UK Volume 20

bhf.org.uk superbrands.uk.com British Heart Foundation Superbrands UK Annual Vol.20 for families and loved ones affected by these conditions, by funding research to identify preventions, diagnosis, treatments and cures. This gives supporters a clear understanding of what their support can achieve. In addition, communications highlight the full scope of the BHF’s research. Focus is placed not only on heart disease but more than 50 conditions including circulatory diseases like stroke and vascular dementia as well as risk factors such as diabetes. This broadens the BHF’s appeal and enables the charity to engage on a more emotional level. The BHF brought this new promise to life with a flexible, modern look and feel called ‘Activate the Beat’. This creative idea drives everything that the BHF does, both emotionally and visually. It is activated by the Big Beat logo and design system that creates a dynamic, pulsing expression that beats with the pace of life. It also includes a unique typeface for headlines that takes inspiration from the logo, conveying a unique, warm and bespoke feel. Promotion There is a preconception that the BHF only funds heart research. Its work in other circulatory diseases such as vascular dementia or stroke and their risk factors such as diabetes often goes unrecognised. To help launch its new brand promise, the BHF released a campaign in 2018 that informed people of its broader remit, and explained that the conditions are all connected. ‘It starts with your heart’ highlighted that if your heart isn’t beating and your blood isn’t flowing properly then you’re in trouble, which is why the BHF’s research ‘may start with your heart, but it doesn’t stop there’. This campaign successfully informed people of the BHF’s wider work, helped increase consideration to donate, and portrayed the BHF as a more modern, forward- facing organisation. It saw a departure from its previous communication strategy that aimed to raise awareness of the sudden and unexpected devastation that heart diseases can cause, to anyone at any time, which saw significant increases in urgency metrics. Brand Values Every day, BHF staff and volunteers live and breathe its values – compassionate, brave, informed and driven – to beat the heartbreak caused by heart and circulatory diseases. These values inspire staff to be fearless in their approach to everything they do; they are encouraged to try new things and innovate, inspired by the pioneering breakthroughs by BHF researchers. The British Heart Foundation (BHF) promises to beat the heartbreak caused by the world’s biggest killers : heart and circulatory diseases. In 2018 it raised £136.4m to fund groundbreaking research . Since the charity was formed, its research has helped halve the number of people in the UK dying from heart and circulatory diseases Market There are nearly 170,000 registered charities in the UK and the British Heart Foundation is number three in YouGov’s Charity Brand Index. The BHF is a medical research charity and for over 50 years has pioneered life saving research. However in the UK, more than seven million people are living with heart and circulatory diseases and more than 1 in 4 people still die from these conditions – that’s one death every three minutes. Despite this, other diseases are often seen as more worrying and receive more generous funding. The BHF currently funds over half of all the independent heart and circulatory research carried out in the UK, supporting around £100m of new, inventive research projects each year. In addition, BHF scientists have developed new technology that could predict people at risk of a heart attack years before it occurs, allowing them to be given preventative treatments. In 2019, the BHF opened applications for its Big Beat Challenge – one of the world’s largest research grants to bring together knowledge and talent from around the globe. The winning project will receive £30m, with the potential to revolutionise the prevention, diagnosis or treatment of any heart and circulatory conditions. The BHF’s retail estate is the largest in the sector with around 730 shops across the UK, generating over £27.7m net profit annually. There are more than 3,350 paid staff, a network of over 20,000 volunteers and 18 million customers a year. The eBay store, which raises around £3m a year, was started by a few dedicated volunteers above a shop in 2006 – demonstrating the culture of innovation throughout the BHF. The BHF holds numerous fundraising events including its flagship event, the annual London to Brighton Bike Ride, which has been running for 41 years. Product As well as investing over £100m – the majority of its income – into life saving research each year, the BHF also works with patients and the public to improve the nation’s health. It supports people affected by heart and circulatory diseases and offers high-quality information to those affected. This includes providing online information and support on heart and circulatory diseases and their risk factors as well as distributing five million health resources in the UK each year. Another key area is the development and implementation of programmes to improve cardiac arrest survival rates, which include supporting CPR training in schools and the development of a database to make public defibrillators easier to locate in the event of a cardiac arrest. The BHF has joined forces with Microsoft and the NHS to create a database of all UK public-access defibrillators, to significantly improve the survival chances of people who suffer an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in the future. The BHF also encourages people to know their blood pressure and cholesterol numbers and runs trials to take and apply their research findings into clinical settings. Influencing government and healthcare systems to create policy and legislative change on issues such as pollution, salt and sugar levels in food is also of importance. Achievements 2018 was a strong year for the BHF. YouGov named it as the UK’s most popular entry in their list, which ranks the popularity of anything and everything in the UK. A total of 87% of people surveyed liked the BHF, putting it in joint top position alongside Sir David Attenborough. Also in 2018, Morar HPI released a new league table ranking UK charity brand values. This saw the British Heart Foundation valued at £1.2bn, the second most valuable charity brand. The BHF is a passionate campaigner. Following years of lobbying, the Government announced plans to make CPR a compulsory part of the secondary school curriculum in England. Another example is the enforced change to cigarette packaging – they must now be sold in plain packaging with graphic health warning messages. As a result of another tireless campaign, the Government announced its intention to establish Max and Keira’s law – an opt-out system for organ donation in England in the name of heart transplant patient, campaigner and BHF advocate Max Johnson and the little girl whose heart saved him. Recent Developments Insight has shown that whilst many people in the UK recognised the BHF, not enough people knew what the charity does. Following an in-depth strategic brand review, the BHF launched a future- facing, outcome-led promise to ‘Beat Heartbreak Forever’. This was developed to raise awareness of what the BHF is here to do: beat heartbreak More than 1 in 4 of us die from heart and circulatory diseases each year in the UK, that’s nearly 170,000 people DIDYOU KNOW? Brand History 1961 Facing a national epidemic, with heart and circulatory diseases causing more than half of all deaths in the UK, concerned doctors joined forces with philanthropists to establish the British Heart Foundation. 1968 Surgeon Mr Donald Ross performs the first UK heart transplant following five years of BHF-funded research into transplant surgery techniques. 1976 BHF Professor Michael Davies proves that heart attacks are caused by blood clots in the coronary arteries, setting the stage for a revolution in life saving heart attack treatment. 1995 Two trials, led by BHF Professor Stuart Cobbe and Professor Sir Rory Collins respectively, show the life saving benefit of statins. 2011 BHF-funded Dr Paul Riley shows that heart cells can be activated to repair damage caused by a heart attack, demonstrating the transformative potential of regenerative medicine. 2017 The BHF celebrates 50 years since pioneering research funded by the BHF led to the first human heart transplant. In addition, approximately 14,000 cyclists take part in the iconic London to Brighton Bike Ride, together raising more than £2.8m for life saving BHF research. 2019 BHF-funded Professor Philip Bath is trying to find out whether a simple adhesive patch that delivers a drug through the skin improves the outcomes of people who have a stroke. It is applied to a patient’s shoulder or back and administers a drug whilst a patient is travelling to hospital. The ability to start treating patients within an hour could revolutionise stroke treatment and lead to this technique being adopted worldwide. ‘It starts with your heart’ 2018 brand campaign