A campaign to help small businesses bounce back after Covid-19 lockdown – by running free advertising on giant digital billboards across the country – has been hailed an ‘overwhelming’ success. When New Zealand was forced into a national lockdown in March to stop the spread of the deadly virus, the majority of businesses were forced to shut up shop.
To mark the move to level 3, when many could reopen and start to rebuild, agencies LUMO Digital Outdoor and Pitchblack Partners launched Up and Running – an initiative dedicated to helping “neighbourhood stores” get back on their feet.
Businesses were offered billboard advertising totally free of charge at one of 23 giant LUMO sites across Christchurch, Auckland, Wellington, Hamilton and Tauranga.Pitchblack took care of the design in the “no strings attached” campaign.
The campaign kicked off on April 28 and within 48 hours more than 500 submissions from small businesses had been made.
Over the next five weeks more than 1500 free ads were displayed, helping hundreds of business owners. Lumo co-founder and chief executive Phil Clemassaid in a report that the lockdown period was “a very tough time” for most businesses.
Many of the businesses who took advantage of Up and Running offered either click and collect or delivery services – enough to get them started under the restrictions of level 3.
