A passion for excellence, purity, originality and being 100% home produced in New Zealand has helped Bee Kind - a Whangarei based manufacturer of products based on naturally available ingredients including bees wax - secure the Buy NZ Made Campaign's monthly Hero Award for December.
The company has customers for its products all over the world, with significant markets in Australia, the United States and Japan and says a focus on its New Zealand heritage and manufacturing has paid huge dividends.
"There's absolutely no doubt that people out there want New Zealand made produce and that Brand NZ has a great deal of credibility," explained managing director of Bee Kind Rachael Chester. With sales increasing more than 80% over the past year, it's hard to disagree.
"People are becoming increasingly aware of what's in basically everything they buy, as well as how it is made," she added. "With the majority of our products being those which may be in contact with skin - in our case humans and horses - as well as polishes which people come in contact with indirectly, there is a real drive to know what’s in them. Our 100% natural 'Bee Kind' beeswax polish range for example, uses local wax, is non-toxic and safe for the home and family."
Bee Kind products contain no turpentine, silicon wax, neuro-toxic petroleum distillates, naptha, synthetic dyes, or petroleum solvents - and it is these things that can be found in many products and that an increasingly savvy global marketplace is becoming aware of. With concern for the environment and the movement away from synthetic products, Bee Kind has become a natural choice for products based on traditional recipes, using only natural ingredients that have been tried and tested over generations. Every ingredient is renewable, biodegradable and earth-friendly.
The Buy New Zealand Made campaign’s new 'Heroes' programme is designed to identify companies who not only do a fantastic job promoting their NZ Made status but who have also excelled in other key commercial areas. During the past year, as well as seeing massive sales growth, Bee Kind has launched new products to its range of creams and polishes, and opened up new markets. It's also become something of a social media superstar.
"We have seen rapid growth on the back of before and after photographs of our products at work, particularly a naturally white soap wash that is great for horses and dogs," added Rachael. "When people see how effective it is, that it is from New Zealand and that it is natural - they want some. It's really as simple as that and those pictorial testimonials have seen our range of distributors grow dramatically as well as our Facebook likes on social media go to 5,000 and counting."
As a winner of a Heroes Award, Bee Kind receive a certificate, promotion on the Buy NZ Made website, promotion in target media, Hero artwork which they can use in their own marketing, a social media advertising voucher worth $100 to be used on the Buy NZ Made social media channels and automatic entry into the annual competition where they and 10 other monthly winners will be voted on by the public for the Ultimate Hero Award.
If they win that, they will receive a trophy and certificate, artwork displaying their ultimate hero status and an advertorial in a magazine of their choice (from a selection of approved magazines) that includes information about their award, Buy NZ Made and other content of their choice.
