Member Article

Vision Van on road to success, with national award win for Vision Express

Vision Express has earned acclaim at this year’s CIM Marketing Excellence Awards in recognition of an initiative to tackle sight-stealing condition glaucoma using its Vision Van.

Hosted by comedian Katherine Ryan at Grosvenor House Hotel in London on Thursday 12 April, Vision Express beat off stiff competition from industry giants such as Natwest, to take home the top accolade in the Best Corporate Social Responsibility category.

Touring the country for World Glaucoma Week 2017 in its mobile eye testing vehicle, the national optical retailer teamed up with charity partner the International Glaucoma Association (IGA) to put the spotlight on glaucoma as the ‘silent thief of sight’, which is the biggest cause of preventable sight loss in the UK.

In the week following the Vision Van tour, Vision Express recorded a record number of online bookings, demonstrating a real need for the initiative.

The tour has also earned finalist positions for Vision Express in the Third Sector Business Charity Awards and the Better Society Awards, with the results due to be announced in awards ceremonies on 23rd and 24th May respectively.

Jonathan Lawson, CEO of Vision Express, said: “It’s fantastic for the team to be recognised for its achievements at the CIM Marketing Excellence Awards.

“Awareness campaigns such as World Glaucoma Week provides the opportune time to raise the profile of vision-related conditions and the importance of maintaining regular eye tests. The work we do with the Vision Van is absolutely unique and enables us to target eye health hot spots around the country where we know there are specific issues.

“This year we’ve launched a brand new vehicle, with support from the Road Haulage Association, which will allow us to continue to take the eye test on the road, making vision care more accessible and boosting detection rates for sight-stealing conditions, including glaucoma and macular degeneration.”

Karen Brewer, head of communications at the IGA commented: “We are delighted that our partnership with Vision Express and the work that we do to raise awareness of glaucoma has been nationally recognised through this award. We have successfully worked together for several years to encourage people to have regular eye health checks in order to detect glaucoma early.

“We look forward to this relationship continuing so that we can help to reach everyone with, or at risk of, glaucoma”.

Vision Express has also been shortlisted in the Public Affairs Campaign category at this year’s CIPR Excellence Awards, for its road safety initiative – Eye Tests Save Lives. It calls on the Government to recognise the dangers to road safety posed by drivers who neglect regular eye tests. The campaign has gained support from MPs and policy-makers, and prompted the DVLA to include an eye test reminder on licence renewal notices.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Vision Express .