Ian West was born in Manchester and originally trained in art and design before moving to London to work as art director for paperback publisher Corgi Books. Qualifying in marketing he moved up to the Midlands to start his own consultancy specialising branding and identity development with a strong international bias. His client list contained many household names Adams Foods, Asda, Lotus, Evode,, Vileda and Qualcast.
In the 1980’s the business became part of a leading Midlands marketing services group with Ian taking on a number of roles over the years, including founding and running the digital marketing division. In 2005 he took over the specialist marketing consultancy, One-Marketi.