Every morning I walk into work. It’s an interesting journey to say the least. I go through some very different parts of the city and along the way I always pass a number of big issue sellers. Most of them stand politely waiting for you to stop.

But there’s one chap who stands out a mile. He’s like sunshine. Singing away, wishing people a good day. Polite, lucid.

Thing is not everyone wants to hear singing, or be high fived or have good luck wished their way. They hurry past, look down at their feet, pulling their hoods (if it’s raining) tighter over their faces.

But he doesn’t mind.

He knows there are others who positively love the attention, they stop, some high five (no really) and some even cross over the busy road to see him and chat. Do they buy a copy of the big issue? Damn right. Regularly too. And they always walk on with a spring in their step.

You see the singing guy understands what he’s about.

He gets the fact that he’s not going to be everyone’s cup of tea. But he knows he will be for enough people to make a difference. So he’s not going to dilute his personality to be all things to everyone and become anonymous like the other sellers. And if you ask anyone who walks down that road about people selling big issues, I bet (whether they’ve stopped or not), he’s the only one they remember.

A lot of brands would do well to spend some time with that guy.

Comments

  • Pauly

    Nice article, I know the seller in question, and I agree.

    • Rajnish Razdan

      Thanks Pauly, much appreciated!

  • Siobhan McGuigan

    Spot on!  There are big issue sellers in my work street and they are so miserable I have thought before that I’d love to stop and tell them more or less what you’ve said above, they need to market themselves a bit better.  Mind you they are memorable for their miserable-ness but then they don’t get any sales!

    We have a new Irish Open ad out that is a bit more (our agency would kill me..) cheesy than normal but was to give a feel good factor.  It has a blind hedgehog called Bramble at the end that’s turned into the star of the show, and has been one of our most positively reacted to to date.
    http://ni2012.com/?gclid=COLKt9yYq7ACFcohfAodYR0CSw

About the author

Rajnish Razdan, Creative Director
Raz loves To Kill a Mockingbird, Gil Scott Heron and Arsenal (not necessarily in that order). For him, it’s all about creating ideas that pull on emotional triggers and make seemingly rational people fall irrationally in love with brands. That’s where the real gold lies. Well to be fair, you find real gold in gold mines, but you know what he means.