The Da Vinci Factor

Aims

Leonardo Da Vinci's first sketch of the human heart 500 years ago was one of the great breakthroughs in medical science, capturing the imagination of the world by showing the heart as it had never been seen before. It's also a great source of inspiration for us as we seek to connect with the public.

'Beating heart'
We want to let millions of people know about the support available via our Heart HelpLine and BHF website. Launched in January 2009, our 'beating heart' campaign aimed to do just that.

Achievements

The centrepiece of the campaign was a TV advert featuring the Virtual Heart Simulator - the first lifelike representation of a functioning human heart.

'90,000 calls'
As part of a wide-ranging campaign, it led to almost a year's worth of calls in two months to our Heart HelpLine, as well as attracting more subscribers (now over 90,000 in total) to our Heart Matters service, aimed at providing people with the information they need to improve their heart health.

Our network of BHF Shops has played an important role in spreading the word. Each one has a dedicated 'Heart Point' providing a wide range of information and copies of our magazines, so that people can discover the relevance of heart health in their everyday lives.

Ambitions

Communication will always be at the centre of our work and we're determined to reach out to as many people as we can.

We see our network of BHF Shops as a vital way to help us achieve this. We've just opened our 64th specialist Furniture & Electrical Store, with plans for further expansion in 2009 and beyond.

'Heart Matters'
Meanwhile, we're continuing to roll out the Heart Matters service, which has already proved a major success throughout the launch period.

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