Enabling technology to succeed through brand and storytelling

Insight

The West Midlands’ Tech Start-up Ecosystem alone is already worth £15.8bn and growing fast. Despite that, independent analysis suggested that a lack of a shared purpose, proposition and
story was holding the region back from fulfilling its true potential.

As a narrative for the whole ecosystem, not just TechWM, the work needed to consider all
aspects of the sector, such as 5G, HealthTech, FinTech, CreateTech (including gaming), AI and
Cyber and many more.

This couldn’t just be about picking and backing the right businesses, it needed to highlight the region’s unique and united strengths: diverse industry base, digital infrastructure, world-class and research-intensive universities, the young and diverse population, international links and revolutionary heritage.

Ultimately, this needs to be a story the entire ecosystem is proud of, something they can share
with the world, confident it will resonate, drive investment, change perceptions and inspire all.
From focus groups and creative drop-in experiences to interviews and surveys – we used every technique possible to rapidly immerse ourselves in the ecosystem. It was immediately
clear that there was a huge appetite for this project and a clear need for a new narrative.

Members of the community believed in the power of the story they had to tell; they just knew they weren’t telling it well enough.

This showed us that the key building blocks for a future story were already in place including
a shared sense of difference and an embryonic sense of purpose but with no agreed north star
to bind the ecosystem together.

The right narrative would form that north star and shine a light on that difference.

Ideas

The geography of the West Midlands is complex and confusing, but when you view the West Midlands as a mindset not a line on a map, then suddenly that shared difference becomes clear and communicable, therefore, to make an impact on the global stage, place-making and a point-of-view for the tech ecosystem have to go hand in hand.

Ultimately, addressing the inherent West Midlands imposter syndrome and providing the
ecosystem with clear reasons to believe in itself, so everyone can project a clear vision of the
world they want to create.

We took these elements and used them to tap into the distinct identity of the West Midlands,
forging a journey from the city of a thousand trades to the region of thousands more opportunities.

With an agreed identity in place, the north star become easy to spot. If the ecosystem exists to
create a thousand more opportunities, then it must also believe in seizing those opportunities.

The shared purpose which drives the ecosystem, is making tech succeed, and they are doing it in
most young, diverse, multi-talented, ambitious and human of places – the West Midlands.

The West Midlands Tech Ecosystem is making tech succeed in the most human of places – this is their vision, their north star, and the shining light of their story.

Impact

With this story formed our focus turned to telling it. Helping the ecosystem understand how this
story could piggyback the bigger arcs of the UK and regional narratives while also providing the frameworks, advice and usable tools to add their own chapter to the ecosystem story.

This culminated with a key playbook for all the clusters, start-ups, scale ups and enterprises, and was brought to life in a hero video that acts as the brand advocate for the ecosystem to be played at key meetings and events.

The work was launched at this year’s Tech Review to over 400 of the region’s founders, funders and stakeholders. Where it was well received and quickly adopted. Resulting in increased calls, new partnerships and deeper relationships within the ecosystem, across the globe including South Korea and beyond.

The narrative went on to form the basis of a bid for European City of Innovation 2024 – where Birmingham made the final three at the first time of entry.