By Luke Dalton. Updated 10 July 2026.

In 30 seconds: Contact Coffee Co, the veteran owned British coffee company founded by Royal Marines, has launched a national Union Jack campaign. The flag of the United Kingdom, carrying our logo and the line Fuel Your Mission, is now live on more than 40 digital billboards and street screens across Great Britain, from Manchester city centre to Wembley Park in London. While flags have been coming down from lampposts across the country, ours run on licensed advertising screens that nobody has to remove. This is the story of the campaign: why we did it, where the screens are, and what happened when we posted the first video.

What We Actually Did

The creative could not be simpler. The Union Jack fills the screen. Our logo sits on top of it. Four words underneath: Fuel Your Mission. That is the whole advert. No offer, no price, no product shot. Just the flag of our country and the name of our company.

It is running on more than 40 digital billboards and street screens across Great Britain. It runs on a giant screen on the side of a Manchester tower. It lines roadside boards on major routes into London. It runs on the digital totems through Wembley Park's London Designer Outlet, with the stadium arch behind it. Same flag, everywhere.

Every one of those sites is licensed, paid advertising space. No ladders. No cable ties. Nothing bolted to a lamppost. Nothing for a contractor to cut down, and nothing for a council to write a statement about. The flag is up because we put it up properly, and it stays up.

Why a Coffee Company Put the Flag on Billboards

Because we are proud to be British, proud to have served our country, and proud to fly its flag. That is the answer, and it is the whole answer. Contact Coffee was founded by Royal Marines. We served under this flag. It was on our shoulders, on our kit, and on the gates of every camp we ever walked through. Putting it at the centre of our biggest ever campaign was the most natural decision this company has ever made.

Luke Dalton, former Royal Marine and UK Special Forces communicator, fronted the first video of the campaign, filmed under our Manchester screen. His message in that video is the same one written here: more British businesses should fly the flag, and we would love to see the Union Jack back on the Great British high street.

And to be clear about what this is not: it is not a party political statement. The Union Jack does not belong to the left or the right. It is the national flag of the United Kingdom and it belongs to everyone who lives here. A veteran owned business flying the flag of the country its founders served should be the least controversial advertising in Britain. As you are about to see, it was not.

The Backdrop: Flags Going Up, and Flags Coming Down

You already know the context. Over the past year, Union Jacks and St George's Crosses have appeared on lampposts in towns and cities across the country, and the rows that followed have run all the way to the national news. The BBC published a whole explainer on the questions raised by flags lining English streets.

Then the removals started. Councils across the country began taking flags down from street furniture. Derby City Council alone reported removing approximately 950 flags by January 2026, citing its statutory responsibility to keep public spaces safe and well maintained. Councils point to the Highways Act 1980, the law that governs public roads and street furniture in England and Wales: attaching items to lampposts without formal consent is a breach of it, which means a lamppost flag can always, lawfully, be taken down.

We are not here to pick a fight with any council. They have legal duties over their own street furniture and safety obligations they cannot ignore, and highways law is highways law. But we watched the flag of our country become a tug of war on lampposts, going up one week and coming down the next, and we asked a different question: where can the Union Jack fly at scale, in public, where nobody has any grounds to take it down?

The answer was staring at us from the side of every major road in Britain: paid, licensed digital advertising space. So that is where we put it. The lamppost flags come down. Ours stay up.

Union Jack or Union Flag? Settled.

Within hours of the campaign going live, our comments filled with people arguing that it is the Union Flag, not the Union Jack, and that a veteran owned brand should know better. So let us settle it with the actual authority. The Flag Institute, the UK's vexillological charity and the recognised body on British flags, states that the national flag of the United Kingdom is the Union Flag, which may also be called the Union Jack. An Admiralty Circular ruled in 1902 that either name could be used officially, and in 1908 a government minister told Parliament that the Union Jack should be regarded as the national flag.

Both names are correct. They have been officially interchangeable since 1902. So if you spent an hour of your life in our comments over this one: it is the same flag, mate. Get yourself a brew. The full history, including why Wales is not on the flag, is in our complete guide to the Union Jack or Union Flag argument.

What Happened When We Posted the First Video

Luke posted the first video from under the Manchester screen, and the response has been overwhelming. At the time of writing that single reel has passed 61,000 views, with 1,690 likes, 140 comments and 33 reposts, and it is still climbing.

Watch the first campaign video on Instagram

The comments were almost entirely positive. Customers telling us they had put £90 orders in that day on the strength of the campaign. Other forces brands backing it publicly. Serving personnel and veterans saying more British businesses should proudly display the flag. That is the country we recognise, and it is the vast majority of the response.

And then there was the loud minority. We were told the campaign was rage bait. We were told that flying the national flag is divisive, and that we had invented the controversy for clicks. We were told, at length, that we had named our own flag wrong. One commenter suggested a Royal Marine veteran letting his team call it the Union Jack was a quality control failure. See the section above for how that one ended.

Our answer to all of it fits in one line, and it is the same line we posted in the comments: we are proud to be British and proud to have served our country. That is the agenda. There is no other agenda. If the sight of the national flag on a coffee advert upsets a handful of people while thousands cheer it, the flag is not the thing that is broken.

Where to See the Screens

The campaign is live now on more than 40 screens across Great Britain. The confirmed sightings so far: the tower screen in Manchester city centre, roadside digital billboards on major routes around London, and the totem screens running through Wembley Park's London Designer Outlet. Digital screens run advertising in rotation, so if you are stood in front of one, give it a minute and the flag will come around, always the right way up.

If you spot one, photograph it and tag @contactcoffeeco on Instagram. We are collecting the flag's tour of Britain, and the best shots get reposted.

Bring the Union Jack Back to the Great British High Street

There was a time when the Union Jack was simply part of the furniture of British life. It hung outside shops, flew over town halls, and sat in bunting across every high street without anyone reading a manifesto into it. Somewhere along the way, flying your own flag in your own country became a statement, and then a controversy, and then a news cycle. We think that is mad, and we think the fix is simple: normalise it again. Not through arguments, but through presence.

That is the real mission of this campaign, and it is bigger than 40 screens. So here is the open invitation: if you run a British business, fly the flag. Put it in your window, on your packaging, on your socials, on a screen if you have the budget. Do it properly, do it with pride, and do it without apology. The more of us who treat the Union Jack as what it is, the national flag of a country worth being proud of, the faster it stops being a story and goes back to being the backdrop. We have started. Your move.

The Coffee Behind the Flag

The flag gets the attention. The coffee keeps it. We roast some of the strongest coffee in the UK, we build canned coffee and caffeine products for people whose days do not allow for a slow morning, and we sit at the top of the British military coffee category we helped build. The pouch side of the business lives on the Red On range page. If you want the sharpest thing we make, Red On caffeine pouches carry a 225mg active stack per pouch: 100mg of caffeine from green coffee bean extract, 50mg Alpha GPC, 50mg L-theanine and 25mg Beta Alanine, with zero sugar, no tobacco and no nicotine.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why did Contact Coffee put the Union Jack on billboards?

Because we are a veteran owned British coffee company and we are proud to be British, proud to have served, and proud to fly our country's flag. The campaign puts the Union Jack on licensed digital advertising screens across Great Britain, where it cannot be taken down the way lamppost flags have been.

How many billboards are in the Union Jack campaign?

More than 40 digital billboards and street screens across Great Britain, from a giant tower screen in Manchester city centre to the totems at Wembley Park in London. The creative runs in standard advertising rotation on each screen.

Is it the Union Jack or the Union Flag?

Both names are correct. The Flag Institute, the UK authority on flags, states that the national flag of the United Kingdom is the Union Flag, which may also be called the Union Jack. An Admiralty Circular ruled in 1902 that either name could be used officially, and in 1908 Parliament was told the Union Jack should be regarded as the national flag.

Is it legal to fly the Union Jack in the UK?

Yes. There is no law against flying the national flag, and you need no permission to fly it on your own property. The disputes in the news concern flags attached to council owned street furniture, which councils say breaches the Highways Act 1980, the law governing public roads in England and Wales.

Why are councils removing flags from lampposts?

Councils cite their legal responsibility for street furniture and public safety, and say items attached to lampposts without formal consent are unlawful under the Highways Act 1980. Derby City Council alone reported removing approximately 950 flags by January 2026.

Is the Union Jack offensive?

No. It is the national flag of the United Kingdom and it represents everyone who lives here. People will always argue over symbols, but a country should be able to see its own flag on its own high street without a row.

Who is Contact Coffee?

Contact Coffee Co is a veteran owned British coffee company founded by Royal Marines. We make roasted coffee, canned coffee and caffeine products for people who run on the stuff, and we back the veteran community we came from.

What does Fuel Your Mission mean?

It is the line on every billboard, and it is the brand in three words. Whatever your mission is, work, training, family or service, our job is the fuel.

Will the Union Jack campaign continue?

The screens are live now and the flag is staying up. Follow @contactcoffeeco on Instagram for new locations, and if you spot one of our screens out in the country, send us a photo.

Related Guides

• Union Jack or Union Flag? The Argument, Settled: Both names are correct, and they have been since 1902. The history and the receipts.
• How to Fly the Union Jack: The Right Way Up: The correct orientation, the upside down myth, and the rules that actually exist.
• Black Rifle Coffee Gave Us 24 Hours to Respond. So We Did.: The other story everyone is talking about this month: the American giant called us out, and what happened in the next 24 hours.
• Best Military Coffee UK: The veteran and forces coffee brands actually worth buying, and how to tell the real ones from the camouflage marketing.
• The Strongest Coffee in the UK: What actually makes a coffee strong, and where ours sits on the scale.
• Red On Caffeine Pouches: The nootropic caffeine pouch with a 225mg active stack: caffeine, Alpha GPC, L-theanine and Beta Alanine.

References and Further Reading

• The Flag Institute: Union Jack or Union Flag? Authoritative advice
• BBC News: The questions about St George's and Union Jack flags lining English streets
• Derbyshire Times: Derby City Council removes 950 national flags as calls for inquiry refused
• GB News: Derby council will not return removed flags, citing the Highways Act 1980