Holly’s campaign for UK independents

JOIN OUR #CAMPAIGNSHOPINDEPENDENT

Back in 2017, we started campaigning to shine a light on small businesses and all they do for our economy, communities and the planet. These aren’t just people driving commerce. They are committed citizens making the world a better place and if we don’t want to see them disappear, they need our support. So how do we campaign? There are many ways…

Celebrating Colour Friday

A HAPPIER ALTERNATIVE TO BLACK FRIDAY

'My favourite colour is rainbow' poster

We know Christmas is make or break for many small businesses. We also know that Black Friday is a bunfight of festive gifting where people buy throwaway items that often end up in landfill. So a few years ago, we invented Colour Friday — a way to sing from the rooftops about the colour this community brings to the UK. We want people to think about where they spend their hard earned money and rather than sending CEOs to the moon, we believe in it going back into our communities. Want to know more?

This is what a founder looks like

SUPPORTING FEMALE FOUNDERS FOR LIFE

Female Founders Day

Many people aren’t aware that women-led small businesses contribute £85 billion to the UK economy a year, and are changing the way we work. These bright, brave, brilliant women are quietly pioneering a new kind of entrepreneurship — one that’s powersuit-free, where kindness is currency and business takes care of more than just 1% of society. Since 2018, we’ve campaigned annually to help show what female founders bring to the table and exactly what a female founder looks like.

What is Shop Independent Day?

FLYING THE FLAG FOR SMALL BUSINESSES

Holly flying the shop independent day flag

Since 2017, we’ve been fighting to save our high streets and stop home towns becoming clone towns. So we introduced Shop Independent Day as a way for us to galvanise this incredible community, share free campaign kits, raise awareness, lobby parliament, fly our flags — whatever we can to get the word out there and get people shopping local. This has now become a year-round activity where we tour the UK, shout from the rooftops and commission artwork from UK artists.

Campaign artwork, commissioned by friends

RECOGNISE THESE UK ARTISTS?

We asked 1,000 small businesses from across the UK to share the truth about running a small business and 96% expressed the need for more visibility. Which is why we collaborate with recognisable UK artists, from Rebecca Strickson to Dave Buonaguidi, and commission them to create some stunning, standout artwork for us that can’t be missed. Here are some favourites…

Highlight moments

Campaign shop independent