Wildfang: Decoding the DNA of a brand that does content right

About two years ago, during an ordinary Twitter day I got a new follower. The account name read: We are Wildfang.

I had no idea what this twitter account was about, but they were quick to reply to my ‘thanks for following’ tweet and they pointed me to their website. It turned out to be this cool clothing e-tailer based in Portland and I have to admit it was love at first web-sight.

Wildfang is what tomboys call home. They are not afraid to raid the boys’ closets and steal their styles. The brand has appropriated the term ‘tomboy’ and they have turned into a synonym of female badassery (Yes, badass should be a verb already)

The brand is the brainchild of two former Nike executives, Emma McIlroy (CEO/CMO) and Julia Parsley (Co-Founder), two self-described tomboys who got the idea after a failed attempt at raiding the men’s section at Urban Outfitters.

“I was looking at this graphic T-shirt which was too provocative for the women’s section — a semi-clad Kate Moss that was very bold and Julia, who has a much more sophisticated style, was looking at a little blazer. A men’s extra-small blazer. Naturally, neither piece fit us. And Julia said, ‘Why don’t we make this stuff for us? I guarantee there are women who come in here every day who want to rock these silhouettes.”

Two years later, Wildfang is no longer an e-tailer, it’s a powerhouse in the making. They went from curating tomboy outfits to developing their own private collections and now they just opened their second brick and mortar store in Portland.

I’ve been following them closely since that day on twitter, not only because I love their clothing but because they have brilliantly crafted every element of their brand. Their campaigns are cohesive, funny and always remain true to the brand values. Their content is so good I just keep coming back to check their latest campaigns.

So what and how exactly is Wildfang doing it right?

They are social anthropologists

One of the most valuable lessons I’ve learned about branding is that good marketers have to be social anthropologists, this means being highly attuned to the cultural zeitgeist, understanding what attitudes in society are shifting and being able to draw consumer insights that can be turned into brand strategies.

Wildfang unveiled the ‘rebel femme’ ethos. For most of 2011, Emma McIlroy spent her weekends interviewing women trying to understand who was the Wildfang consumer. She spent countless hours asking these women questions about their shopping habits, clothing preferences and even making them visualize their ideal shopping experience. The ‘eureka’ moment came when after all the interviews she conducted she discovered that women just had no idea what a tomboy shopping experience would be like.

This revelation, along with the surprising number of women who confessed to constantly borrowing their boyfriend’s sweatshirts or grandfather’s old jackets, convinced her that there was room in the market for a company like Wildfang.

They rock influencer marketing

A good influencer is someone who aligns organically with the values your company represents and is a respected voice that has the power to influence the audience they engage with.

As part of understanding who is the rebel femme, Emma McIlroy spent a lot of time learning how the women she interviewed behaved on social media. After combing through their profiles she found a trend, they all followed the same influencers.

“You take that menswear-inspired product and you put it together with that voice and attitude and persona and tone of voice that a number of those key celebrities have, and you’re going to fulfill that void in their retail world. You’re going to create their favourite brand because you are going to speak to them through the values and voice that they want. And you’re going to offer up a product that they’re looking for."

When the brand launched in 2013 Kate Moenigg, Megan Rapinoe, Hannah Blilie and fashion blogger FrouFrou helped define Wildfang’s voice in the brand’s first video, Welcome to the family.

They are kickass storytellers

Having worked at the most consumer obsessed company in the world, gave the Wildfang founders the edge to create content their audience loved.

“Everything I learned at Nike was how to be a great storyteller, how to build great content, how to engage and how to create an emotional connection with the consumer”

Welcome to the Family was the video that got me hooked but Live the Wild Life was the campaign that truly spoke to my heart. Living in my sneakers, becoming a rock star and negotiating my way out of Sunday dresses? Each and every sentence of that copy resonated with me and they even got a real wolf in the video, how much cooler can they possibly get?

The most impressive part is that this isn’t a lucky strike, they manage to nail the core messaging every single time and not only when it comes to video. The messaging is consistent across every channel.

Let’s hear it for the boys recreated iconic Rolling Stone magazine covers using a female model. Before that Evan Rachel Would was not only witty but served a good cause and made me want to buy every single item in that collection.

They’ve got some serious advocates

So what is behind a brand that gets content? It’s all about making connections with consumers.

Wildfang has managed to take all the knowledge about their consumers and translate that into content and products people love. The result? More than loyal consumers, they have fans who can easily rival the passion of apple fanboys/girls.

Back in 1997, Apple was the underdog trying to gain market share in a space dominated by Microsoft. With their iconic Here is to the crazy ones ad, the company aligned its brand with the creative community, becoming the only lifestyle tech company in the world.

Wildfang has done exactly that for tomboys, defying convention is not a fashion trend, it’s a lifestyle.

By aligning themselves with a powerful core messaging and empowering an untapped community, they unlocked the key to brand fandom.

Final thoughts

Wildfang’s CEO once said in an interview, that what truly differentiates her company from their competitors is that they know their consumers better than anyone else out there.

This knowledge has become the engine that powers everything the brand does, from the vendors they choose, the influencers they partner up with to the content they curate.

To excel at content takes more than just consumer knowledge, what sets brilliant content marketers apart is being able to take those insights and make them part of everything they create.

Sources: Business of Fashion, Fast Company