedom to be creative and relentless focus on outcomes and evaluation. As a team we thrive on continual learning and innovation. 

The team includes specialists from several comms teams with a group chair, Alistair Thompson, who has created a safe and nurturing team environment built on emotional intelligence. This means in practice that the team doesn’t work together because we have to, but because we like the work we do; we are all passionate about making people’s lives better through health and care research.   

When preparing the entry for the 2024 awards I studied very closely the campaign entries from previous winners.  

The #OUCH #ByeByeUTI campaign by the North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board (ICB) won the 2023 CIPR Excellence Award in the healthcare and wellbeing category. The campaign helped to save the region's NHS over £395,434 in protected GP appointment time (by reducing the number of GP appointments required to treat uncomplicated UTIs) and created a 47% reduction in antibiotic prescribing - a further saving of around £43,000. These figures helped me understand what a winning campaign focuses on, what are the main successes and how you frame them. And crucially how to zoom in on those killer stats and facts that must be the pillars of your award entry.

Recognition deserved

Winning the CIPR Excellence Award brought joy to our team of 15 comms professionals and to the whole organisation. It is something to talk about on LinkedIn and in everyday conversations when asked, “What’s new?” For many, this has been the highlight of their work life in the last two years, and as a team, it has strengthened our resolve and belief in what we do. Winning the award, was the final validation of our ways of working, our campaign instincts, our abilities and creativity as a team. 

For me personally, winning the award has meant a huge amount of internal recognition. The NIHR is exceptionally large, with a strong presence all over the country, and internationally renowned for its role as a funder of health and care research. I bought myself a new pair of shoes, and I am confident that more rewards will come. With the campaigns team, we’re now working on a new campaign and aiming to repeat our success in 2026 to prove we are not a one-hit wonder. But what a hit it was.  

With the few words left for this blog, I really should mention the incredible members of the campaigns team in alphabetical order: Amy Luxton, Becky Rainford, Chrissie Bradley, David McClenaghan, Eleanor Jackson, Imthiaz Rehman, Joanna Fraser, John Prempeh, Kasia Makowska, Rowan Parris, Sarah Wharton, Scarlett Brunstrom, Sophie Ah-Sam. 

What winning the award has meant to me and my organisation 

Many refer to the CIPR Campaign Excellence award as the Oscars of the campaign world. Winning will probably give you a mix of elation and shock. It’s been one of my greatest achievements over the last two years. It helps in moments of doubt, and it’s a trophy that no one can take away from you - a bit like a medal at the Olympics, or your favourite team winning the league, on a smaller scale. 

From a team perspective, this is a collective win. Everyone can add to their CVs, share the news and the graphics on LinkedIn (if that’s your thing) and it helps with recruitment. For my team, winning the award, was the final validation of our ways of working, our campaign instincts, our abilities and creativity as a team. It’s also a very nice feeling to get something extra in return for months of hard work.  

Giuseppe Rella is campaigns and digital marketing manager at NIHR.

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