National Heart Foundation

• CS_HeartFound_web.pdf

CS_HeartFound_web.pdf

The National Heart Foundation of Australia was established in 1958 with the objective to pursue new knowledge about the heart, its diseases, and to disseminate that knowledge throughout the community. Since inception, the Heart Foundation has played a vital role in funding research into the causes, prevention, treatment and diagnosis of cardiovascular and related disorders. The Heart Foundation is now recognised as one of the largest organisations funding health and medical research in Australia. 

The Tick is the Heart Foundation’s guide to help people make healthier food choices quickly and easily. It also encourages food manufacturers to develop or modify food products that support the Heart Foundation’s Guidelines for Tick Approval. 

All foods in the Tick Program, without exception, must meet the Heart Foundation’s Guidelines for Tick Approval. Food companies must have their products independently chemically analysed, and meet the nutrient criteria before they can use the Tick on their products. Random testing is also undertaken to ensure ongoing compliance with the strict nutrient criteria.

The Challenge

In recognition of the increasing number of people eating away from home, the Heart Foundation was challenged with extending the objectives and values of the Tick Program into the foodservice environment.

Program implementation requires clearly defined strategies to achieve objectives and to ensure commercial success.

The core challenge was developing a business model that would ensure the high standards of the Tick Program could be attained and monitored in a non-manufacturing based environment. As opposed to manufacturing, the food preparation processes can vary daily. In addition, the business model had to be commercially viable and respect the status of the Heart Foundation as a not-for-profit, non-government organisation.

The foundation of the commercial success of Tick is based on the following:

• Defining the target market and relevant consumer
• Defining the value proposition for the defined target market
• Developing a sustainable business model to deliver the value proposition

The Solution

The Heart Foundation representatives in conjunction with DC Strategy developed a “Business Model” based on a series of workshops discussing Heart Foundation’s value proposition. The “Business Model” was the basis of the decision to implement the extended Tick Program. The entire Application, Assessment, Approval and Certification stage process is structured to ensure on-going quality checks and balances exist. The initial application is scrutinised very carefully, ensuring that only those foodservice businesses that meet the standards are licensed to use the Tick on their meals.

A Clearly Defined Business Case: All successful businesses have a well developed business case to facilitate the implementation of new programs and to understand the target market and value proposition

 The intended scope of the “Business Model” is to detail the foundation of the retail Tick Program.

The Outcomes

The DC Strategy and Heart Foundation teams achieved the following outcomes:

• The business model was defined based on an assessment of the activities, revenues, costs and implementation strategies.
• The core target market was identified for the initial launch and rollout of the Tick Program into a new market. This understanding impacted the decisions on the business model and structure.
• Marketing and promotion activities were identified and planned.
• The “Business Case” was robustly discussed and challenged in a number of management forums to ensure the Heart Foundation was comfortable and focused on the outcomes.
• A process to implement and manage the Tick Program was developed and this defined the Application, Assessment, Approval and Certification stages. The necessary quality controls and checks and balances were considered as part of the process.

The foundation for the extension of the successful Tick Program into foodservice has provided the Heart Foundation with the direction and strategy for the implementation.

This program is based on clearly defined processes and objectives, and with careful execution will help the Heart Foundation implement the Tick in a foodservice environment.

DC Strategy, business growth specialists.

Level 5, 530 Collins Street,
Melbourne VIC 3000 Australia
growth@dcstrategy.com
+61 (0)3 8102 9200