Research suggests that 350 million photos are uploaded onto Facebook every day, with 877 appearing on Instagram every second. That is a great deal of fast, competing content and for photography to really be able to ‘cut through’ that cacophony of visual noise and the photographic story of the West Midlands really needed to stand out. In this media heavy world, and as an ambassador of the West Midlands the Growth Company wanted to tell an impactful and consistent photographic story of the region. 

A key challenge in the West Midlands (WM) branding is to be able to visually tell the story of the region to all audiences. The aim of The Picture Book project was to develop a bank of distinctive photography, capturing the 7 geographical areas, which include: Birmingham, Coventry, Sandwell, Solihull, Wolverhampton, Dudley and Walsall and also the region’s nine strategic sectors that support the West Midlands’ brand pillars. 

We wanted to capture rich images with people that give a sense of place and capture the spirit of the communities within the West Midlands. These images will be used in many different areas, including new regional websites and regional marketing collateral. We wanted to explore the use of our brand colour palette within the photography so audiences will be able to recognise each image as distinctly ‘West Midlands’. 

The photos are free-to-use by all of our partners, and we welcome use of the images in your own marketing collateral.

We would like to thank everyone who was involved in the picture book project and the many businesses that had opened up their gracious doors for us to come in and capture their business spirt.

Click here to browse the image bank.

Nikisha Bagla
Marketing Executive
February 2019