Awards are great for a team or individual’s reputation.
But the real gold in such moments is being able to see under the bonnet of the success.
Hearing, seeing and learning what made a piece of work or a person stand out as an award-winner.
The Unawards Masterclass provides that platform for the rest of the public sector to hear from the ceremony’s winners – and for free too. It’s a showcase of what the best comms team and pros out there are up to and how they are doing it.
So, what were the big take-homes for those looking to follow in the winner’s footsteps later this year?
1. Howdy partner 
Central to almost every winner was working in collaboration or partnership, whether with other organisations or agencies, or with colleagues internally.
The Best Collaboration winner, the fostering film shaped by CAN Digital (if you’ve not seen it, have a hanky at the ready), provided an epic example of more than 60 councils putting in a small amount of money to achieve something truly moving and impactful.
But from agency partnerships in Lewisham to provide cost-of-living support to residents, to working with internal data teams to do the same in Buckinghamshire, the best are bringing people together to achieve better outcomes.
Lifetime Achievement winner Ruby Bhattal reminded us that one of communications most underrated roles is as a collaborator and connector.
2. Stat’s the way 
It’s amazing to see the advances comms teams and pros are making in their use of data.
It’s allowing comms to hit harder and provide more unequivocal proof of its strategic use and power.
Lewisham’s analysis of audiences and geography allowed it to target its cost-of-living support to exactly the right people in the right place.
And Buckinghamshire’s mind-blowing aggregation of data from different sources saw it achieve an 845% increase in the number of visits to its Helping Hands website and a 240% increase in people accessing energy bills support.
Add to that great work around audience insights and stakeholder engagement, and it’s clear that those informing and then evaluating their work are leading the way.
3. People power
Trends in creative output and design come and go, but one thing shone through in so many winners – using real people to power their campaigns.
Manchester City Council, winners of the best social media accounts, place a huge focus on being Manc-centric, using local faces and sharing user-generated content.
Lewisham’s winning cost-of-living campaign also featured photography of locals to bring home the real-world impacts, while Staffordshire’s Carbon Bubble campaign took its striking climate change approach to the masses at events.
4. Best behaviour
Behaviour change techniques and approaches have been part of comms chatter for a while now.
But it seems that it has finally becoming mainstream in teams and organisations, and with impressive impacts.
Usually associated with external campaigns and behaviours, it was great to see the EAST (Easy, Attractive, Social, Timely) framework being put to great use in Hertfordshire Council’s winning internal comms campaign to drive a staff fitness initiative.
And the COM-B model (Capability, Opportunity, Motivation) was the bedrock of another Hertfordshire winner, their campaign to tackle ait quality and pollution.
Thanks to Darren Caveney and comms2point0 for putting on the Masterclass. The Unawards will return later this year.
By James Morton
