NHS THE PEOPLE’S MEDAL
How do you thank 19,500 NHS employees in recognition of their individual effort during the C-19 pandemic?
South Tees NHS Foundation Trust and the charity asked us to devise, design and deliver an original idea to meet the needs of the organisation wanting to roll-out a special Employee Recognition scheme to acknowledge the individual effort of each employee during the pandemic.

Our Process
Our Kind by Design workshop program was delivered to delve into the challenge and give NHS employees a voice. The workshops illuminated the immense human qualities of kindness, care and compassion staff gave to patients and each other. Emotive and heartfelt stories unfolded about the personal impact of the pandemic. Persistency, resilience and the need for love and connection at a time of huge uncertainty were repeated in these powerful stories.
Design
Designing a fitting solution was critical to the success of the brief. We wanted an outward symbol that conveyed heartfelt thanks from the NHS towards employees for protecting patients and one other during the height of the pandemic.
We wanted to honour the enormous gesture and extra-ordinary efforts made by NHS employees to keep people safe. We came up with the idea of The People’s Medal and we asked Global Artist and Teesside native, Mackenzie Thorpe for a bespoke design. The design was then placed onto a small, but beautifully designed, precious keepsake for staff to wear with pride.
Project Management
We managed every aspect of this project a creative collaboration between OOK, Global Artist Mackenzie Thorpe and Pin Your Thanks. From devising the idea to the bespoke artwork brief for Mackenzie, all the way through to the manufacturing and production of thousands of medals. Including the product packaging design with a personalised letter to accompany The People’s Medal.
Marketing & Publicity
We managed the PR and marketing and for maximum impact we strategically distributed the medal across multiple hospitals within one week. The resulting response from staff was significantly overwhelming and extremely humbling. The People’s Medal received national media coverage with Boris Johnson, the then Prime Minister praising the initiative live in Prime Ministers Questions.
We did this project pro-bono to say Thanks to our NHS
