Best Association Partnership or Collaboration
Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply and Think – Content Partnership
The way membership organisations are creating, distributing, and monetising content has shifted dramatically in the last 12 months – and with it the way agencies and organisations work together. At Think, we’re proud to be driving this positive change, creating even more impactful partnerships with clients that genuinely deliver brilliant results, and our partnership with CIPS, is a great example of this. In less than a year, the combined teams have transformed the CIPS member engagement programme, launching a brand-new suite of high-performing content – from podcasts and videos to private dinners and conferences – that has already started to change the way members and the procurement and supply profession think about organisation and its influence. This isn’t a traditional agency/client relationship but one that shows what can be achieved when you fully integrate teams and get them collaborating successfully on a shared vision.
Institute of Workplace and Facilities Management & Redactive
We like to think that back in 2003, the then British Institute of Facilities Management met its perfect match when it contracted Redactive to publish its fortnightly membership magazine.
Since that time, we’ve overcome multiple challenges – shifting markets, recessions, Brexit, COVID-19, a new client identity – to forge a truly symbiotic relationship cemented in the untypical business model of a shared P&L.
Over the past 12-18 months that partnership has reached new heights with the realisation of ambitions inconceivable the first time we met, including:
• The digital transformation of the IWFM’s owned media brand Facilitate
• Delivering a fully carbon-neutral awards event
• A new content development relationship linked to the IWFM’s evolving business model
During our long-standing relationship, the two organisations’ skills, values and vision have inevitably become entwined. Redactive’s people now sit and advise on the Institute’s steering committees. The IWFM’s stellar sustainability credentials are influencing Redactive’s own journey to net zero. Stronger, more successful and more sustainable together.
International Institute of Nutrition and Health & D2L – Advance Wellness Learning
The International Institute of Nutrition and Health (IINH) provides globally accredited awards and continuing professional development to wellness professionals in around 40 countries. Training is an important part of the mission at IINH, and it has a rich and well-established online learning presence and content. IINH partners with D2L, a global learning technology leader, to help it meet the needs of members and the wellness profession through a digital learning experience that helps advance the association’s aim for consistent, high-quality knowledge levels within the industry. In 2023/24, IINH set itself four learning programme objectives to enhance efficiency, learner reach and the learner and educator experience. It achieved this by launching an online alumni space, expanding its portfolio of short courses and webinars, implementing rubrics and Zoom integration, and introducing new features including online drop-in sessions. The result is a more cohesive online learning experience, transparency of assessments for learners, less administration for assessors, an active alumni community, and opportunities for members to interact, request help and receive support.
LIQUONA – Creative Services
LIQUONA partnered with the Institute of Biomedical Science (IBMS) to create a Virtual Reality (VR) Laboratory aimed at showcasing the vital role of biomedical scientists, the hidden heroes of healthcare, to the next generation!
The VR experience allows users to act as biomedical scientists, analysing a urine sample with realistic equipment, thus highlighting the field’s complexities and significance.
The VR lab was used at career fairs to attract school leavers.
The project required close collaboration, innovative solutions and thorough user testing.
The immersive experience, set in a spacecraft-like environment, made biomedical science exciting, enjoyable and therefore memorable.
Results included over 200 students engaging with the VR at autumn career fairs, a microsite receiving substantial viewer engagement, and a social media campaign reaching over hundreds of thousands. The project successfully raised awareness and inspired students about careers in biomedical science, with positive feedback from both IBMS members and students.
A student at a careers fair summed it up best:
“I love science, but I never knew this kind of career was possible!”
The project demonstrated LIQUONA’s creativity, innovation, and effective partnership with IBMS, evidencing their genuinely collaborative approach.
Royal College of General Practitioners and Wonderly
The RCGP and Wonderly have been working together since 2016, to produce, develop and deliver the RCGP Annual Conference and Exhibition – the College’s annual flagship membership event.
Our partnership has spanned more than eight years, a period that can sometimes lead to a decline in enthusiasm. However, the last year and a half has been exceptionally dynamic and successful, thanks to a highly productive strategic shift we’ve undertaken together.
We’ve been asking ourselves a crucial question: in today’s competitive environment, how can membership events remain impactful, sustainable and profitable? We have joined forces to tackle this challenge – working collaboratively to revamp the proposition, ensuring it continues to deliver long-term benefits for members. With this ever-stronger strategic alignment, we have seen more dialogue, more joint research and ideas than ever before.
And the proof is clear. Not only did the 2023 Annual Conference break all records, but we could also reinvest the profits to fund the a new free-for-members global virtual event – the RCGP A Vision for the Future of General Practice – which saw over 3,400 members engaging with the College from all over the world, generating overwhelming positive feedback and enhancing the member value proposition.
Royal College of Psychiatrists and D2L
The Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCPsych) is the professional medical body that supports psychiatrists from training through to retirement. The College sets standards, promotes excellent mental health services, and is the voice of psychiatry. As it trains and educates psychiatrists, training is an important part of RCPsych’s offering to its 21,000 members, 15% of whom are overseas.
To meet the needs of members and psychiatry, RCPsych partners with D2L, a global learning technology leader, as its trusted learning management system provider. In 2023/24, RCPsych wanted to evolve its offering, blending face-to-face and online to reach more of its audience and provide convenient access to content. In particular, it wanted to meet the needs of attendees and non-attendees at its annual congress, deliver an objective to upskill psychiatrists in areas of clinical need including autism and public mental health, and maximise insights from the programmes to optimise learner support. It achieved these goals by working with D2L on two significant new courses, both of which offer features for more in-depth learning experiences, a Congress Webinar
Library that has improved access to content, and sophisticated data analytics that support continuous improvement.
Scottish Plant Owners Association
In May 2023, the SPOA partnered with the Scottish Partnership Against Acquisitive Crime (SPAACE) to tackle plant and fuel theft across Scotland. The campaign was the first crime prevention campaign to be delivered by SPAACE.
SPAACE is a multi-agency partnership involving key organisations collectively working to tackle acquisitive crime, which is defined as high volume crime often targeting the most vulnerable.
The SPOA created a campaign to tackle plant and fuel theft across Scotland which was fronted by a Police Scotland liveried JCB 3CX, generously loaned by SPOA members JCB and Scot JCB. For 12 months, the JCB 3CX, which soon became known as the ‘machine on a mission’, attended events all over Scotland with representatives from the SPOA and Police Scotland to raise awareness of this form of acquisitive crime and offer advice to plant owners.
Over 25 free information events took place all over Scotland, ensuring that plant owners had the opportunity to come and speak to Police Scotland and get advice on how to avoid being a victim of plant and fuel theft.
Thanks to the campaign, Police Scotland has changed the crime reporting process to include a specific ‘construction crime’ tag which did not previously exist.
