uk.superbrands.com Superbrands UK Vol. 24 Market British Heart Foundation (BHF) is the biggest independent funder of cardiovascular research in the UK. It is currently implementing a refreshed strategy that aims to save and improve lives on a more ambitious scale than ever before. The following three core challenges, identified by BHF, need to be addressed to get it closer to achieving its goals. Stop Heart Disease Before It Starts – Millions of people are at increased risk of heart attack and stroke in the UK. Each heart attack and stroke could devastate a life, and the vast scale of heart attacks and strokes piles unsustainable pressure on the NHS. Save More Lives From Heart Disease – Cardiovascular disease remains the world’s biggest killer. The number of people in the UK dying from heart and circulatory conditions prematurely, before their 75th birthday, is on the rise for the first time in more than 50 years. Support Everyone with Heart Disease Live A Longer Healthier Life – As people live longer and lifesaving treatments improve, millions are left with long-term conditions such as heart failure, which can make even basic tasks, such as climbing the stairs, problematic. Each of these seismic challenges is being amplified by the UK’s widening health inequalities and an NHS in crisis. Achievements BHF consistently ranks as one of the most well-known and popular charity brands in the UK. Its impactful awareness campaigns have aided this strong position. In 2022, BHF announced a £30m research grant for CureHeart, which aims to revolutionise the way in which inherited heart muscle diseases are treated or even cured, using gene-editing and gene-silencing technologies. BHF’s campaign, Heartstopping, introduced CureHeart to the public by suddenly sending seven Heart radio ads, for other brands, into ‘cardiac arrest’. The ads were replaced by the sound of a flatlining heart monitor, followed by details of CureHeart. The campaign won a Silver Cannes Lion award and was named as the ninth most awarded campaign in the world by WARC. BHF was also the 13th most awarded brand in the world in 2023. History BHF was founded in 1961. At the time, heart and circulatory diseases were causing more than half of all deaths in the UK. BHF funded five years of research into transplant surgery techniques, after which surgeon Mr Donald Ross performed the UK’s first heart transplant in 1968. During the 1980s, research which was partly funded by BHF found that clot-busting drugs could decrease heart attack deaths. Vital research continued during the 1990s, with breakthroughs for heart failure patients. BHF professors also led a trial to use statins to reduce deaths associated with high cholesterol. In 2011, BHF Professor Paul Riley pioneered research showing that heart cells can be activated to repair damage caused by a heart attack, demonstrating the transformative potential of regenerative medicine. BHF launched the Nation of Lifesavers programme in 2014, which has seen more than seven million people trained in CPR. In 2020, RevivR was launched, providing free online CPR training. Continuing to embrace technology, BHF-funded researchers created an AI tool to assess heart attack risk. This went on to be trialled in select NHS hospitals in 2021. In the same year, The Circuit was launched, providing a national database of access to public defibrillators. University of Oxford, BHF Professor, Hugh Watkins, Cureheart project lead. Still from the ‘This is Science’ BHF TV ad.
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