CAMPAIGN PROPOSAL

UPright

Strength training: the missing prescription

An executive boardroom series on the musculoskeletal crisis facing UK offices


Rosie Macdonald, CBM Solutions, for Ultimate Performance

The Brief

Simply put. UP want more sign-ups.

The Right Clients

UP's clients are people who can afford the programme. Enterprise and corporate clients are the most direct route to them.

Proof of Concept

The Workplace Wellness Assembly showed the interest UP garners in a senior room, but corporate partnerships offer a stronger likelihood of sign-ups at larger volumes with a higher chance of sustained programme use.

The Solution

UPright builds a series designed to put UP in the right room repeatedly, on a subject UP owns.

THE OPPORTUNITY

Every office in Britain has a musculoskeletal problem on its balance sheet

Musculoskeletal disorders account for more sickness absence than mental health, and they are the only major category still rising.

Every large corporate business treats it as an ergonomics line item and forks out thousands for better chairs and standing desks. But this isn't acknowledging the cause.

THE OPPORTUNITY: THE SCALE

More than half of British workers had a back or joint problem last year

Musculoskeletal problems are the most reported health condition in the UK workforce, and the only major category still rising. With 20.8m people in the UK affected by arthritis and related musculoskeletal conditions - the single biggest cause of pain and disability.

51%

Of UK employees had a musculoskeletal problem last year

Backache and joint problems are the most reported health condition of any kind. Ahead of anxiety at 43% and depression at 24%.

21.7m

Working days lost to musculoskeletal problems in 2025

Musculoskeletal problems account for 14.6% of all sickness absence, against mental health at 8.9%.

14

Working days lost per case

Every musculoskeletal case costs an employer an average of fourteen working days.

7.1m

Working days lost due to work-related musculoskeletal disorders in 2024/25

With 173,000 workers suffering from a new case of a work-related musculoskeletal disorder in the same year.

CIPD

CIPD | Health and wellbeing at work

Welcome to the CIPD’s biennial survey exploring health, wellbeing and absence in UK workplaces in partnership with Simplyhealth.

CIPD Good Work Index, 2025

Office for National Statistics

Sickness absence in the UK labour market

Sickness absence rates of workers in the UK labour market, including number of days lost and reasons for absence. These are official statistics in development.

CBM analysis of ONS sickness absence data, May 2026

www.hse.gov.uk

Working days lost in Great Britain - HSE

Provides estimates of work-related days lost from self-reporting household surveys: the Labour Force Survey (LFS) for workplace injuries and the Self-reported Work-related Illness (SWI) surveys from work related ill health.

Health and Safety Executive, 2024/25

www.hse.gov.uk

Key figures for Great Britain 2024 to 2025 - HSE

Information about HSE statistics including data sources, national, policies, publications and useful links.

Health and Safety Executive, 2024/25

THE OPPORTUNITY: THE COST

What British business is already paying

£2.6bn

Lost profit to UK business every year

That is 21.7 million working days multiplied by the government's own estimate of £120 in lost profit per sick day.

£22.9bn

Total cost of workplace injury and ill health to Great Britain

Of that, £16.4bn comes from ill health rather than injury.

Office for National Statistics

Sickness absence in the UK labour market

Sickness absence rates of workers in the UK labour market, including number of days lost and reasons for absence. These are official statistics in development.

CBM analysis of ONS data and the government commissioned Keep Britain Working report

www.hse.gov.uk

Costs to Great Britain of workplace injuries and new cases of work-related Ill Health – 2022/23 - HSE

Updated estimates show the total cost associated with workplace injuries and ill health in Great Britain in 2010/11 to be some £13.8 billion in 2011 prices. This is the most recent period for which full data are available. This total has fallen since 2006/07, reflecting the downward movements in injury and illness numbers.

Health and Safety Executive, 2023/24

£3.3 - 3.9bn

Annual cost of work-related musculoskeletal disorders

www.hse.gov.uk

Costs to Great Britain of workplace injuries and new cases of work-related Ill Health – 2022/23 - HSE

Updated estimates show the total cost associated with workplace injuries and ill health in Great Britain in 2010/11 to be some £13.8 billion in 2011 prices. This is the most recent period for which full data are available. This total has fallen since 2006/07, reflecting the downward movements in injury and illness numbers.

CBM analysis applying HSE's musculoskeletal share of new cases (23.7%) and days lost (19.9%) to HSE's £16.4bn cost of work-related ill health

Health and Safety Executive, 2023/24

£24,200

The average cost of a single work-related

ill health case

www.hse.gov.uk

Costs to Great Britain of workplace injuries and new cases of work-related Ill Health – 2022/23 - HSE

Updated estimates show the total cost associated with workplace injuries and ill health in Great Britain in 2010/11 to be some £13.8 billion in 2011 prices. This is the most recent period for which full data are available. This total has fallen since 2006/07, reflecting the downward movements in injury and illness numbers.

That is HSE's own estimate, per case, before any account of lost output from those working through it.

THE CAMPAIGN ANGLES

One cause. One intervention.

Many costly issues for UK businesses

Each of the below represents a campaign angle, a conversation starter, and a reason for businesses to act. With careful positioning the issue of strength can be tackled in UK businesses.

Widespread oesteoporosis

An aging population

The strength training knowledge gap

Half of women and a fifth of men over 50 will break a bone because of it.

There are 3.5m people in the UK live with osteoporosis.

27,000 working people are forced out of their jobs by the condition every year. By the time it does, the damage is already done.

26% forecast rise in fragility fractures by 2034

Driven by a 13% increase in the over-50 population. The pipeline is already visible.

According to the UK government, adults over 45 are 2-3 X more likely to suffer with muscular skeletal problems.


43% of UK adults fail the Chief Medical Officer's strength guidelines

32% do no strength work at all.

ukactive, Shaping a New Era of Strength Training

The menopause bone density clock

Increase in GLP-1 drugs

Bone mineral density cannot be rebuilt after menopause. It can only be maintained.

Strength training is the only intervention with the evidence base to do it - and almost no workplace is offering it. You cannot build bone mineral density after menopause. That is a clinical fact and almost no workplace is communicating it.

20 to 50% Of the weight lost on GLP-1 medication is lean body mass.

With 6kg of lean mass lost on average. The equivalent of 10 years of ageing.

This issue compounds when you see that 45 to 55 is the age band where UK use of these drugs peaks.

All data from the Royal Osteoporosis Society, 2025

THE IDEA

An enterprise event series taken into boardrooms on the costly musculoskeletal crisis facing UK offices.

The room

Around 30 senior professionals. Hosted in the client's own boardroom or event space.

Guest list built to a defined seniority bar.

HR, heads of people and C-suite decision-makers for employee benefits.

One event proves the system.



The panel

  1. A UP trainer who can demonstrate strength techniques and make the expertise visible.
  1. An independent doctor making the case for strength as prevention for Osteoporosis and other muscular issues.
  1. An HR leader who has run a workplace movement initiative that worked, to provide advice.
  1. A wildcard seat to be determined based on budget, individual office/sector. i.e. an influencer, a life coach, someone who specialises in building habits etc.

What every attendee leaves with

  1. A free health check for UP
  1. A first session offer extended in the room.
  1. Actionable takeaways to start their strength building journey.
  1. A DEXA scan incentive (similar to UPs blood work initiative, but more campaign specific and relevant to the current discourse around GLP-1s).

The topic

The Physical Health Gap

A boardroom conversation about the one workplace health problem that has no named programme, and no sign of slowing down.
Other name suggestions:

  • The Physical Health Gap - direct, data-led, positions the evening as a strategic briefing rather than a wellness session
  • The Strength Deficit - more specific to the intervention; works well if UP wants to own the language
  • The Missing People Programme - provocative for an HR audience; implies they already know something is absent

Education from the top down. The subject is credible enough to justify the seniority of the room.

THE EXECUTIVE PACKAGE

The DEXA Incentive

A complimentary bone density scan, extended to the people most likely to act on it.

Purpose

To accelerate sign-ups, deepen retention, and give decision-makers a personal stake in the outcome, before they've left the room.

What it is

A DEXA scan measures bone mineral density, the single most accurate way to understand where someone stands on the path to osteoporosis. Privately it costs £85 to £250, and £200 to £300 at a private hospital.


Offered complimentary to a select group of attendees as part of the UPright experience.

Who gets it

A few options depending on the event:

  • The first five sign-ups to the UP programme from the room (post trial), creating urgency and a clear conversion moment. - Strongest close
  • A personal invite to C-suite attendees only, positioning the scan as an exclusive executive benefit rather than a general offer. - Most exclusive
  • A 6 month sandwiched offer: one taken at the start and then after 6 months - with results shared for both at 6 months. - Richest retention

Why it works

It turns a conversation about strength into a personal data point.


An attendee who has their bone density measured is no longer thinking about this in the abstract.


They are thinking about themselves. That is the moment the programme becomes relevant to decision makers.

The scan is the bridge between education and action. It makes the case for UP personally, not generally.

creating a movement

Data Strategy

A national survey initiative is the foot in the door. The event is the opportunity to close. PR drives the conversation and keeps urgency top-of mind.

A national survey as outreach

Offices are invited to take part in the first UK national workplace strength survey; contributing their voice to a national conversation about workplace health. (The hook)

Proactive PR cycle

A three-month PR campaign running after each event with angles built from the survey data, event insights and research data.

Why?


This gives the outreach a cause rather than a sales ask. It raises awareness of a health issue that most organisations haven't considered, and positions UP as the people leading that conversation.

The survey earns the relationship. Once an office has had their say, there is a natural and credible reason to follow up:

"here is what the research is telling us - would you like to be in the room when we discuss it?"

Every completed response adds to a growing data set on how UK businesses think about strength, muscle health and workforce resilience. The more offices that take part, the stronger the story.

In the room, attendees are directed to complete it if they have not already - capturing the right people at the right moment.

The survey is the in.
The event is the close.

Why?


Original data is one of the best tools you can use to obtain press coverage, and the coverage itself acts as leverage.

Yes it raises your profile, but it's also a strategic mechanism.

  • You raise awareness for the campaign
  • You show credibility and authority to large organisations
  • It maintains the momentum and presence: therefore the relevance
  • You have social assets you can continue to share, and on-site articles you can continue to publish which feeds your overall SEO (including AI).
  • UP becomes a thought leader on strength
  • The data can feed UPs overall pitch across all channels and materials
  • GLP-1s are a live and active press discussion. You have the opportunity to become a part of a discourse that top press have continued to show sustained interest in, and will continue to do so as data sets continue to evolve.

PR should be used as part of a wider strategy, not a singular ROI generating machine.

The PR cycle turns one evening into three months of presence. The series earns its place in the conversation long after the room empties.

HOW WE WORK

Connected infrastructure, evidence-led

Example of the WWA email infrastructure build for attendees

Discovery and insight

Enough of a look at current metrics to agree what good looks like before anything is built.

Build

Research foundation, narrative framework, audience segmentation, email architecture, brand system. Survey creation.

Built once, carried across every event in the series.

Delivery

Host company secured, panel assembled, room filled, event run. Host company utilised for internal comms

Measurement and follow-up

Sign-ups tracked to source. Follow-up sequenced and automated, so nothing expires quietly.

Collateral (Ideas)

  • A white paper to offer each host office, which reveals their staff's responses alongside insights from their event. (Doubles as a UP quarterly white paper).
  • End of year report with all survey data aggregated. This can break down into blogs, social posts, outreach assets etc.
  • Monthly LinkedIn newsletter for the UPright campaign (The Strength Gap). Data, insights and following the angles most relevant to HR and large enterprise businesses, to put UP in front of the right people on the right platform.

The Assembly proved the method. The assets it produced are the reason event one does not start from a blank page.

WWA - THE proof

UP has already seen the work first hand

Note: these statistics are from the Leeds office. Known interest and sign-ups from London have not been included.

36

Senior professionals In the room
A 78.3% show rate

Against a 40 to 60% industry benchmark for free in-person events, and 19% up on the client's previous best.

11

Showed intent

4 signed to the programme, 2 took a first session, 5 more expressed interest

1

Partnership closed

Endless LLP secured from the room

1

Partnership in the works

DWF in conversation

The room UP wanted

JPMorgan, KPMG, Knight Frank, Endless LLP, Leeds Building Society, Eversheds Sutherland and more

The system, not the event

An automated sequence, an audience framework, a design system, a landing page.

www.abstract-group.com

Workplace Wellness Assembly

Founded in the North, the Assembly brings board members, C-suite and senior decision-makers together from across the UK, to hear from wellness experts and one another, and to compare what is and isn't working inside their organisations. The goal: to take away implementable ideas and techniques that improve both their workforce and their own wellbeing.

All reusable, which is why the series is affordable.

This happened at an event that was not designed around UP's retention or conversion. UPright would be.

DELIVERY

Built once, then repeated

In scope

Build phase, carried across the series:

  • Base metric review and agreed evaluation criteria
  • Research foundation on muscle, osteoporosis and GLP-1
  • Audience hook framework and narrative
  • UPright identity and design system
  • Email automation and segmentation build
  • HTML microsite
  • Panel packs and invitation letter templates
  • Host and MC script

National workplace strength survey & event:

  • Host company approach and negotiation
  • Panel identification and outreach
  • Guest list build and registration management
  • Survey question design
  • Run sheet, on-day delivery and compering
  • Post-event sequence and recap content
  • Event measurement report

Quarterly:

  • White paper from aggregated survey data

Out of scope

  • Paid media of any kind
  • Guaranteed coverage or placement volumes
  • UP's own sales conversations after the introduction is made
  • Venue and catering costs
  • Filming and photography production costs
  • [Anything else agreed at scoping]

Event one carries the build. Every event after it draws on a system that already exists.

MEASUREMENT

What success looks like

Primary

Programme sign-ups attributed to the series

Tracked from room and any shared links (survey, collateral etc), through to booking. The number the campaign is judged on.

Supporting

Trial sessions booked

The intermediate step, and the earliest signal of whether a room is converting.

Room quality

Share of attendees at decision-maker level, against the bar agreed at discovery.

Host demand

Companies asking to host the next one. The measure of whether the series compounds.

Targets are set against UP's current acquisition numbers at discovery. No performance guarantees.

Strategic Foundations

Why Me?

Relationships That Become Resources

My entire career is built on cultivating contacts that turn into opportunities. PR and communications ARE event management at the strategic level. My contact book from doing this work over the years has it's advantages.

Omnichannel Depth That Prevents Missed Opportunities

I bring breadth across organic marketing, SEO, digital strategy, and social media management. I've run social calendars for tech and capability consultancies. I don't just execute - I connect every channel so nothing falls through the cracks.

Proven Reach & Impact

My written work has generated 6.78 million views with a 1.45 billion audience reach. I've managed 5 major web migrations, including one with 45+ offices worldwide. I understand how to build systems that scale.

Strategic Precision Over Volume

I structure my outreach strategically. Personalised methods, specialised delivery. Knowing who to reach out to when and how. Getting that right requires communications expertise, not just event logistics.

The Numbers: Coverage & Scale

The Numbers: Proven Reach & Technical Execution

6.78M

Views Generated

My written/covered work has
generated 6.78 million views.

1.45B

Audience Reach

My work has reached an audience of
1.45 billion across various platforms.

5

Major Web Migrations

Successfully managed 5 major website migrations - one across 45+ global offices.

+2,285

LinkedIn Impressions %

Using organic LinkedIn strategy. This approach also saw +637.5% in followers.

These aren't vanity metrics. They demonstrate an ability to build infrastructure that performs at scale. This can transform a single event into a sustainable platform.

COMPETITIVE EDGE

Agencies vs. Strategic Infrastructure

The Agency Reality

  • You're one client in a crowded portfolio
  • A few hours a month at premium rates
  • Junior account managers executing templates
  • Billable hours mentality - every email costs
  • Cookie-cutter playbooks recycled across clients
  • They move on after the event; no skin in the game

What You Actually Get With Me

  • Dedicated weeks of up to 5 full working days when needed
  • Senior-level strategy and execution throughout
  • Fixed commitment - no surprise invoices
  • Custom infrastructure built for your specific needs
  • I'm invested in making this repeatable and scalable

Agencies sell you their time. I'm building your capability. The difference is whether you're renting expertise or investing in infrastructure.

THE REVIEWS

What's It Like Working With Me?

"Rosie is one of the most passionate and solution-focused people I have had the pleasure of working with. Over the years we worked together on campaigns, I never failed to see her taking a strategic and common sense approach to the task and hand, whilst going above and beyond to optimise the wider team, and company as a whole."

— Dan Davis, CEO Uncommon Growth

"We've worked with Rosie on a few different projects, and it's always a pleasure. She's extremely knowledgeable and strategic. Her passion and dedication always shine through, making for a very productive and easy client-agency relationship."

— Nick Sankey, Head of Marketing at Keeyns

"...From the offset [Rosie] was motivating, clear, organised and excellent at keeping all stakeholders and contractors involved in the project. She brings a brilliant, open energy to the room and delivers what she says she will. I loved working with Rosie."

— Chloe Lowe, Co-Founder Concrete Wall Club

"You curated the evening brilliantly."

Eamon Fox, Partner and Office Head Leeds, Knight Frank

"Well done for the organisation, it was a great event."

Jonathan Grice, Partner, KPMG

highlights

Campaigns, Coverage & Partnerships



Next Steps

Next steps

01

Scope refinement

Agree the number of events, the target sectors for host companies, and the success criteria.

02

Cost proposal

A deliverable-level breakdown, split between the one-off build and the per-event cycle.

03

Timeline

Lock the first host company and a date for event one.

The Assembly proved a senior room will turn out for this subject. UPright puts UP at the front of it.