We're Going Dark - #BLACKOUTFRIDAY

A few reasons… 

One. It isn’t in our DNA to join in with mass commercialisation / commoderation, yes we sell a product but we are more than that, we strive to be more than that. We create fantastic tea, we create human experiences, we believe in our people, our community & we have faith that what we do sells itself!

Two: We have worked hard to build a big platform of fans/followers across our community & we have the chance to really make a difference with our messaging. At a time where everyone is talking about sales, discounts & shopping we can cut through the noise & (hopefully) remind people what’s important this Christmas (and always).... community, friendship, empathy.

Three: We passionately believe that if you are going to shop this Christmas you should give your hard earned cash to people who care, people who love what they do & put all of their passion & heart into their products. People who work with high quality materials/ingredients & know where they have come from. People who are choosing the hard road, the right road, not cutting costs & instead choosing to use eco & ethical methods, materials & doing business the right way. 

From Thursday afternoon until Saturday evening we are ‘going dark’ across our social media for (what we are calling) #BLACKOUTFRIDAY. We will not sell to you, talk about our products or give you crazy offers or discounts. We will turn off all of our social advertising & email marketing. We will not shout about ourselves, we will not buy into it.

Instead we will be using these days to tell you about the cool people, charities & indie businesses in our local communities. All of the people and causes we are going to shout about have been chosen by our store teams, as they are close to their hearts / they love them.

I (Krisi) will get on the insta stories on Friday to tell you in my own (rambling) words what we are doing and why. There will be a series of social posts & emails too, but no sales - just fantastic content about fantastic people.

You can expect to read lots of stories, real human stories about real people that are well loved by our local teams. Some stories about the places we hang out, some about the people we hang out with, some about incredible charities & some about the fantastic things being made or sold on your local high street.

When Mike & I started the business we were fortunate enough to get in front of our customers every day. We served them, laughed with them, listened to them. Listened to you. As we've grown it has been important to us that we don't loose that community spirit that makes us so great as a company. So we've encouraged our local stores to build a community in their local area, running events & using their space to support & collaborate with incredible local artists, makers, charities & initiatives. 

So, when I first had this idea for #BLACKOUTFRIDAY I knew that my store teams were the first people to talk to. The are all incredibly proud to call their local store communities their own. They live there, shop there, eat there, play there & work there... and there are no better people to tell the stories than them. So, keep your eyes & your hearts open Teabirds because some fantastic content is coming your way... oh, and it's better than 50% off... it's totally free! 

Love & Tea,

Krisi x

B&B Co-Founder

Over the last few weeks, as I've been asked over & over again 'what are you doing at B&B for Black Friday?', I've been sharing my idea for #BLACKOUTFRIDAY.

These are some of the genuine responses I've had (not from our community, I must add!)... 

‘You’re f**king mad’ 

‘You can’t be a decent marketeer if you think that’s a good idea’ 

‘But wont you lose thousands??’ 

‘Aren’t you worried about the lost revenue?’

‘You need to be competing with the big boys over Black Friday’ 

‘You will lose all your learning data from your ads’ 

‘I don’t understand why you’d do that’

‘I know you guys are ‘different’ but that’s a bit far isn’t it?’ 

‘Sounds very ‘hippie’ to me’