Dickie Mackay is a mannequin used by Mackays of Cambridge as a promotional tool and most recently he was filmed cycling around the city for the Tour de France.
Dickie is something of a celebrity in Cambridge and because of his impressive following on social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook, independent stores across the city were queuing up to feature in a short video of the mannequin cycling around the city centre prior to the Tour de France which visited on Monday, July 7.

Joint managing director of the independent family-run store, Neil Mackay, told DIY Week: "Dickie stands outside the store rain or shine, so we decided to put him to good use.

"It was my brother Duncan's idea to utilise the Tour de France because there was this phenomenal buzz around the city.

"So we filmed Dickie cycling around the city visiting other retailers. The benefit of the video to us was that we connected with other companies who are active on social media, in a way that wasn't possible years ago. They received promotion as did we."



The video on YouTube has had just short of 1,300 views, but Mr Mackay has big ambitions for the film and hopes it will go viral.

Dickie is sponsored by Dickies Workwear and four times a year the company provides clothing for him to model outside of Mackays.

The dummy sprung to life earlier in the year when he made his first appearance on social media and Mr Mackay has certainly seen the benefits. "I must admit we were guilty of being complacent and not realising the effect of the internet, but having Dickie has certainly put our store at the forefront of peoples' minds."

Mackays uses Dickie to promote sales, offers and events in store via social media and by standing on the street holding signs.

Mr Mackay adds: "We have the biggest shop window on the slowest road in Cambridge, so people might as well be entertained while they sit in traffic."

Read more about Dickie and his effect in DIY Week's new independent focus out August 22.