West Midlands
Telling a new story for the West Midlands to change perceptions on a global scale.
The Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games is a unique opportunity to attract more visitors and business to the West Midlands. The Business and Tourism Programme (BATP) will be fully integrated with the Games and leveraging its profile to raise the region’s global standing as a leading destination for tourism, trade, and investment.
Working with a complex set of stakeholders across local, national and the Games governing bodies we created a brand and campaign for the programme to change how the modern West Midlands is seen around the world.
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Insight
The West Midlands is a region with a rich history of success, once the workshop to the world and still a melting pot of cultures, the region has much to be proud of. But too often the past can cloud the region’s future.
The campaign needed to move the conversation on from what we’ve done to what we can do. Multi-generational, open, inclusive and plugged-in in every way, the West Midlands supports the diverse thinking needed to break the status quo, create innovative ideas and generate new opportunities.
In short, the region’s diversity of thinking leads to a diversity of opportunities.
Ideas
We translated the spirit of the West Midlands, a community of communities, into a powerful place descriptor – one region, many worlds.
This phrase captures that feeling of pride in our thriving, international home. A place where ideas, communities and businesses connect to create new and exciting opportunities for all.
This provided a clear, unifying headline structure, designed to help the campaign cut through across markets, sectors and nations.
Impact
With a strong strategic foundation in place, we looked to build a brand that was truly representational of the West Midlands; big-hearted, fearless, down to earth, pioneering and full of surprises.
To let these qualities and the stories behind them speak for themselves, we created a unique graphic system, where communities across the region, from Wolverhampton to Coventry, are provided with a window through which to show the best of themselves.
These windows into the many worlds of the region formed the structure of the brand as we supported a high-profile launch campaign and provided partners with the tools they need to tell West Midland’s story all around the world.
“rbl have helped to balance the complex needs and priorities of the programme, its partners and our audience while crafting a powerful brand capable of helping the West Midlands take its rightful place on the world stage. Working with rbl has been a true collaboration, agency and client united in purpose, approach and ambition.”
Jon Badger
Brand Manager, Business and Tourism Programme