Buy Local Grow Namibia campaign continues to gain momentum as it runs for the duration of the month
12 October 2020
The Buy Local Grow Namibia campaign will highlight the vital role of local businesses in our nation’s economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Officially set in motion on 1 October 2020, the Buy Local Grow Namibia campaign continues to gain momentum as it runs for the duration of the month.The campaign is a joint effort between the United Nations Namibia, Team Namibia, the Namibia Trade Forum, The Namibian Newspaper and Weathermen & Co., and aims to encourage the consumption of Namibian products and services.
Upon delivering the keynote address at the launch of the campaign, Minister of Industrialisation and Trade, Hon. Lucia Iipumbu, elaborated on the part local businesses play in underpinning the nation’s economy and explained the need to promote this timely, home-grown initiative.
Iipumbu: “The [Buy Local Grow Namibia] campaign will highlight the vital role of local businesses in our nation’s economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.”
She further appealed to every Namibian to support the campaign and help stimulate Namibia’s economy.
It was precisely this collective call to action that the creative agency behind the campaign artwork, Weathermen & Co., sought to communicate. According to Vanessa Mengerssen, Senior Art Director at Weathermen & Co., “After receiving the brief, we wanted to create imagery for the campaign that would elicit a feeling of togetherness, following the example set by the organising partners who joined forces to launch this movement. We wanted to inspire that shared purpose among the Namibian people. Being a Team Namibia member ourselvesunder our holding company, the Ohlthaver & List (O&L) Group, we wanted to contribute to what we believe will be an impactful movement and did so by creating the campaign artwork at no cost.
“The look and feel of the campaign needed to celebrate the Namibian identity as well as illustrate the collective power we all have in owning that identity.”
The design components were aligned to the main objective of the campaign: encouraging growth at home through increased consumption of local goods and services. Using stylistic elements from the Namibian flag and the Team Namibia logo, we created the location tag as the central feature of the design, because our location – our home – is at the heart of the campaign. The hands around the location tag depict two key messages. Firstly, it is in our hands to nurture and uplift our economy and country as a whole; and secondly, the only way we will realise that progress is by taking hands and working together. Then there was colouring it all in – naturally with our Namibian colours.”
Acting Managing Director of Weathermen & Co., Patricia Hoeksema, who represented Team Namibia as a board member at the campaign launch, expressed her admiration for the collaboration between the organisers and emphasised the need for the nation to come together in support of this campaign. Hoeksema:
“We all need to own and champion our local products and services, becauseit’s only in our numbers that we will truly mobilise this movement and make a significant, far-reaching impact. I encourage everyone to make their dollar count for their fellow Namibian by spending that dollar locally.”