'It's Not All Up To You': SumUp Celebrates Small Businesses

From regular customers, to suppliers, friends, family and neighbouring companies, it takes a community to build a small business. SumUp, the financial technology ecosystem, is placing a spotlight on these supporters with their new end of year brand campaign. 

Created by Mother in Berlin, ‘It’s Not All Up To You’ celebrates business owners and communities together, positioning SumUp as the ultimate champion of businesses, offering support every step of the way. SumUp provides a complex financial ecosystem, offering card readers, point-of-sale systems, and advanced payment solutions and business tools for businesses of all sizes.

SumUp partnered with three diverse small business owners from Berlin — Marsano, VOLK, and ROHN.Berlin — to bring the campaign’s core message to life: that partnering with SumUp is the easiest way to lighten the everyday workload. By highlighting their authentic stories, the campaign showcases how SumUp’s extensive ecosystem of financial tools acts as a reliable helping hand of the unofficial team, empowering merchants to focus on what they do best. This collaboration not only reinforces the brand’s commitment to supporting entrepreneurs but also creates a genuine connection that resonates with business owners everywhere.

Anna Druckrey, Creative Director at SumUp commented “SumUp is devoted to empowering businesses globally and recognises the group effort that goes into creating something lasting, truly fuelling the sustainable success of business owners. 

‘It’s Not All Up To You’ perfectly defines the spirit of togetherness that is not only integral to SumUp’s ethos, but a central part of every business story. By collaborating directly with real-life merchants, we infuse our brand campaign with genuine authenticity and build deeper trust with our audience.”

Alexander Nowak, Chief Creative Officer & Partner at Mother Berlin, added, “Too often, small business advertising portrays entrepreneurs as lone heroes, but the truth is, no business succeeds in isolation. For SumUp, we wanted to shift that narrative — small business owners aren’t embarking on this venture alone. We’re here to remind them: you’ve always got people in your corner. An unofficial team.”

SumUp and Mother Berlin teamed up with director and photographer Clara Nebeling, highlighting three small businesses and the communities that support them through a campaign that spans CTV, OOH and digital.

The campaign was shot in Germany and will run across Germany, UK, France, Italy and Spain as of mid September.

Credits

Brand: SumUp
Creative Agency: Mother Berlin

Production: Umlaut Films GmbH