We’re delighted to win the Best Association Team category at the 2023 Association Excellence Awards.

Our Marketing and Communications Team were nominated for their innovative, creative and collaborative approach to championing the skills, competence and contribution of our members to the public and the media.

Variety of projects

The award recognised a series of projects the team have been involved in that deliver on Goal 5 of our 2019-2023 organisational strategy: “championing the skills, competence and contribution of our members to the public”.

This includes working with a social media agency to deliver our first-ever social advertising campaign across Facebook and Instagram, alongside a Google AdWords campaign helping those seeking therapy to find a BACP therapist.

Every year, the team also runs our Public Perception Survey (PPS) delivering a qualitative research survey to 5,000 respondents from the public. This helps us to understand awareness of, and changing attitudes towards, counselling and psychotherapy. We use the results to underpin our media work and support our Policy Team.

In 2022, the survey delivered 43 pieces of national press and online coverage, significantly raising the profile of BACP and our members, and reaching over 7,000,000 people.

The team worked with the media agency 23Red on a series of successful projects including our Therapy Talks video, which aimed to demystify therapy and answer common questions about seeing a therapist, our Mindometer survey into the state of the nation’s mental health, and most recently our Anxiety Is… campaign for Mental Health Awareness Week.

These initiatives are all part of our continuing work to ensure more people are aware of counselling, how it can help and how to access a registered BACP therapist.

Judges’ comments

The judges were impressed with the range and reach of our campaigns, commenting:

“Strong, well-evidenced entry demonstrating huge return on investment for both the Association and its Members.”

“This team is really delivering for its members.”

Adam Pollard, our Head of Marketing and Engagement, said:

“As a team, we’re absolutely delighted to have had our efforts recognised in this way.

“This award belongs to every member of the team – past and present – and is testament to the hard work, resilience and passion my amazing colleagues bring to their challenging roles, every single day.”

“I’m so proud of the positive work we’ve delivered on behalf of members over the last year, particularly our ongoing campaign to raise awareness of therapy with the public, and we’re all looking forward to continuing this into 2024.”

The Association Excellence Awards celebrate and recognise the vital work that associations, trade bodies, professional organisations and chartered institutes do for and on behalf of their members to ensure their voices are heard and their causes are championed.

and encourage the vital work that associations, trade bodies, professional organisations and chartered institutes do for and on behalf of their members to ensure their voices are heard and their causes are championed.