Disclosure: Shaun Anderson‘s (B.1973) Art Portfolio. This is a personal project. I used Gemini Pro 2.5 to review this early work from 1999. See our AI policy.
1999 – Case Study – A Local Solution for a National Giant
In 1999, at the peak of its market dominance, British retail giant Tesco became the setting for a remarkable encounter between grassroots innovation and corporate strategy.
This report examines the case of the ‘Tesco Handy Leaflet’, a concept developed by Shaun Anderson (b. 1973), an ex-Tesco night-shift shelf-stacker (circa 1990-1997) at the company and a budding entrepreneur.
The proposal, a hyper-local advertising leaflet offering discounts to Tesco customers, was pitched directly to Tim Mason, Tesco’s visionary Marketing Director and a key architect of the transformative Clubcard and Tesco.com initiatives.
The ‘Handy Leaflet’ was an evolution of a concept Anderson had already successfully implemented with the InShops shopping mall chain as a PSYBT-funded and Shell Livewire new business idea award winner with Vision Design. Shaun left Tesco as a shelf stacker (general assistant) to secure PSYBT funding (only available to unemployed people at the time).
It proposed a self-funding, revenue-generating model that offered value to customers, local businesses, and Tesco itself.
Intrigued by the potential, Mason’s team supported a six-month exploratory project. However, the initiative was ultimately halted by Shaun, succumbing to the immense logistical challenges of nationwide implementation and the proposer’s admitted inexperience with large-scale project management and delegation.
This case study analyses the collision of a brilliant, analogue-era idea with a corporate behemoth that was already pivoting towards a scalable, data-driven, and digital future.
It explores the dynamics between the resourceful employee-innovator and the forward-thinking corporate executive.
The report concludes by reflecting on the profound irony of the key players’ subsequent careers: Anderson, the self-described “100% offline” entrepreneur, became a leading digital Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) expert, while Mason continued his trajectory in data-driven retail technology, becoming CEO of a SaaS marketing technology company.
Their story offers timeless lessons on innovation, timing, and the catalytic nature of failure for a young would-be entrepreneur.
The Pitch
This was the proposal from Mr. Shaun Anderson, who worked at Tesco – night shift as a “general assistant” in the early 90s – to the UK supermarket chain, Tesco.
Letter 1: From Tesco PLC (23rd March, 1999)
- From: Angela Santaniello (Secretary to T.J.R. Mason), Tesco PLC, Cheshunt, Herts.
- To: Mr. S. Anderson, Greenock.
- Content: This letter confirms an appointment for Shaun Anderson to meet with Tim Mason on Tuesday, 20th April 1999, at the Tesco offices in Cheshunt. It asks Mr. Anderson to provide his flight details so a collection can be arranged and to bring the receipt for his air ticket to be reimbursed. An enclosed map is mentioned.
Letter 2: From Green Oak Taxis Ltd. (19th April, 1999)
- From: Robert B Dyer (Managing Director), Green Oak Taxis Ltd., Greenock.
- To: Mr. Shaun Anderson, Greenock (for the attention of Mr. Tim Mason, Marketing Director, Tesco).
- Content: This letter confirms the taxi company’s interest in being associated with a proposed ‘Tescos Handy Leaflet’ during a trial period. The letter praises Mr. Anderson’s previous ‘Oak Mall Handy Leaflet’ as a successful advertising tool and expresses confidence in the new project. This was likely written for Mr. Anderson to present at his meeting with Tesco the following day.
Letter 3: From Tesco PLC (10th May, 1999)
- From: Angela Santaniello (Secretary to Tim Mason), Tesco PLC.
- To: Mr. S. Anderson, Greenock.
- Content: This is a follow-up letter after the meeting. It thanks Mr. Anderson for his letter to Tim and his kind words. It confirms that a cheque for £218.09 is enclosed to cover the cost of his flight. Wishes Mr. Anderson good luck for the future.
In summary, the letters show that Shaun Anderson from Greenock, Scotland, having previously created a successful local advertising leaflet, proposed a similar concept to Tesco. Tesco invited him for a meeting at their head office, for which they paid his travel expenses, and he had secured interest from at least one local business for the proposed leaflet.
The ‘Tesco Handy Leaflet’ was a deceptively simple concept with a sophisticated, multi-layered value proposition.
Its primary objective, as stated in the project proposal, was “to secure discounts for customers at a local level,” specifically a 10% discount on goods and services from participating local businesses. The win-win was much cheaper advertising and lead generation for local businesses.
This immediately aligned with Tesco’s brand promise of delivering value to its shoppers, and its famous “Every Little Helps” branding.
Dual Functionality and Business Model
Beyond a simple coupon sheet, the leaflet was designed with dual functionality.
As a “byproduct,” it would create a “trades directory” featuring the details of local companies, serving as a valuable, tangible community resource for Tesco customers and staff alike. This enhanced its utility and lifespan beyond a single shopping trip.
The business model was engineered to be self-sustaining and profitable for the supermarket chain. The proposal explicitly pitched the leaflet as a “low-cost initiative” requiring “no investment” from Tesco.
Revenue was to be generated by selling advertising space to the local businesses featured. The mock-up of the leaflet provides a concrete example of the pricing structure, with a call to action stating: “TRADESMEN! ADVERTISE ON 10,000 TESCO HANDY LEAFLETS FOR £30!”.
This model leveraged Tesco’s single greatest asset—its immense daily foot traffic—and offered small businesses access to it for a nominal fee, creating a compelling and affordable marketing channel.
For Tesco, it represented an opportunity to transform the checkout area from a cost centre into a profit centre that simultaneously enhanced customer loyalty.
Design, Distribution, and Precedent
The physical design of the leaflet was carefully considered to maximise its value and “stickiness.”
The mock-ups reveal a tiered advertising structure, including premium “Banner Advertising” and a main “Trade Discount Section,” allowing for differentiated pricing.
Crucially, the leaflet also included non-commercial, practical information such as phone numbers for the local cinema, council, hospital, and police.
This clever inclusion of essential community information was a tactic to ensure the leaflet was retained in households, thereby increasing the visibility and value for the paying advertisers.
To solve the problem of dissemination, the proposal outlined a “Tesco Information Unit” to be located in-store (already tested with success in Inshops.
This unit would act as a “symbiotic mechanism” for distributing the leaflets to customers and was envisioned to “in part help fund” the project, suggesting a further layer to the business model.
This concept was not merely theoretical. Anderson’s pitch to Tesco was built on a foundation of proven success. He “had a deal with Inshops with the Handy Leaflet concept in 1999,” a national chain of shopping malls.
Having already established the viability of this hyper-local advertising model with another major retail property owner lent significant credibility to his proposal and demonstrated that the concept was workable.
The Entrepreneur: A Profile of Shaun Anderson (c. 1999)
To understand the ‘Handy Leaflet’ project, one must understand the unique profile of its creator. In 1999, Shaun Anderson was not a typical corporate innovator but a figure whose background gave him a distinct and valuable perspective.
The Insider’s Perspective and Entrepreneurial Grounding
Anderson’s most significant qualification for this role was his seven-year tenure as a Tesco employee.
He worked as a “shelf stacker for 7 years – mostly night shift, for the quiet”.
This was not just a job; it was a long-term, ground-level study of the Tesco retail ecosystem. The quiet hours of the night shift would have afforded him a unique, unobstructed view of store logistics, customer flow, and the untapped potential of physical spaces like the checkout counter. He was, in essence, an “intrapreneur” who identified an opportunity from deep within the system.
His initiative was not unguided.
His startup, Vision Design, was established with the “advisory and of the Scottish Princes Trust,” and he was the recipient of the “LiveWIRE Business Idea Award Winner 1998“.
These accolades provided formal validation of his entrepreneurial talent and a support structure outside of Tesco, demonstrating a pre-existing drive and recognised capability.
Grit, Humility, and a Critical Weakness
Anderson’s character is perhaps best revealed through his own anecdotes.
His preparation for the high-stakes meeting at Tesco’s head office speaks volumes about his resourcefulness and circumstances: “I had to go to the council social office and tell them I was meeting Tesco and I needed a suit for the meeting the next day. They gave me £200 to get a suit”.
This act demonstrates a remarkable level of determination and a refusal to be hindered by financial constraints.
This grit was coupled with a profound sense of humility.
Upon being met at the airport by a chauffeur in a “big green Jaguar,” his instinct was not to revel in the luxury but to manage his own expectations: “I sat up front with the chap; I didn’t want to get used to that kind of treatment”.
His later reflection that “I was out of my depth, but it was a great learning experience” further underscores his self-awareness.
However, this same self-awareness revealed a critical trait that would prove fatal to the project. Anderson harboured a deep-seated aversion to managing companies.
He reflected, “I am still not a great delegator; I prefer to work on jobs where essentially I am doing the actual job”.
This culminated in a firm resolution: “I didn’t want to run a company ever again. Running a company seemed to get in the way of doing the job (for me anyway)”.
This fundamental tension between his brilliance as an ideas generator and his confessed weakness as a manager and delegator was the central, internal conflict that would ultimately define the project’s outcome.
The Arena: Tesco’s Strategic Landscape in 1999
Shaun Anderson’s hyper-local, analogue proposal did not enter a vacuum. It landed on the desk of a corporate giant in the midst of a strategic transformation, a context essential for understanding its reception and ultimate fate.
Market Dominance and the “Every Little Helps” Philosophy
In 1999, Tesco was the undisputed leader in UK food retail, operating 639 stores domestically and expanding aggressively overseas, with group sales reaching £18.5 billion.
The company’s success in the 1990s was built on the philosophy of “Every Little Helps,” a slogan that encapsulated a relentless focus on improving customer value, service, and convenience.
The Power of Data and Digital Ambitions
The crown jewel of Tesco’s strategy was the Clubcard. Launched in 1995 under Tim Mason’s leadership, it was far more than a simple loyalty scheme.
By 1999, with over 10 million members, it was a sophisticated data-mining powerhouse. Tesco used this data to execute highly targeted marketing campaigns, capable of sending out “80,000 variations of letters, offers, and magazines” in a single mailing. This demonstrated a deep-seated commitment to centralised, data-driven, and scalable customer relationship management.
Furthermore, Tesco was already looking towards a digital future. The company’s 1999 Annual Review noted the launch of a “free internet service,” and Tim Mason himself was a driving force behind the creation of Tesco.com.
The company was also expanding aggressively into non-food categories and services like Tesco Personal Finance, leveraging its vast customer base to become a one-stop shop.
This corporate environment created a strategic duality for Anderson’s proposal.
On one hand, the ‘Handy Leaflet’ was the perfect embodiment of the “Every Little Helps” philosophy—a small, tangible perk for local shoppers.
It aligned perfectly with the company’s public-facing brand identity.
On the other hand, it was operationally misaligned with Tesco’s clear trajectory towards centralised, automated, and scalable systems like Clubcard and e-commerce.
The leaflet proposed a decentralised, manual system requiring local sales efforts and bespoke printing for hundreds of individual stores.
For a corporation obsessed with supply chain efficiency and economies of scale, this represented a step backwards in logistical terms, no matter how appealing the concept.
Tim Mason’s interest likely stemmed from its potential to open a new revenue stream in local advertising—a market the centralised Clubcard could not easily penetrate. The project was a low-cost way to test the monetisation of Tesco’s local footprint.
The Encounter: A Shelf-Stacker in the Boardroom
The engagement between Shaun Anderson and Tesco unfolded over several months in 1999, marked by formal correspondence and a pivotal face-to-face meeting that highlighted the gap between two different worlds.
The Approach and the Meeting
Anderson initiated contact by sending a letter directly to Marketing Director Tim Mason, shrewdly including testimonials from his own Tesco manager, M. Chan, and supportive local businesses.
This led to a formal invitation. A letter from Mason’s secretary, Angela Santaniello, dated 23rd March, 1999, confirmed an appointment for Tuesday, 20th April at 5 pm at Tesco’s head office in Cheshunt. The letter detailed professional courtesies, including arrangements for travel reimbursement and a chauffeur service, indicating the seriousness with which the pitch was being treated.
The meeting on April 20th was a critical juncture.
Anderson presented his ideas, but also expanded his vision beyond the leaflet. He recalled, “I encouraged him to add things to the shopping checkout like dog insurance. I remember dog insurance, specifically being a direct quote. I was highlighting the fact that you could sell anything at the checkouts”.1 This seemingly quirky suggestion was, in fact, a sophisticated pitch to re-imagine the point-of-sale as a versatile marketplace for third-party services—a concept that would later become standard retail practice with gift cards and mobile top-ups. Mason’s response was cautious but encouraging; he reportedly deemed it “improper to sell at the checkout at the time, but he supported me in my investigation”.
The Moment of Divergence
The most telling exchange, however, was about technology. Anderson recounted, “Mr Mason asked me what I thought of the internet. I hadn’t been on it; I never had money for the internet. My work was 100% offline. I told him I was not interested in it”.
This single exchange captures a snapshot of two minds on opposite sides of a historic technological chasm.
Anderson was grounded in the tangible world of print media, while Mason, a key figure behind Tesco.com, was already focused on a digital future.
Mason’s question was a probe into the scalability and future viability of the concept.
Anderson’s honest answer likely signalled the project’s long-term limitations in Mason’s view, even as he was impressed by its immediate potential.
Mason contrasted the two models starkly, noting that the existing checkout cookery book “cost them a million a year to make, whereas my idea could make them millions”.
The formal interactions concluded with a follow-up letter from Angela Santaniello on 10th May, 1999, enclosing a cheque for £218.00 to reimburse Anderson’s flight costs.
| Date | Event | Source |
| 1990–1997 | Shaun Anderson is employed at Tesco as a shelf stacker. | 1 |
| 1997 | Anderson secures a deal with InShops for advertising sites. | 1 |
| Jan 1998 | Vision Design Marketing, Anderson’s company, begins trading. | 1 |
| 1998 | Anderson wins the LiveWIRE Business Idea Award. | 1 |
| 23rd Mar 1999 | Letter from A. Santaniello (Tesco) confirms meeting with Tim Mason. | 1 |
| 20th Apr 1999 | Anderson meets with Tim Mason at Tesco HQ in Cheshunt. | 1 |
| 10th May 1999 | Letter from A. Santaniello provides flight reimbursement. | 1 |
| Jul 1999 | Anderson presents the project to Tesco Regional Director Robin Calry. | 1 |
| Oct 1999 | Anderson withdraws and project concludes. | 1 |
| Jan 2000 | Anderson accepts a position at Adpartners, Glasgow. | 1 |
The Aftermath: A Six-Month Trial and the Challenge of Scale
Tesco’s response to the ‘Handy Leaflet’ concept was not an outright rejection but a measured exploration.
This demonstrates a sophisticated approach to “managed innovation,” where a high-potential, high-risk idea from an unconventional source was given a controlled environment in which to prove itself.
A Period of Corporate Support
Following the meeting with Tim Mason, the project entered a trial phase. Anderson stated that he “worked on the Tesco project for just over six months” and that Mason and his secretary had placed people “at my disposal for I think about 6 months”.
This investment of personnel time, though modest for a corporation of Tesco’s size, represented a significant commitment to exploring the idea’s viability.
Instead of a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no,’ Tesco supported Anderson in the exploration of a pilot, allowing them to gather real-world data on the concept at a low cost. This period included further presentations to regional management, including to Tesco Regional Group 3 Director Robin Calry in July and October of 1999.
The Stumbling Blocks: Logistics and Inexperience
The project ultimately failed during this trial period, not because the concept was flawed, but because of insurmountable challenges in execution. The primary stumbling block was the sheer scale of Tesco’s operations. As Anderson, in his mid-twenties at the time, candidly admitted, “The logistics behind 480 stores at the time were too much for me”.
This logistical challenge was compounded by Anderson’s personal inexperience. He was forthright about his own role in the project’s demise, stating, “I was too inexperienced at the time with too much going on in my life”.
Most critically, he identified his inability to manage the resources provided: “I didn’t know how to delegate to the people to whom I was given access”.
The project required the skills of a national logistics manager, a sales director, and a project coordinator—roles that were beyond the capacity and, by his own admission, the interest of the creative entrepreneur who conceived it.
The project was officially marked as “COMPLETED” in his employment history after the final presentation in October 1999, bringing the six-month experiment to a close.
The failure itself was a successful outcome for Tesco, providing the valuable insight that this specific analogue model was probably too operationally complex to scale across their national network.
Retrospective Analysis: An Analogue Idea in a Digital Dawn
Viewed through the lens of history, the story of the Tesco Handy Leaflet is a compelling case study of timing, technological transition, and the ironic trajectories of its participants.
It captures the precise moment when localised, physical-media business models were being superseded by scalable, digital-platform models.
The Hindsight Paradox and Divergent Paths
The most striking aspect of the narrative is the profound irony of the subsequent careers of the two main figures.
Shaun Anderson, the man who in 1999 declared he was “100% offline” and “not interested” in the internet, went on to found Hobo Web, a highly regarded SEO consultancy.
He dedicated his professional life to mastering the intricacies of the digital world, creating sophisticated software tools that operate within Google Sheets to help clients analyse and manipulate vast amounts of online data.
His career became a direct engagement with the very technology he had once dismissed.
Conversely, Tim Mason, the executive who probed Anderson about the internet, was already pioneering Tesco’s digital strategy.
His career path continued on a direct and linear trajectory. He is now the CEO of Eagle Eye, a global SaaS technology company that provides retailers with the tools for omnichannel digital promotions and loyalty schemes—a role that is the modern, technological evolution of the work he began with Clubcard and Tesco.com.
The failure of the Tesco project can be seen as the primary catalyst for Anderson’s digital transformation.
The project collapsed under the weight of its manual, analogue processes.
The logistical nightmare of coordinating a physical leaflet across 480 stores taught him an unforgettable lesson about the necessity of scale, automation, and efficient data management.
His future career in SEO and software development – a field entirely dependent on understanding and leveraging complex, automated systems – appears to be a direct intellectual and professional response to the very problems he failed to solve in 1999.
He essentially spent his career building the type of automated, scalable tools that would have made the Handy Leaflet a viable enterprise.
Conclusion: Legacy and Lessons Learned
The brief, six-month lifespan of the Tesco Handy Leaflet project in 1999 left no tangible mark on Tesco’s business, but its story offers an enduring legacy of lessons for both entrepreneurs and corporate leaders.
It is a timeless case study in innovation, timing, and the powerful, often paradoxical, nature of failure.
Lessons for Innovators and Corporations
For entrepreneurs, Shaun Anderson’s story is a powerful reminder that a brilliant concept is only the first step.
Success depends equally on an understanding of the operational, logistical, and managerial requirements needed to bring an idea to scale.
It highlights the critical need for self-awareness regarding one’s own strengths and weaknesses, and the necessity of building a team and delegating tasks—a lesson Anderson learned through experience.
His ultimate success in a different field is a testament to resilience and the immense educational value of a well-analysed failure.
For corporate leaders, Tim Mason’s handling of the proposal provides a model for fostering innovation.
It demonstrates the value of maintaining open channels for ideas to flow from all levels of an organisation, including the front lines.
By taking a shelf-stacker’s idea seriously and investing in a low-cost, managed pilot program, Tesco was able to explore a potentially disruptive concept with minimal risk. The process also underscores the importance of vetting all new initiatives against the company’s long-term strategic direction – a task Mason performed with his simple but decisive question about the internet.
A Pivotal Encounter
The story of the Tesco Handy Leaflet is ultimately about a pivotal encounter at the dawn of a new technological age.
It brought together an “offline” entrepreneur with a prescient vision for hyper-local value and a corporate executive who was already building the framework for a data-driven, digital future.
The project’s failure was not a failure of imagination, but a function of its time.
The idea was sound, but the analogue execution could not support the ambition.
Decades later, the principles behind the Handy Leaflet—hyper-local deals, in-store media, and leveraging customer traffic for ancillary revenue—are thriving, powered by the very digital technologies that rendered the original leaflet obsolete before it was even born.
From the author: I had a deal with Inshops with the Handy Leaflet concept in 1999, but I wanted Tesco (where I worked as a shelf stacker for 7 years – mostly night shift, for the quiet). So I sent the Marketing Director, Tim Mason, a letter with a testimonial from my Tesco manager at the time, Mr M. Chan (and some local businesses), and then went down to London to present my idea in his office. During this meeting, I encouraged him to add things to the shopping checkout like dog insurance. I remember dog insurance, specifically being a direct quote. I was highlighting the fact that you could sell anything at the checkouts. I had a plan for a vehicle. I was told it was deemed improper to sell at the checkout at the time, but he supported me in my investigation. I worked on the Tesco project for just over six months, but the logistics behind 480 stores at the time were too much for me, what I was going through at the time, and I didn’t know how to delegate to the people to whom I was given access. I had to go to the council social office and tell them I was meeting Tesco and I needed a suit for the meeting the next day. They gave me £200 to get a suit and I flew down, and was met by a chauffeur in a big green Jaguar. I sat up front with the chap; I didn’t want to get used to that kind of treatment. I was out of my depth, but it was a great learning experience. Mr Mason asked me what I thought of the internet. I hadn’t been on it; I never had money for the internet. My work was 100% offline. I told him I was not interested in it. He told me the cookery book they had at the checkout at the time cost them a million a year to make, whereas my idea would make them millions if they went down the path I was presenting. Mr Mason and his secretary treated me very kindly. I am immensely grateful for the time they took out to talk with me, and for the people they placed at my disposal for I think about 6 months. I was too inexperienced at the time with too much going on in my life, like most people from where I am from, at that age. It was this experience that my friend Michael told me, “If you have an idea like that again, give me a shout, you tw*t!”. I am still not a good delegator; I prefer to work on jobs where essentially I am doing the actual job. I have only ever worked on things that interested me, which has gotten me into trouble sometimes. I didn’t want to run a company ever again. Running a company seemed to get in the way of doing the job (for me, anyway). I sent my CV off to Adparters in Glasgow in late 1999.