Greater Manchester's COVID-19 vaccine trial campaign recognised at Northern marketing awards

The campaign which raised awareness of COVID-19 vaccine trials in Greater Manchester was recognised at a prestigious ceremony celebrating the best marketing campaigns in the North of England. 

NIHR Clinical Research Network Greater Manchester (CRN GM) was shortlisted for Best Health Campaign and Best Not For Profit Campaign at the Prolific North Marketing Awards. 

Marking the ninth edition of this high-profile event, the awards were hosted at The Queens Hotel, Leeds, on 25 November 2021 and compered by BBC Radio 1 presenter Dean McCullough. 

For both awards, CRN GM was shortlisted for its delivery of NIHR’s ‘Help us Find a Vaccine for COVID-19’ campaign, which resulted in over 24,000 people in Greater Manchester and East Cheshire registering an interest in taking part in a vaccine trial. 

Thousands of these volunteers subsequently took part in vaccine trials delivered in Greater Manchester and supported by CRN GM, helping ensure that a variety of COVID-19 vaccines have been made available to communities.  

Despite not winning, the judging panel of industry experts praised the campaign and commented: “Is there a more important campaign featured in these awards? I doubt it. Excellent work completed under pressure with clearly impressive results in terms of uptake of vaccines in GM...Well done on the results, which will live on through the vaccine programme.”