Shaima Al Obaidi, senior media officer - fundraising & Maddie Waktare, media officer – fundraising, British Heart Foundation 

2. • Standing at 2.4 metres high, monumental art sculpture
with space for 150,000 engravings.
• Based in Sheffield and born out of the Steel Man project.
• BHF ownership August 2018 - currently raised
over £580,000 for the BHF.
• Provided access to a bank of emotive human-interest
stories and opportunity to build lasting relationships with
case studies (82% willing to share stories).

3. • Fundraising team recognised that offering people the chance to engrave the name of a
loved one onto this iconic artwork in return for a fixed donation was worth developing.
• A lot of Yorkshire residents were already very engaged with the Steel Man project and were
following its progress closely. The Heart of Steel was also an opportunity to engage these
people and gain new charity supporters.
• Although the Heart of Steel originated from a strong affinity with the heritage of the steel
industry in Yorkshire, as we gathered insight, we found that it was also resonated with old
and young alike across the UK.
• There was a lot of regional coverage on the installation of the heart in Meadowhall Shopping
Centre in August.
• We decided to mark the HOS as a BHF product on World Heart Day 2018. We wanted to
create a stats story that would create a sense of scale and urgency around heart and
circulatory disease in Yorkshire.
• We wanted the story to focus on BHF research, and how the money donated will go towards
funding life saving research projects.
• We also knew that case studies were essential – and so we worked with the fundraising
team to identify strong stories early for the launch.

4. • When we were approached about this product – we were
unsure about how it was going to land with media.
• Our tactic worked - we launched an exclusive stats
story with the Daily Express focusing on the high rate of
heart and circulatory disease death rates in Yorkshire,
alongside regional case studies and a 3 minute segment
on ITV Yorkshire.
• The segment aired on the 6pm and 10pm news and
featured an interview with 2 BHF case studies, a BHF
spokesperson and the artist- Steve Mehdi.
• Over the launch weekend, we had 321 sign ups resulting
in over £6,000 raised.
• We were also featured as campaign of the month in Civil
Society Magazine & Online.

5. • Unique press opportunity: mums affected by heart disease approached us about a meet
up at the Heart of Steel.
• Our social team flagged this to us and we worked closely with the ladies to record their
stories.
• Sensitively managing case studies feelings: everyone's story is important.
• Secured BBC Look North and ITV Calendar on the day resulting 2 minute clips during
prime time TV. .
• Double page spread in the Daily Express featuring interviews with the ladies. The Mirror
Online and Fabulous Online (the Sun) featured the story alongside one of the case
studies.
• Sent individual ladies' stories to their regional papers.
• Total of 24 pieces of coverage: 5 national, 2 regional broadcast and 17 regional.

6. • Regional awareness day – opportunity to focus
exclusively on local press. Unsure if Yorkshire Day
would be a news hook.
• Access to 'local hero' case studies (Jill Helders and
Lawrence Clark) build lasting relationships which have
resulted in more coverage (Tony Surgy).
• Double page features in regional press: Sheffield Star
and Yorkshire Post and coverage in
Rotherham Advertiser and Barnsley Chronicle.

7. • Introduction to Kaylee the week before World
Heart Day (29th September): last minute press
opportunity.
• Explore saturated but powerful story from a fresh
angle, allowing us to entwine the Heart into an
emotional narrative and achieve coverage in Mail
Online and regional press.
• Giving something back to our case studies and
building relationships.
• Story used across multiple BHF media and
marketing platforms: social media; digital
marketing; IG newsletter.

8. •The results surpassed all our targets – first (6 months) 21K engravings
against a target of 12.5K (this is 69% increase on target) and £450K
income against a target of £250K (this is an 80% increase on target).
• 62% of these were new supporters, and the heart-warming stories
shared showed the emotional connection that the HOS engraving had
created.
• As the Heart has space for 150,000 names (worth over £2M) we are still
in the early days. It was initially predicted it could take a few years to fill
the Heart, however with the recent success indicates that we may fill the
Heart much quicker.

9. •The product isn't enough. Create the hook, shape the story, give the
journalist everything they need: eg, Kaylee Davidson.
• Awareness days work to create a reason for journalists to cover your
story NOW.
• Emotional connection and permenance of product leads to direct action
from PR activity.

10. • In a very competitive media environment, HOS has proven to be story rich
and as a result has lots of media appetite.
• Christmas: Mumsnet Guest Campaign; 'unqiue gift'; story case studies
(Stuart Smith 'The Mastero'); consumer oportunities (Tony Surgy).
• Continue to utilise practiced format and harness awareness day,s eg,
valentine's day and mother's day.
• Other opportunities such as celeb engagement.
• More importantly, working towards making the HOS a symbol of our
promise to beat heartbreak, giving people the chance to be a part of history
and leave a lasting legacy.

12. PR Network
The quest for attention – grabbing stories
PR Network
6 November
2019
London
#charityPR

13. Visit the CharityComms website to view
slides from past events, see what events
we have coming up and to check out
what else we do:
www.charitycomms.org.uk