Advertisement
For £35 you can help a vendor keep themselves warm, dry, fed, earning and progressing
BUY A VENDOR SUPPORT KIT
News

'Listen to my voice': Our AR special is re-engaging readers with our vendors

Our Augmented Reality special was produced in partnership with technology company Konica Minolta to help our readers see differently

In an increasingly interconnected world, Konica Minolta understands that the impact and sustainability of our business are not limited to our customers but extend to the people and entities that form our value network. This includes the communities in which we operate and our natural environment.

In particular, we recognise that for some organisations, such as The Big Issue, technology can be a double-edged sword. Increasingly, Big Issue vendors who rely on the strong emotional connection they have with the public are faced with emotionally unengaged people, with their head down, looking at their phones and walking straight past them. It’s forming a barrier to the crucial connection and value exchange that was previously there.

By engaging with The Big Issue and working with the magazine to create exciting and engaging content using our genARate service, we hope to help The Big Issue continue to bridge the gap between the printed word and digital world.

To deepen The Big Issue’s relationship with the public and its vendors by offering unique, innovative content. And, perhaps, most importantly, to help people re-engage with the street vendors by seeing them differently. Not just as a homeless person on the street, but as an individual with a sense of purpose and dignity.

Using genARate, we challenge you to look beyond the surface to what lies beneath. Go ahead – download the app for free and have a go. When you start the app on your phone and place your camera over the page, you’ll find loads of articles and items that reveal hidden content that’s both informative and heartwarming. Whether it’s finding out more about the hardworking Big Issue vendors through enhanced videos, hearing how you can help manage your mental health on social media or reading about how to live a healthier, smarter tech life in 2019 – now THAT’S worth finding out about!

Advertisement
Advertisement

So, what are you waiting for? Come on in…

Ashley McConnell

International business development manager, Konica Minolta Europe

Advertisement

Change a vendor's life this Christmas

This Christmas, 3.8 million people across the UK will be facing extreme poverty. Thousands of those struggling will turn to selling the Big Issue as a vital source of income - they need your support to earn and lift themselves out of poverty.

Recommended for you

View all
'Dismay' for disabled and vulnerable households as average annual energy bills to rise to £1,738
Blue flames from a gas hob
Energy bills

'Dismay' for disabled and vulnerable households as average annual energy bills to rise to £1,738

Malala Yousafzai on taking on the Taliban and why 'storytelling is the soul of activism'
Malala Yousafzai
Activism

Malala Yousafzai on taking on the Taliban and why 'storytelling is the soul of activism'

Mum-of-three hit with 'revenge eviction' after asking for repairs: 'It felt like the end of the world'
Hazell and her three kids faced homelessness until Shelter stepped in
Renting

Mum-of-three hit with 'revenge eviction' after asking for repairs: 'It felt like the end of the world'

Winter fuel benefit cuts will send pensioners to hospital, DWP warned: 'It's a political choice'
a view from above of an older person with white hair eating out of a pot
Winter fuel payment

Winter fuel benefit cuts will send pensioners to hospital, DWP warned: 'It's a political choice'

Most Popular

Read All
Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits
Renters: A mortgage lender's window advertising buy-to-let products
1.

Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal
Pound coins on a piece of paper with disability living allowancve
2.

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal

Cost of living payment 2024: Where to get help now the scheme is over
next dwp cost of living payment 2023
3.

Cost of living payment 2024: Where to get help now the scheme is over

Strike dates 2023: From train drivers to NHS doctors, here are the dates to know
4.

Strike dates 2023: From train drivers to NHS doctors, here are the dates to know