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In a new multi-part communications project, Kelsh Wilson helped the Brentwood School in Los Angeles to sharpen its positioning, project its image with greater impact, and speak with a new level of consistency.

The Brentwood School, a K-12 independent school in Los Angeles, is an impressive institution indeed. An academic powerhouse, it’s also home to thriving arts and athletics programs and to a warm and inclusive school community. And, that says nothing of its two campuses, beautifully sited a stone’s throw from the Getty Museum.

How well does all this show through in the school’s communications program? This was the question at the heart of a multi-part branding project Kelsh Wilson recently completed for the school. In fact, it was the core focus of the project’s first phase: an audit of Brentwood’s website, admissions collateral, school magazine, and other major communications.

The answer that emerged was mixed. Kelsh Wilson found that some of Brentwood’s strengths showed through clearly, while some were missing or underrepresented. Certain key points were could be found in the message mix, but were not being expressed forcefully enough to position the school with intention.

Analyzing the gap between the school as presented in its communications and the Brentwood a visitor would experience in person pointed the way to enhancements in the branding program. These ranged from design approaches that better capture the friendliness and positive energy of the school, to a more robust vocabulary for exploring Brentwood’s academic strengths.

One distinctive twist—a highlight of the new admissions print package that Kelsh Wilson developed—was a series of captioned photo strips. These provide the perfect motif for revealing and celebrating learning as a process, an idea at the heart of the school’s philosophy.

Kelsh Wilson’s creative and strategic work was reflected across a broad range of communications—in new viewbooks and curriculum guide that KWD developed and in the look and content of the school’s new website, which Brentwood worked with a third-party firm to plan and launch. In addition, a robust brand guide equips the school’s in-house marketing team to bring consistent messaging and visual elements to the many communications they produce internally.

BRENTWOOD SCHOOL EAST CAMPUS / VIEWBOOK (GRADES 6 THROUGH 12)