A PUBLICITY campaign developed in partnership with North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) by Oldham agency Cornerstone Design & Marketing has received a gold award at a regional PR industry ceremony.

NWAS, accompanied by Cornerstone, received the gold accolade in the Public Sector Campaign category of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations’ (CIPR) 2019 North West Pride Awards.

The awards ceremony was held at the Midland Hotel in Manchester.

The gold honour recognised the success of the "Star In A Car" campaign which was designed to increase the number of volunteer car drivers who transport NHS patients to and from routine appointments across the region. This volunteering service supports the NWAS Patient Transport Service.

NWAS asked Cornerstone to use design and marketing expertise to help bring to life a campaign aimed at the general public to increase the number of volunteer driver applications.

Part of the campaign included information aimed to reduce any perceived barriers to volunteer applications, such as people being worried about not having the right skills, experience or enough spare time to volunteer.

The campaign resulted media coverage in key publications across the region, an increase in telephone enquiries about the role of 2,500 per cent, an increase in views on the trust’s volunteer web page of 31 per cent and 196 additional applications to join the volunteer network – potentially increasing numbers of the volunteers by 56 per cent.

Working with NWAS, Cornerstone conducted research, including interviews with existing volunteer drivers from Lancashire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester and Merseyside.

The Oldham-based agency then created concepts, implementation strategies, digital marketing, graphic design and illustrations for the campaign material, enabling NWAS to create visually appealing social media content and to push other non-digital ‘offline’ campaigning elements, such as hospital radio interviews and a referral campaign.

A range of "Star In A Car" material was featured on social media, the NWAS careers website, videos, printed leaflets and posters, newspaper publicity, outdoor banners and even quirky branded car interior air-fresheners.

Cornerstone used a fun style for the campaign called "Star In A Car". The idea was to appeal to caring, everyday people with a set of wheels, who wanted to make a difference and gain additional skills.

This was done by positively communicating the case for their support and demonstrating the value existing volunteers have to NWAS by branding them as stars.

Visual material included cartoon-style illustrations of current volunteer drivers of different ages and backgrounds and their quotes from interviews, explaining in their own words why they became volunteers.

Their reasons included wanting to help patients, families and the communities where they live, along with helping the NHS.

In addition, many volunteers said their activities for NWAS boosted their own self-confidence and skills. For example, NWAS provides training in computers, first aid, health and safety, moving and handling, dementia and safeguarding.

Older volunteers with more spare time said transporting patients is also a great way to stay mentally and physically active, and to stay socially connected.

David Wadsworth, managing director and founder of Cornerstone, attended the awards ceremony in Manchester with NWAS communications staff.

He said: “We’ve been working with NWAS for nine years now and have built a deep understanding of their organisation and formed a strong working partnership. Our teams work really well together, which is reflected in the success of our campaign.

He added: “This year’s award success builds upon previous gold awards for NWAS and Cornerstone publicity campaigns. So, it’s fantastic to enjoy further recognition for our work this year.”

In 2018, NWAS’ work with Cornerstone received two CIPR gold awards for two separate publicity campaigns.

One was designed to encourage people to make the right healthcare choices to alleviate pressure on 9999. The other was to recruit more volunteer first-responders who provide first-aid help to a patient before ambulance crews arrive at an incident.”

Speaking about the latest success, NWAS head of communications and engagement Julie Treharne, said: “We have an excellent relationship with the team at Cornerstone whose skills complement and bring to life our in-house expertise.

"This partnership approach produces campaigns that make a real difference to our frontline services. It’s fantastic that our work has been recognised by industry experts at the CIPR awards.”