An advertising campaign reminding Australians the world's best Merino wool is produced right here will shortly be rolled out across digital and free to air TV networks.
The emotion filled campaign, presented by AWI's marketing arm, The Woolmark Company, contains a gut-filled catch-line, "It takes an Aussie woolgrower to grow the best wool in the world".
The new campaign includes three 30-second digital TV ads, a radio drive on the Sports Entertainment network, free to air TV campaigns on the Channel 10 and 9 rural networks as well as a robust social media push.
AWI chief executive officer John Roberts said the campaign had two aims.
"We want to shine the light not only on the world's best fibre, but the tens of thousands of men and women who grow it," Mr Roberts said.
"Many remote, rural and regional communities continue to be supported by Australian wool-growing, with more than 60,000 Australian woolgrowers and many tens of thousands more working in the industry.
"These are the people who grow your clothes, who grow the best wool in the world.
"We also want to remind Australians to go out and support their industry by choosing Australian Merino wool products."
Mr Roberts said industry is seeing an increase in demand for Australian Merino wool as brands transition towards more sustainable and circular products.
"Wool used to dominate the performance sector in the 1950s, but was replaced by cheaper, synthetic alternatives in the 1960s," Mr Roberts said.
"Yet no other fibre - natural or man-made - can mimic all of Merino wool's innate performance abilities including breathability, thermoregulation and moisture wicking properties."
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The advertisements remind the tens of thousands of woolgrowers, often the unsung heroes, that their passion and livelihood is an integral part of Australia's economy.
And through droughts, fires and floods Australia's woolgrowers continue to produce a natural fibre perfect for the demands of modern living.
"Wool is a fibre like no other, and the industry is unique, yet one with true global reach" Mr Roberts said.
"Merino wool is super soft yet strong, natural yet high-performing, and its range of inherent eco-credentials such as renewability and biodegradability affirm its position as a technically advanced environmentally friendly fibre of choice."
The advertisement encapsulates the qualities of wool through mountain tops, spanning paddocks, children's nurseries, and in moments of greatest need.
The ad opens with a dramatic shot of the iconic Blue Mountains then zooms into a lone rock climber scaling the face of a cliff immediately connecting with wool's most well- known benefits: warmth, breathability, and technical performance.
It then turns to s scene filled with flames where a close-up reveals a Merino wool base-layer as a volunteer fire-fighter pulls his jacket on over his shoulders before the spotlight turns to a mother wearing a Merino wool cardigan picking up her baby from a cot, wrapping her in a soft, breathable blanket handed to her by the woolgrower.
The final scene journeys back to where it all began - the wool producing farm.
A close up shot of the woolgrower's kind face, the slightest hint of smile.
He knows he produces the world's best wool - nature's original eco fibre.
Filmed at 'Cooradigbee' in Wee Jasper NSW the Merino wool-growing property is owned by Helen and Ian Cathles.
Some of the home-grown brands featured in the spot include IO Merino, Merino Country, Sportscraft and Pure Baby.
