Vendors of the Big Issue magazine, which is sold across the UK, have created a nationwide advertising campaign for newspapers and billboards. The group worked with marketing giants M&C Saatchi for the series of five posters, which is aimed at highlighting their unique retail businesses.

The magazines are sold by homeless vendors, which empowers them to create their own ‘retail outlets’ for selling. This campaign brings attention to the work of the Big Issue and puts a creative spin on traditional advertising.

Each ad appears in a stylish poster format, and they all feature standard text about the vendors, e.g. ‘Simon is an independent retailer. He buys the Big Issue for £1.25 and sells it for £2.50. To advertise his business he made this ad.’ Big Issue marketing and communications director, Lara McCullagh, said:

It’s a popular misconception that Big Issue vendors are the recipients of charity, when in fact each vendor is the proprietor of a small, local business. So it occurred to us they should be given the opportunity to market that business.

Click through to see the five posters created for the campaign and check out the video to learn more about it below:

Big Issue