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Magpies win Community Spirit Award

Magpies win Community Spirit Award

Calderdale Community Spirit Awards, organised by the Community Foundation for Calderdale, aims to celebrate the amazing efforts by local charitable organisations.

Hosted at The Venue, Bowers Mill, the awards took place on Thursday 25th November 2021. It was a moving evening as charities and individuals were recognised for their contribution towards the local community. With multiple categories, Magpies were proud to take home the award for ‘best marketing campaign.’

While presenting the award, one the judges commented, “A sign of a brilliant rebrand is if people call the organisation by the new name, rather than the old one. Magpies have done just that. Initially set up as Pennine Magpie over 20 years ago, they recognised that the charity has evolved and their marketing needed to as well. They run an outreach service, a focus on independent living, and activities at the centre such as art, dance, music, and sports.

The rebrand was well thought out involving service-users, stakeholders and included a new name, changing calling students to members, t-shirts creating a sense of belonging, fresh, fun imagery reflecting the fun, welcoming place Magpies is. They also introduced a new website which puts user experience at the forefront of the design so visitors of all abilities can enjoy using it. They have increased their PR and social media spreading the word about Magpies so they are able to help more people in our local community lead independent and fulfilling lives.”

With their service-users involved in every step of the way during the development of the new brand, Magpies believe this contribution is what has made it such a success. Chloe Beckett, Magpies Communications and Marketing Officer, commented “Our new brand now successfully showcases who we are and what we stand for. We could not have carried this out so successfully without the help of our amazing members. They have driven shaping the future of our service. We would like to thank digital agency, Splitpixel, for helping our vision become a reality.

“We would also like to give special thanks go to Rachel Garrod and the team at Appleyard Lees LLP for sponsoring this award category. It’s the first time that Appleyard Lees have sponsored an award and it’s quite fitting that we won Best Marketing and they specialise in intellectual property law and patent law. It’s nice to see the business community supporting the charity sector.”

The rebrand and marketing campaign certainly didn’t come without challenges, making the award even more rewarding. Chloe added, “one of the biggest challenges was delivering a COVID-safe photoshoot in the middle of the pandemic. Professional, high quality images were essential to the aesthetic of this web project, so we were committed to keeping everyone totally safe. We successfully pulled off this socially distanced shoot and our members loved being a part of this.”

When accepting the award, Magpies member, Nicholas (Nicky) Caufield, also took to the stage and gave a speech. The crowd went wild as he explained how much Magpies means to him. Nicky says, “I am proud to be a member of Magpies”.