Anti Gigantism of Small vs Big

Here’s a punky little platform for anyone (particularly English) selling against the dastardly megacorp. A nasty Bizzilla of giant monopolistic intent. The kind that Schumacher so railed against with his Small Is Beautiful cries. When he warned about the perils of Gigantism. Somewhat akin to the chill of the classic, “growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell”.

Positioning themselves (perhaps a little disingenuously) as a niche market player, UK mobile phone provider giffgaff have a wonderful advert out at present.

As you can probably work out above, it’s entitled Small vs Big…

It stars a young woman reciting a poem to that affect.

154 words across 33 lines, pasted from their youtube channel, here it is;

Big’s a big wig in a big leather chair in a big gig.
Small sits on a stool. Small’s nobody’s fool.
Big trips over small
Big’s an opinion
Small is a hunch
Big’s at a corporate lunch. Small has a sandwich
Small saves. Small raves
After Big’s fleeting greeting he’s soon back in a board meeting
Small holds your hand
Small’s your biggest fan
Small’s in the band
Big talks big talk
Someone can take a walk
Small whispers
Small listens
Says thank you
Says please
While bigs bigging it up like the big cheese
Small’s light on its feet
Small knows the street
Small’s where it’s at
Small’s got your back
Big’s all small print
All routine
Big’s all wafer and no ice cream
Small stands by
Small waves hi
Big says stop
You cannot go
The computer says no
Small smiles
Says hey, come round and play
Stay, because you want to stay

Even the final line states their overall campaign title.

There are delicious lines. Many readily applicable to an internal rah-rah or even sales deck.

It can be absolutely fine to revel in your smallness. Make it a feature. Make it a benefit. Beat Big Competitor.


Here’s a piece about ‘the making of‘, including memories of the poet himself … and what a great soundtrack too