Use It Starts Here

Help tell the West Midlands story

It Starts Here has been created to help the region tell a stronger, more consistent story. 

If you are a business, partner, local authority, university, cultural organisation, visitor economy organisation or other regional stakeholder, there are ways you can use It Starts Here within your own activity. 

It’s more than a logo. Use the narrative, language and campaign assets in a way that helps reinforce the wider West Midlands story. 

Using It Starts Here

It Starts Here works best when it is connected to a real story. 

That might be a business doing something differently, a partnership creating new opportunities, a cultural or visitor experience rooted in the region, a major event bringing people together, or a person, place or idea changing how the West Midlands is seen. 

The strongest uses of It Starts Here show what is happening rather than simply making a claim about the region. 

A useful starting point is to ask: 

• What is changing? 
• Why is it happening here? 
• Why does it matter beyond here? 

And then one final question: 

Does using It Starts Here genuinely strengthen the story, or are we just adding the logo? 

If the story can answer those questions, there is probably a strong It Starts Here angle. 

Assets and guidance

Approved It Starts Here assets are available through our public AssetBank. 

This includes: 

• It Starts Here logos and lock-ups 
• basic usage guidance 
• partner toolkit 
• approved campaign assets 
• supporting creative where available 

If you are using an approved asset exactly as supplied and in line with the guidance, you do not need to seek separate approval from West Midlands Growth Company. 

Please contact us before: 

• adapting or redrawing the It Starts Here identity 
• creating a new location or wording variant 
• combining It Starts Here with another campaign or brand in a new way 
• creating new campaign creative based on the identity 
• using It Starts Here in a way that is not covered by the guidance 

This helps us keep It Starts Here consistent across the region while making it easy for partners to take part. 

Even where approval is not needed, we’d still love to know how you are using It Starts Here. 

Keeping us in the loop means we can help amplify your activity, connect it with other work happening across the region and spot opportunities to do more with the story.

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Supporting current campaigns

Partners can also help extend the reach of current It Starts Here campaigns. 

This might include: 

• sharing campaign content through your own channels 
• using approved campaign assets 
• linking audiences to campaign pages 
• helping us identify relevant stories or organisations 
• supporting activity through your own networks 

Need something else?

If you want to use It Starts Here but cannot find what you need in AssetBank, or you are unsure how it should be applied, get in touch with the team. 

We can help with: 

• asset requests 
• usage questions 
• campaign support 
• potential collaborations 
• story ideas