phs Group scoops project of the year accolade at Business Charity Awards

Hygiene specialist phs Group took home a prestigious award recently having being shortlisted in four categories at the 2024 Business Charity Awards. Its campaign work with the men’s health charity, Prostate Cancer UK, won the award for Project of the Year, having been shortlisted for three awards in the Innovation category including Employee Engagement Initiative of the Year, Marketing Partnership of the Year and Project of the Year. It was also shortlisted for Short-Term Partnership of the year. It also received a highly commended nod for its employee engagement initiative.

It is the first time that the leading professional services provider, which has 120,000 customers in 300,000 locations in the UK, has entered the awards. The awards were held at the Marriot Hotel on Grosvenor Square on Thursday 16 May 2024.

phs Group has been working with the charity Prostate Cancer UK, since summer 2022. The partnership’s goal has been to raise awareness and break the taboos surrounding male incontinence as well as increasing the provision of incontinence bins in washrooms across the UK.

The award-winning campaign, Dispose With Dignity, aims to better support men who are suffering from urinary incontinence, a common side-effect of life-saving prostate cancer treatment. One in eight men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime, rising to one in four Black men. Of these men, after surgery, 60% will experience incontinence at some stage, many for just a few weeks, while others may experience this longer-term.

The ‘Dispose with Dignity’ project was launched by Prostate Cancer UK and phs Group to the public in February 2023, with the publication of co-authored new research into the experience of men living with urinary incontinence. Successful against all its objectives, the campaign included:

Launch of specially designed and co-branded bin for male incontinence products, co-branded with Prostate Cancer UK, now utilised in 7000 sites - workplaces, service stations & local authority facilities.

Equality Campaigning – Male incontinence is a serious issue, affecting far more men across wider ages than previously thought. As a result of this project, the issue has been discussed in public and private across parliament, and the Health & Safety Executive is set to consult on stipulating that sanitary bins should be supplied in all washrooms.

Awareness Raising – Conversations with the charity’s beneficiaries taught the partnership that men want to talk about male incontinence, backed up by research. Their voice was central to the campaign – achieving 159 pieces of coverage, circulation above 28.5 million and reach of over 85 million.

Parliamentary Influence & Legislative Change - Over 2,600 people wrote to their MP, 16 parliamentary questions were tabled, and a Westminster Hall Debate was secured by the partnership.

On the employee engagement side - phs Group had 664 colleagues take part in a fundraising activity to hit 60million steps within 2 weeks. The business extended the challenge to 100million steps, which was also completed. As the workforce hit milestones, phs Group donated over £13,000 from the challenge to Prostate Cancer UK. phs Group employees also used the Prostate Cancer UK risk checker so we knew we were raising awareness of prostate cancer.

Head of Marketing at phs Group, Kelly Greenaway, said: “Being recognised for the Dispose with Dignity campaign is a recognition of years of hard work across multiple organisations, and we couldn’t be prouder. The real reward, is of course, the impact the campaign is making, and the support that’s being provided to men across the UK as the result. It means a lot to us as a business, and I know it does to our associates too. The average colleague at phs Group is a 44-year-old male, so supporting Prostate Cancer UK with their research and awareness of prostate cancer will inevitably one day support our own colleagues or their family and friends. Our purpose as an organisation is putting people at the heart of our products and services, and this work is a great example of doing that.”

The campaign was supported by specialist comms agency ‘Cause. Cardiff and London-based ‘Cause was responsible for co-creating the research, campaign delivery, creating all resource materials and taking the campaign to the UK media, while working in partnership with phs’ 18-strong marketing team.

Kelly Greenaway concluded: “Life-saving prostate cancer treatment and male incontinence, for some men, can go hand in hand, but men are being failed by not having the appropriate facilities to dispose of incontinence products that allow them to live sociable and happy lives. Our aim is to change that, and as our results show, we are well on our way to achieving it.”

Nick Ridgman, Head of Health Information & Clinical Support at Prostate Cancer UK, said: "Since launching the Dispose With Dignity campaign with phs Group, we've already seen huge improvements for men living with incontinence across the whole of the UK. Male incontinence has gone from taboo to national talking point - with politicians discussing the issue in Westminster, Holyrood, and the Welsh Senedd, and sanitary bins increasingly being introduced in men's loos by councils, workplaces, and businesses. We're so happy to be working with phs Group to amplify the voices of men who experience incontinence, and to create lasting change for them. This award is/these awards are a testament to the powerful impact our partnership is making."

Access the full report here: https://www.phs.co.uk/equality/male-incontinence/

https://www.phs.co.uk