Visa is giving a voice to independent retailers in its heart-warming Christmas TV advertising and marketing campaign – #Where You Shop Matters – with 13 real independent retailers, including card stockists playing a starring role, singing Queen’s Somebody to Love.
Visa has now launched a nationwide competition inviting retailers to warm up their vocal chords and recreate Visa’s Christmas advert to show why ‘Where You Shop Matters’. The winning retailer will see their advert air during a prime-time advertising slot in the run-up to Christmas for millions to see. ( To see how to enter, go to www.visa.co.uk/campaign/christmas2019-copycat/)
The campaign is a rally cry to UK shoppers, urging them to show their local high streets some love this Christmas and beyond.
“It all started when a man came in to buy a birthday card for his wife,” Jim Davidson, owner of Brockwell Art Services, a framing shop that sells greeting cards by local artists in London’s Herne Hill, told PG Buzz about how it came about that he ended up playing a leading role in the advert. That card buyer was in fact an executive of Independent Film Company scouting possible locations as well as participants for the high profile advert.
“He first asked if it would be OK to use the shop in some filming and finding out that I sing in our local church choir asked if I would sing into a mobile phone. After which I was invited to auditions in Oxford Circus and ended up appearing in the advert,” explained Jim, whose business this year is celebrating its 40th anniversary.
To his mind, local retail communities and greeting cards have something in common: “They connect people, which is very important, especially today,” he stresses. “Shops in local areas, like here in Herne Hill, are interdependent, we work together. There is real merit in everyone helping each other, “ he adds, seeing the Visa advertising and marketing campaign as being a positive reminder to people to continue to shop at their local high streets.
Also singing in the advert is Ella Bucknall, who works in Village Books in Dulwich, a shop owned by Hazel Broadfoot, which sells a lot of cards. (As well as her part time job in the bookshop, Ella is also an illustrator and her work appears in the book The Inking Woman: 250 Years of Women Cartoon and Comic Artists in Britain’ that was co-authored by greeting card maestro Cath Tate.)
“We are already seeing a direct benefit from the shop and Ella appearing in the advert,” said Hazel. “We had someone come in today who said that they were just about to order a book on Amazon, but having seen the advert bought it from us.”
Recent research commissioned by Visa found that seven out of ten consumers (73%) say that shopping locally makes them feel happy, with two fifths (42%) citing supporting local shops and knowing where their money is going as the main reason.
Spending time with friends and family (22%) and offering a sense of community (21%) were other reasons cited for why high streets make people happier. The research also reveals that half of consumers (50%) feel that their high street gives them a sense of pride in their local community. Independent retailers echo this positive sentiment with almost three quarters (73%) optimistic about the future of their high street, up from 52% in 2018.
Jeni Mundy, managing director, UK & Ireland for Visa commented: “High streets and independent retailers are at the heart of communities across the UK, providing employment and acting as the driving force behind local economies. That’s why, through our Christmas campaign, we want to inspire people to visit and support their high streets, not just over the crucial festive period, but throughout the year.”
Top: Jim Davidson of Brockwell Art Services at the start of the advert, outside his shop.
