I had the opportunity recently to correspond with Cal McAllister, co-founder and creative director of Wexley School for Girls in Seattle.  What’s especially cool about Wexley School for Girls is that it’s not an all-girls’ school…or even a school…or even named after someone named Wexley.  I’d try to tell you what it is, but Cal can do a much better job of that than I, so I’ll let him explain.  He also has some interesting things to say about brand identity and other topics from BRAND-NEW EMILY.  Enjoy!

Ginger: Your company is called Wexley School for Girls, but it’s not a school.  What is it, what do you do, and why the name?
Cal: Funny, we never get that question. Since you asked, Wexley is a marketing company. We are founded on the belief that the traditional advertising billing model is broken. It says spend 10% on content and 90% on media distribution. That simply doesn’t work anymore. They were built that way because there was no other option to get the word out, so they knew before they even heard the problem that they’d be using TV, print, and radio to spread the word. Those mediums still work sometimes, but they are no longer the answer. So we solve the problem first, then decide the best way to reach a target. We called ourselves Wexley School for Girls because the last thing we want our clients to think is they’re meeting with another ad agency. But the school for girls part stops there. We don’t have little desks, little skirts, or do all our work on chalkboards. Sorry if we misled you.
 
Ginger: Can you explain what brand identity is and how it’s determined?
Cal: Brand identity, by our definition, is what a brand says when it cannot speak for itself. It’s how people describe it, explain it, relate to it. We can create a brand identity, but the only way we can do that is to look at the core of the company and see what it wants to be. We need to be sincere. A brand is made up not only of the family of products in a SKU line, but the people who build them. The mission statement those people follow. The benefits they truly believe the consumer gains from using their product. Sometimes companies need help identifying how those traits all work together, and that’s what we do best. So when we say “create” a brand, we create the imagery and craft the language and dress up a brand before we unleash it on the world. But its foundation needs to be created by the people it represents.

Ginger: What does it mean to be cool? Can any product or person be cool if correctly branded/marketed?  Why or why not?
Cal: Cool is in the eyes of the beholder. So the short answer is yes, anything, product or person, can be cool if correctly branded or marketed. But that doesn’t mean it is right or good. Cigarettes are marketed often as cool, but they simply kill people more directly than any product approved for human consumption. Not cool. Brands today, both personal brands (think Obama) and product brands (think Apple) are carefully and tactically scrutinized, planned, and managed by traditional media, social media, PR, and just about every point of contact to make sure they’re seen as cool. The only reason they will lose cool status is if they royally screw up and don’t face up to it and course correct.
 
Ginger: If there’s something weird or unusual about a product or a person, is it better to try to downplay that, or is it better to put a different spin on it?  Can you give an example of a brand (either a product or a person) who does this (either way—downplaying or playing up) well?  Or maybe could you tell us about a time when your company had to remake a product or client hip and cool that previously hadn’t been cool?
Cal: One of the most famous examples of this is Avis. They were the number two rental car company, cut and dried. Instead of trying to prove they weren’t, they embraced it. By being number two, they built a brand around trying harder than number one to get to number one. Then they acted on it as a company. Back in the 60s, VW embraced being an ugly, undersized foreign car. That then made them cute and practical. One thing marketers constantly try and do is find a difference that sets their product apart. If it’s embraceable by the masses, all the better. I tend to like weird people. They found something different in themselves, embraced it, and live without hiding it. Does that mean it’s always a good thing? Nope. But more often than not, I dig they committed to something.

Ginger: Knowing what you know now about marketing/branding/advertising, if you could go back to middle school, could you, like Emily, take over the school and become the coolest brand?  If so, how would you do it?
Cal: Emily is super-skilled. Normally it takes a bit longer. But Emily had what it took, and great resources. With me, I’d have been more of a project. I was average height, some might say dangerously underweight, just started wearing glasses that made me look like a bug, and my mom wouldn’t let me wear trendy clothing brands. It took me until high school to even have friends in the cool crowd, let alone be considered in that crowd myself. I could do things differently, and knowing what I know now, I am sure I could identify trends and get in front of them a bit, if not create them. I might be able to pull it off for awhile, but with most insincere brands, I’d have gotten found out and  done more damage than if I just stayed true to myself and lived through that stage of life that was particularly awkward for me.
 
Ginger: What advice would you give to teens and tweens who don’t fit in?
Cal: When I was in the 7th grade, my health teacher said something that insulted the popular kids and stuck with me. She said the pretty girls and jock guys would continue to have everything given to them or set up for them and not really have to work for anything. This would be fine for now, but they weren’t learning, or growing, or even developing as people. She said by the end of high school, and most certainly later in life, the skin deep beauty would eventually sag and today’s ugly ducklings would bound past them. At the time, that didn’t even seem perceivable. The beautiful girls never paid for a Coke in the cafeteria and always had boyfriends. The football players got special treatment from teachers. It was the life. But believe me, and truly time will tell your readers, too, it really didn’t work out for them in the end. The people who were beautiful on the inside stayed beautiful, and once they figured out how to live in their own skin, became beautiful on the outside, too. I just got back from my 20-year reunion (gasp!). The guys were old, balding, and had lost that six-pack stomach. The girl who made her own clothes and painted her nails ten different colors and didn’t fit in back then stole the show. But she found out how to fit in with herself. And once she got the confidence that comes with that, it was clear she grew into exactly what all the popular kids wanted to be. In short, experiment with styles. Fail sometimes. Learn from that. Meet new people and see who they help you become. Be true to yourself, and things will work out just fine.

Thanks, Cal!