Choose Local campaign for Canberrans to buy from local businesses

"COVID-19 has put a strain on our community and our economy," a statement from the ACT government said.

"We now move to the next phase of our response: learning to manage the health risks, whilst driving the recovery of our city from our economy through to our well being.

"We want Canberrans to choose local, to eat local, to shop local and to style local.

"Every decision we make on where to spend our money, has the potential to help Canberra recover from the COVID-19.

"Choose local and support our locals."

The campaign has been rolled out with advertising on TV, radio, print and social media.

Brand Canberra's social media channels will also feature local businesses directly impacted by COVID-19 restrictions.

A video that illustrates how choosing local could positively impact the Canberra community was created by local multimedia company Good Shout.

The video features local actors and two iconic Canberra businesses: The Beautique by Jessica Peris and Brodburger.

The advertisement shows how a burger is "so much more than a burger" by following how buying from one local business supports others in the community.

It cycles through the lives of Canberrans and how each individual is connected to and supported by local businesses.

Brodburger co-owners Sascha Brodbeck and Joelle Bou-Jaoude said that COVID-19 had hit them hard but the support of Canberrans had helped their business survive.

"[COVID-19] has had a great impact on our business, we had to shut one of our stores in Fyshwick which was pretty sad," Bou-Jaoude said.

"But we changed our business model and we are doing home deliveries ourselves so we can keep our staff employed - we didn't have to let anyone go which is amazing."

"We had an amazing response from the community supporting our family business."

Brodbeck said that he liked how the campaign showed the connections of small business in Canberra's wider community.

"[It's] a really beautiful idea about how just being good to others and passing it on paying it forward just reflects upon the whole community," he said.

For Brodburger choosing local is an important part of their business.

"We are really close to all of our suppliers, we were making sure we were paying our bills on time, so we we're very conscious in making sure that they were OK," Bou-Jaoude said.

"At the end of the day we need them to supply us so we can make our burgers."

There was a lot of uncertainty around and just the reassurance that we are in it together just helps a lot," Brodbeck said.

For more information about the Choose Local campaign head to www.act.gov.au/chooselocalcbr.