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Some companies spend thousands of dollars in advertisements during the holidays. So, it comes as no surprise that the owner of an independent hardware shop has said he has been “overwhelmed" after a £100 ($130 USD) Christmas advert starring his son became a viral sensation.
Thomas Lewis Jones, who runs Hafod Hardware in Rhayader, Wales with his grandparents, created the promotional video with the help of family and friends.
It features his young son Arthur as he goes about the shop helping customers, carrying out handiwork and putting up Christmas decorations.
The ad then ends with Arthur transforming into his father, with a slogan encouraging visitors to “be a kid this Christmas."
“It has been crazy… we've been overwhelmed with nice emails and messages from all over the world," Jones told the PA news agency after the video received over 50,000 views on YouTube within two days, Jones told the PA news agency.
“The only thing we had to pay for was getting our singer into the music studio and paying the sound engineer. Everyone you see in the video is my family, there's four generations featured in the video and it was made with the help of my best friend Josh Holdaway, who is a filmmaker."
The store opened its doors in 1895, and Jones has worked there for 10 years.
“We've done adverts for the last two years, this is the third installment, Arthur features in all the adverts," he told PA. “This year we wanted to just do something that was quite simple to film that had a nice message and story. People have been coming in this morning saying congratulations… they've been bringing in bottles of champagne for us to say well done. The locals are incredible, they're our bread and butter, we're very lucky to have the community we have here in Rhayader."
Jones said their aim was to encourage people to shop locally over Christmas. And, I think they achieved way more than that.
Many were reminded of their family:
No one does better:
Even puppies are on board:
The locals loved it:
“The underlying message is that small independent businesses can offer you just as much as your large high street chains," he said. “Try and shop locally over Christmas if you can."