Not in my Cuppa wins PR industry ‘Oscar’

The World Society for the Protection of Animals’ (WSPA UK) dairy campaign Not in my Cuppa has won a prestigious industry award, facing down stiff competition from fellow shortlisted organisations such as Facebook, Macmillan Cancer Support and Age UK.

The Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) 2011 Excellence Awards, held in London last night, recognise and reward best practice in public relations throughout the UK, acknowledging personal and team achievement at the highest professional level. The awards, now in their 26th year, attracted around 700 entries across 27 categories.

Feedback from the judges

The campaign, which aims to prevent the spread of mega dairies in Britain, was voted as a unanimous winner in the Public Affairs category by the judging panel who said:

WSPA's 'Not in my Cuppa' campaign displayed creativity, and went beyond the standard public affairs approaches under a single engaging concept. The campaign demonstrated effective use of external agency support and resulted in the withdrawal of the proposal for the UK's first battery farm for cows. This campaign has repositioned WSPA from a purely fundraising organisation to one recognized for advocacy. It would not be an overstatement to say that their work has changed the future of British farming and established WSPA's reputation as a force for the future.

Through the Not in my Cuppa campaign, WSPA UK has seen some great successes over the past 18 months, as well as tremendous support from MPs of all parties.

It doesn’t stop here

WSPA UK's Not in my Cuppa wins Public Affairs CIPR Excellence Award

© WSPA

Suzi Morris, WSPA UK Director explained: “Winning a CIPR Excellence Award is incredibly exciting for the World Society for the Protection of Animals, not least because Not in my Cuppa is our first UK campaign. We are hugely proud of our work to stop the spread of mega dairies in Britain, having united charities and MPs to speak out against the threat of US-style dairy farming. We successfully worked with these groups to overturn two applications for mega dairies – most notably the Nocton Dairies’ 3,770 cow proposal, which would have been the largest in Britain and could have put up to 100 dairy farms out of business.”

Suzi added: “Thank you to all of our supporters who have signed up to Not in my Cuppa and helped us spread the word. We won’t stop until we know that factory milk from battery cows will never be allowed in Britain.”

Catch up with the campaign so far…

• Feb 2010: Nocton Dairies put forward plans for 8,100 cow mega dairy
• Mar 2010: WSPA objects to Nocton Dairies’ plans
• May 2010: WSPA runs pre-election campaign, after which around 50 elected MPs commit to fighting the intensification of the UK dairy industry
• Jun 2010: WSPA’s first victory comes after plans for a second mega dairy in South Witham are withdrawn due to fierce opposition. Nocton Dairies’ also temporarily withdraw plans.
• Jun 2010: WSPA signs up to support Nocton residents’ grassroots organisation Campaign Against Factory Farming Operations (CAFFO)
• Jul 2010: WSPA collaborates with other leading organisations including: Campaign to Protect Rural England, Compassion in World Farming, 38 Degrees, Friends of the Earth and the Soil Association
• Aug 2010: WSPA issues their report into the holistic case against mega dairies in the UK (Not on my cornflakes)
• Sep 2010: WSPA publicly launches Not in my Cuppa
• Sep 2010: WSPA and the Ecologist publish an undercover expose of the USA intensive dairy industry, later named as one of the Ecologist’s ‘top 20 reads of 2010’
• Oct 2010:HRH Prince Charles openly speaks out against mega dairies and a host of celebrities including the cast of Emmerdale, Leona Lewis, Alexandra Burke, Twiggy and Miranda Richardson encourage people to join them in saying “not in my cuppa”
• Oct 2010: WSPA and Compassion co-host a parliamentary reception on dairy farming, attended by over 50 MPs, where an Early Day Motion was tabled with cross party support, against the intensification of the dairy industry.
• Nov 2010: Nocton Dairies resubmit their planning application, reducing the scale of the farm to house 3,770 cows. WSPA undertakes a second US trip, to meet with expert academics and view the ‘best’ of intensive dairy farms.
• Dec 2010: The Not in my Cuppa team meets with Defra
• Jan 2010: Over 14,000 objections are made to North Kesteven Council against Nocton Dairies’ planning application.
• Feb 2011:Not in my Cuppa releases tongue in cheek ballad between a farmer and his cow, entitled ‘Our love is in your cornflakes’ and Stephen Fry tweets his support for the campaign.
• Feb 17th 2011: Nocton Dairies’ withdraw their plans and WSPA’s campaign is profiled in Farmers’ Weekly.
• April 2011:Not in my Cuppashortlisted for Dods Charity of the Year against Age UK and Mind.
• April 2011: WSPA publicly opposes Welsh mega dairy plans and works with the Ecologist on their ‘what’s in your cuppa’ expose, as well as releasing a joint report with the Soil Association on the effect of intensive farming on small farmers
• June 2011:Not in my Cuppa wins Public Affairs CIPR Excellence Award - read our case study online >>