The Big Issue is the UK's number one street magazine, sold by homeless and vulnerable people. It was founded in 1991, and the iconic red jacket that its sellers wear is a familiar sight on British streets.

The last few years have had an incredible impact on The Big Issue's street vendors. Now, people rush through their day, don't notice those around them, and keep their distance. Their income and livelihoods have been put at risk.

We needed to reengage communities with their vendors in order to generate volume on sales.

The I'm Here campaign connects street vendors to digital out-of-home screens through geolocation technology.

We redesigned The Big Issue's iconic red jacket to incorporate geolocation beacons. The beacons track street vendor's movements when they walk along the street. When vendors are in range, the digital screens are triggered and point people in their direction – right down to how many metres away they are.

Once triggered, apart from direction and distance, each screen portray the specific nearby vendor image, with movements and emotions captured in studio, to make the OOH as reactive as it could be, improving their visibility and humanising the media

The I'm Here campaign made invisible people visible – showing how technology can bring us together, not set us apart.

Big Issue vendors have been an ever-present part of British high streets since the magazine was first published in 1991. But things that are constant can often go unnoticed. Covid really changed everything, and with vendors unable to work during lockdowns and restrictions, their income from sales became non-existent.

When Britain began to slowly open up, we knew we had to get a big impact on Big Issue vendors. Our challenge wasn’t awareness, it was visibility. Vendors needed a bigger, stand-out presence on the high street in order to drive in-person sales.

The Big Issue is a uniquely human brand that still thrives on direct human interaction with supporters from a wide range of demographics, so we focused our attention on showcasing real vendors in locations where they could interact, face to face with supporters. We knew that if we could make vendors more visible, we could boost sales.

Apart from connecting street vendors to digital out-of-home screens through geolocation technology in their iconic vest, at the heart of the I’m Here campaign, there was the reactive digital content on the screens and how this interacted with vendors on the street.

To make the digital billboards as reactive and dynamic as possible, we created hundreds of assets featuring dozens of different gestures from our vendors. Then, whenever vendors came in range of a billboard, there was a unique piece of digital creative to match.

Next, the tech implementation. We targeted some of the most advanced media sites in the UK today. Bespoke apps and off-the-shelf tech let the beacons within the jackets interact with the billboards.

The campaign launched in March 2022, including some of the UK’s largest street-level digital screens.

I’m Here led to some impressive results. During the campaign, sales of the magazine increased by 400%, quadrupling the average daily sales of The Big Issue. In addition, the daily effective circulation of our campaign – or the real-world ‘impressions’ – was 460,000.

Our unmissable giant billboards supercharged vendors’ sales, encouraging direct interactions, starting more conversations, and reaching more people than ever before. As one vendor said, “I’m no longer a lamppost or dustbin… I’m massive.”

Crucially, there was also a longer-term behaviour change. Following the campaign, social engagement on The Big Issue’s social channels increased by 860%, starting a conversation without any paid media. And positive brand sentiment increased by 26%, driving consideration and changing opinions of the brand. Ultimately, though, it was the increased human connections that mattered most. The campaign made invisible people visible – and showed how technology can bring us together, not set us apart.