Chief executive John Pearce looks at what 2022 promises for members
A VERY happy new year to everyone reading this, from everyone at Made in Britain.
More than anything in 2022, Made in Britain must be adding value to all our members’ businesses and enriching the professional lives of those tasked with marketing their goods. This starts with licence to promote your products with the official collective mark, and grows with the additional benefits of interaction, learning and shared knowledge of the growing SME and larger manufacturing community. Our annual ‘Buying British’ survey this year has again highlighted demand for British-made products is on the rise, meaning more people than ever should be seeking out goods made by Made in Britain members. Read our reports from the surveys here and here.
With demand for British-made products heading up, making and delivering goods for this increase in demand means finding the right people to market your goods and enough skilled workers to manufacture them. Studying the economic forecasts and reflecting on some of the inflationary signs in 2021, next year doesn’t look like being any easier for manufacturing sectors than this year has been – multiple challenges for most of the year. That is why being a part of this unique and thriving community focused firmly on manufacturers, will be more important than ever.
To help our members form meaningful alliances with business and trade leadership in their own region, we’re planning a series of regional marketing events with round table sessions, backed up with online forums where you and your colleagues can learn from trusted peers and share your concerns about the future growth of the sector. Event dates will be published in the new year for all members to sign up, COVID-19 restrictions permitting.
Our International Trade and Green Growth programmes will both continue to grow in participant numbers and help promote our organisation in the media. Members will be able to attend webinars on a myriad of marketing, trade, communications, sales, exporting and sustainability themes. Everything we learn together at Made in Britain is shared later via the download section of the website and is free to members. Our webinar recordings are available to your colleagues working in manufacturing, sustainability, sales, marketing, PR, procurement and export.
We will also initiate a new channel of feedback communications for every member that wants to, to write directly to us on the topics that matter most to your business in 2022. Working in close proximity to government departments DIT and BEIS and Cabinet Office, and as members of the CBI, we will make sure your views are heard and reported, so that policy-makers know what SME and larger manufacturers need in 2022, and what can wait.
We are all very proud of our independence and self-sustainability and want to assure our members that all of your annual licence fee is invested back into serving the Made in Britain community of currently 1,800 manufacturers. In line with the commitment in our code of conduct, we will continue to investigate the reported misuse of the mark, to protect the long-term value proposition that is so essential to a registered collective mark for 30 product classes. We’ll work tirelessly to assure all our members take full advantage and feel the positive impact and value of membership to their business growth and that we are perceived as also valuable for the professional growth of their marketing and sales employees.
We are planning to welcome in even more new members in 2022 than the 300 that joined Made in Britain this year. Every new member will have the opportunity to be greeted into the organisation at our welcome meetings by Ilika Copeland, our chief operations officer, and me.
Made in Britain will continue to tell the exciting, open and coherent story of exemplary business practice in the national, regional and trade media, and working strategically to ensure our mark and our members continue to gain more visibility, recognition and growth.
I hope you have a successful, exciting and prosperous 2022.
By Made in Britain 2 years ago | By Made in Britain