Australian Made has highlighted the success stories of several licensees and impactful small businesses through a special Australian Made Week feature published through The Age and Sydney Morning Herald.
The special feature also provided a closer look into how the iconic Australian Made logo helps promote Australia’s locally made products, reaching the papers’ total average audience of 10.7 million across print and digital each month.
The feature highlighted the raft of benefits the green and gold kangaroo has brought to both buyers and sellers amid economic uncertainty, not just in Australia, but globally.
According to market research conducted by Roy Morgan, Australians are now more committed to seeking out the Australian Made logo and buying local products than ever before.
Trust in the brand has grown to 93 per cent of Australians, with respondents saying that buying products with the logo conveyed attributes including supporting local jobs and employment, safety, high quality, and reliability.
Australian Made CEO Ben Lazzaro said over 4,500 businesses are now licensed to bear the logo— the highest number of licensees in the 35-plus years that the logo has existed.
“As we continue to emerge from the initial crisis of COVID-19, over a third of Australians say that they’re buying more Australian-made products than before the pandemic,’’ Lazzaro said.
“It sometimes takes a significant event to give us the shot in the arm to actually go, ‘Hang on, this is serious. We probably should focus on our sovereign manufacturing capability and things like that,’” the CEO added.
Australian makers embracing the benefits of local manufacturing were also highlighted in the special feature, including Mrs Tablescape, which is among the new generation of companies that are booming amid an influx in the demand for locally made products.
Mrs Tablescape was founded by commercial lawyer Carolyn Dorrian in the wake of COVID-19 when dining rooms became the new restaurants.
“So many businesses are sending their manufacturing offshore and it seemed crazy to me, when we have so many raw materials right here,” Dorrian said. “I was told so many times that I couldn’t do this or that here in Australia. It took a lot of trial and error but it is possible. I would love to see Australian manufacturing return. But we do need more government support.”
To learn more about small businesses making a big impact in the industry, as well as future opportunities, read the full Australian Made Week feature here.
