ICG and League Football Education celebrate winning partnership

Warton-based marketing agency ICG is celebrating its 20-year partnership with League Football Education.
 
League Football Education (LFE) is a charity, based in Preston, that delivers the Apprenticeship in Sporting Excellence programme to the majority of English Football League clubs.
 
ICG has helped shape how LFE communicates and connects with thousands of young apprentice footballers, their families, clubs and education providers across the country including many familiar names.
 
Jude Bellingham was an LFE apprentice at Birmingham City and named LFE's Championship Apprentice of the Year for 2019-20 while nine LFE Academy graduates feature in England's 2026 World Cup squad, including Ollie Watkins, Ezri Konsa, Jordan Henderson and John Stones.
 
Back in 2006, ICG's first job was to give LFE an identity of its own. The original pentagon-shaped logo took inspiration from the pattern stitched into a football - a simple idea that has remained at the heart of the brand ever since, and one that has been recognised in creative design circles, featuring in Taschen's Brand Identity Now series.
 
Simon Couchman, managing director and creative director at ICG, said: "Looking back over the last two decades is an opportunity to celebrate the work that we have created with LFE and the partnership that continues today. What makes this partnership genuinely rewarding is seeing where LFE's apprentices end up - especially during the World Cup.
 
"From the first pentagon logo in 2006 to today's digital-first identity, the thread running through this partnership has always been the same: understanding LFE's audience and building creative that serves them, whatever the platform.
 
"Twenty years on, we're proud to still be LFE's marketing partner, and we're looking forward to many more years of collaboration and success."
 
Elaine Brand, LFE assistant projects manager, said: "ICG has become far more than a design agency to us - they are trusted partners who understand our organisation, our audiences and the importance of helping us communicate our work clearly and professionally.
 
"ICG has played an important role in helping LFE's visual identity evolve while staying true to who we are and what we stand for.
 
"I am grateful for the relationship we have built and value their continued support. We look forward to continuing this successful partnership for many years to come."

Picture: (L-R) Stephen Taylor, senior designer, ICG; Elaine Brand, assistant projects manager, LFE; Sarah Stephen, chief executive, LFE; Simon Couchman, managing director, ICG.