Supporting all that is ‘local’
14 October 2020 | Business
The campaign which is set to run for the rest of this month, aims to encourage the consumption of Namibian products and services.
It is a joint effort between the United Nations Namibia, Team Namibia, the Namibia Trade Forum, The Namibian Newspaper and Weathermen & Co.
Speaking at the launch, minister of industrialisation and trade, Lucia Iipumbu, in her keynote address elaborated on the part local businesses play in underpinning the nation’s economy, explaining the need to promote this timely, home-grown initiative.
“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,” Iipumbu said.
She appealed to every Namibian to support the campaign and help stimulate the economy.
It is precisely this collective call to action that the creative agency behind the campaign artwork, Weathermen & Co., sought to communicate.
According to a senior art director at Weathermen & Co. Vanessa Mengerssen, after receiving the brief, the agency went about creating 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 a shared purpose among Namibians. Being a Team Namibia member ourselves under 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.”
According to Mengerssen, the look and feel of the campaign celebrates the Namibian identity and illustrates the collective power Namibians have in owning that identity. Therefore the design components are aligned to the main objective of the campaign, namely 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,” she explained.
The 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 the campaign.
“We all need to own and champion our local products and services. It’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,” Hoeksema said.