Barclaycard Payments and Sky Media partner to champion the small businesses behind some of the UK’s biggest cultural events

On Saturday 1st October, a bespoke TV campaign, created in partnership between Sky Media and credit card and payment services provider, Barclaycard Payments, aired for the first time during Saturday’s Premier League coverage. The greatly anticipated West Ham v Wolves game saw 954k viewers at its peak at 6pm as West Ham scored the first goal of the game.

The bespoke campaign features UK-based small business Piglet’s Pantry. The advertisement is the second installment in a three-part series celebrating the transformational journeys of small businesses – and often the unsung heroes – behind some of the UK’s key cultural moments.

On October 1st 2022, audiences who tuned into the Premier League got the chance to hear from the much-loved pie business, Piglet’s Pantry, about its transformational journey from a small baked goods business to a national enterprise feeding millions of fans at some of London’s biggest sport events. In the clip, Owner and Managing Director, Joanna Hunt, told Businessman & Entrepreneur Tim Campbell MBE how sporting events have been instrumental in her journey and why SMEs are the backbone of nationwide events.

The inspiring 90-second clip, filmed at King Power Stadium and presented by Sky Sports, first aired during the ad break of the West Ham v Wolves game. The clip was also shown during the Leeds v Villa match and airs again tonight during the Leicester v Forest match, with the ad running until 30 October 2022. 30-second cutdown clips of the advert are also being published across other Sky Media channels and platforms including linear, AdSmart, VoD and digital with a longer 120-Second version on @SkyUK social channel.

The three-part series takes viewers behind the scenes of some of the UK’s most loved events to meet the small business community supporting them. The previous installment, presented by Sky Arts, saw Tim Campbell MBE speaking with Electro Love founders, Damian Walshe and Airon Baker, who took their nostalgic 80s and 90s themed experience to the Isle of Wight Festival this summer. In it, the founders discussed how iconic British festivals allowed them to turn their passion into a career (watch it here).

The series is part of Barclaycard’s ‘The Payment Part is Just the Start’ campaign, which aims to get small businesses to rethink what payments can do for them – beyond being used for purely transactional purposes.

Sarah Jones, Director of Planning at Sky Media said: “We’re very excited to see this content go live during the Premier League coverage. Barclaycard’s commitment to supporting SMEs combined with Sky Media’s strength in bringing small brands on to TV makes it a natural partnership.”

Richard Atkinson-Toal, Marketing Director, at Barclaycard Payments said: “The stories showcased in this partnership are not only packed with insightful wisdom from real small business owners, but they’re compelling and feel-good too. At Barclaycard Payments, this is what we do – support small business with their growth. We’re pleased to be partnering with Sky Media to bring these stories to the masses in a way that really aligns with our purpose.”

The third and final part of the year-long series airs in December and will feature a behind the scenes sneak peek of one of the suppliers responsible for filming the latest Sky Original drama Christmas special.

Learn more about the partnership at: https://www.barclaycard.co.uk/business/business-matters/customer-case-studies/sky-partnership