The Powerful Nature of Brand Archetypes
Measuring and Multiplying your Brand’s value
Jamie Schwartzman
Measuring and Multiplying your Brand’s value
Jamie Schwartzman
The biggest companies in the world make their brands more attractive and understandable by using brand archetypes to inform their brand identity. Have you ever been instinctively drawn to a brand, without really knowing why? Turns out there’s science behind it. You might remember a campaign after 10 or 20 years: not because you rushed out to “buy”, but because the whole experience made you laugh, relate, cry, think. We remember a brand because of how it makes us feel.
Archetypes help us to understand the intrinsic meaning of product categories and consequently help marketers create enduring brand identity that can establish market dominance, evoke and deliver meaning to customers, and inspire customer loyalty. – Carol Pearson & Margaret Mark, The Hero and the Outlaw
The concept of the archetype has its roots in psychology and storytelling. Appealing to the subconscious, archetypes bypass the intellectual mind and produce a feeling that lingers, organically leading the consumer to feel a sense of loyalty. In doing this, they’re a kind of bridge that can connect the conscious and subconscious.
Sigmond Freud’s theory of psychoanalysis introduced the concept of the subconscious mind. His work suggests that behaviors are influenced by our innermost thoughts.
Carl Jung advanced Freud’s concept into the collective subconscious, where shared experiences reside.
His work suggests the idea of universal archetypes.
Joseph Campbell integrated human experience through mythology. His work points to a universal journey we use as a metaphor for storytelling.
Brands based in archetypes are “felt” because they somehow manage to get into our minds and hearts and stay there.
What messages will reach them?
How do people think?
What resonates?
What moves them to take action?
Although great branding is expressed through things like ad copy, logos, and jingles— the magic really lies in a carefully crafted strategy that paves
the path to simple, bold, and consistent messaging. Brand archetypes provide a reliable framework for instilling meaningful concepts that are universally understood.
Learning about the 12 universal brand archetypes will give you a framework for establishing a brand’s position.
1. The Innocent archetype is rooted in safety, security, optimism, goodness, youth. Their motto is “Free to be you and me.”
Examples: Dove
2. The Sage believes in knowledge, insight, thoughts, and the mind. Their motto is “The truth will set you free.”
Example: Google
3. The Explorer yearns for travel risk discovery freedom. Their motto: “Don’t fence me in.”
Example: Jeep
4. The Rebel craves freedom and liberation. Their motto: “Rules are made to be broken.”
Example: Harley Davidson
5. The Magician believes in the power to create almost anything, with the motto “I make things happen.”
Example: Disney
6. A Hero will triumph, no matter what kind of adversity they face. Their motto: “Where there’s a will, there’s a way.”
Example: Nike
7. The Lover craves romance, sex, intimacy, and only has eyes for that. Their motto is “You’re the only one.”
Example: Chanel
8. The Jester wants fun, pleasure, and lives for the day. They’re funny, too, with the motto: “You only live once.”
Example: Ben & Jerry’s
9. The Citizen is down to earth, appreciates the simple thing, craves belonging. They believe in humility and equality.
Example: Home Depot
10. The Ruler believes in the best-of-the-best. They want control, and seek to make order out of chaos, and believes “Power isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.”
Example: Mercedes-Benz
11. The Caregiver leads a life of service, with the motto “love thy neighbor.”
Example: UNICEF
12. The Creator is a dreamer, builder, innovator, artist. They believe that “if you can imagine it, it can be done.”
Example: LEGO
