THE POWER OF STORIES
ARCHETYPES
Using brand archetypes takes the mystery and guesswork out of branding. Your brand archetype instantly gives you fresh direction and focus. It influences your choice of words, images, titles used to market your business. Your brand archetype sets the tone, style and personality of you marketing without taking away any of your individuality. In fact, it makes it super easy for you to express yourself more fully in your marketing and create deeper, richer emotional connections with your audiences.
The best system for the management of meaning,
“I am like this”
is the first system; mythology.
Mythology is the most powerful form of storytelling. All societies use mythology and archetypes to deliver meaning. Archetypes are forms or images of a collective nature which occur all over the world. An archetypal product identity speaks directly to the deep psychic imprint within the consumer, sparking a sense of recognition and of meaning.
The unconscious power of an archetype is immense. If the archetype is a conscious system of categorization, then you must be in the correct category or you will lose to the competitor with the better story
As the excellent book, The Hero and The Outlaw: Building Extraordinary Brands
Through the Power of Archetypes by Margaret Mark & Carol S. Pearson outlines, 12 archetypes are very applicable to brand building.
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Here is an outline of the 12 brand archetypes, including some of their primary attributes:
 Wholesome, pure
 Forgiving, trusting, honest
 Happy, optimistic, enjoy simple pleasures
 Searcher, seeker, adventurous, restless, desire excitement
 Independent, self-directed, self-sufficient
 Value freedom
 Thinker, philosopher, reflective
 Expert, advisor, teacher
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Confident, in-control, self-contained, credible
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 Warrior, competitive, aggressive, winner
 Principled, idealist, challenge “wrongs,” improve the world
 Proud, brave, courageous, sacrifice for greater good
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Rebellious, shocking, outrageous, disruptive
 Feared, powerful
Countercultural, revolutionary, liberated
 Shaman, healer, spiritual, holistic, intuitive
 Value magical moments and special rituals
 Catalyst for change, charismatic
 Not pretentious, straight shooter, people-oriented
 Reliable, dependable, practical, down to earth
 Value routines, predictability, the status quo, tradition
 Seek True Love, intimacy, sensuality
 Passionate, sexy, seductive, erotic
 Seek pleasure, to indulge, follow emotions
 Clown, jester, trickster
 Playful, take things lightly, create a little fun/chaos
 Impulsive, spontaneous, lives in the moment
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Altruistic, selfless
 Nurturing, compassionate, empathetic
Supportive, generous
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Innovative, imaginative, artistic
 Experimental, willing to take risks
Ambitious, desire to turn ideas into reality
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Manager, organizer, take charge attitude
 Efficient, productive
Confident, responsible, role model
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Archetypes motivation (and basic needs met)
The Yearning for Paradise
Independence & fulfillment
The Innocent
The Explorer
The Sage
- Helps people find happiness
Leaving a Thumbprint on the World
Risk & mastery
The Hero
The Outlaw
The Magician
- Helps people achieve
No Man or Woman is an Island
Belonging & Enjoyment
The Regular Guy/Gal
The Lover
The Jester
- Helps people have love/community
Providing Structure to the World
Stability & Control
The Caregiver
The Creator
The Ruler
Helps people feel safe
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Which archetype might provide a suitable identity for your organization?
THE INNOCENT
Motto:
Free to be you and me
Desire:
To experience paradise
Goal:
To be happy
Strategy:
Do things right
Gift:
Faith and optimism
Levels of the Innocent
Call:
A desire for purity, goodness, and simplicity
Level One:
Childlike simplicity, naïve, dependent, obedient, trusting, idyllic
Level Two:
Renewal, positive, reinventing, reframing, cleansing, reentering the promise land
Level Three:
An almost mystical sense of oneness, whereby Innocence comes from values and integrity, not outer experience; being not doing
The Innocent provides a good identity for brands that
Provide a relatively simple answer to an identifiable problem
Are associated with goodness, morality, simplicity, nostalgia, or childhood
Have functions associated with cleanliness, health, or virtue
Are produced by a company with straight-arrow core values
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THE EXPLORER
Motto:
Don’t fence me in
Desire:
The freedom to find out who you are through exploring the world
Goal:
To experience a better, more authentic life, more fulfilling life
Fear:
Getting trapped, conforming, inner emptiness
Strategy:
Journey, seek out and experience new things, escape from entrapment and boredom
Trap:
Aimless wandering
Gifts:
Autonomy, ambition, ability to be true to one’s own soul
Levels of the Explorer
The Call:
Alienation, dissatisfaction, restlessness, yearning
Level One:
Hitting the open road, going out into nature, exploring the world
Level Two:
Seeking your own individuality, to individuate, to become fulfilled
Level Three:
Expressing individuality and uniqueness
The Explorer archetype may be right for your brand if:
Your product helps people feel free, is nonconformist, or is pioneering in some way
You product helps people express their individuality
You seek to differentiate your brand from other more conformist brands
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Your organization has an explorer culture
The Explorer also may be known as the seeker, adventurer, individualist, antihero, or rebel
The Explorer story is at the root of all absurdist literature.
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THE SAGE
Motto:
The truth will set you free
Desire:
Discovery of the truth
Goal:
To use intelligence and analysis to understand the world
Strategy:
Seek out information and knowledge; become self reflective and understand thinking processes
Gift:
Wisdom, intelligence
Levels of the Sage
Call:
Confusion, doubt, deep desire to find the truth
Level One:
Search for absolute truth, desire for objectivity, looking to experts
Level Two:
Skepticism, critical and innovative thinking, becoming an expert
Level Three:
Wisdom, confidence, mastery
The Sage might be right for your brand if:
It provides expertise or information to your customers
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It encourages customers or clients to think
The brand is based on a new scientific break though or esoteric knowledge
The quality of the brand is supported by hard data
You are differentiating the product from others whose quality or performance is questionable
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THE HERO
Motto:
Where there’s a will there’s a way
Desire:
Prove one’s worth through courageous and difficult action
Goal:
Exert mastery in a way that improves the world
Fear:
Weakness, vulnerability, wimping out
Strategy:
Become as strong, competent, and powerful as you are capable of being
Trap:
Arrogance
Gifts:
Competence and courage
Levels of the Hero
The Call:
A challenge beckons; a bully kicks sand in your face or someone tries to intimidate you, someone needs you to defend him or her
Level One:
The development of boundaries, competence, mastery expressed through achievement. Motivated or tested through competition
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Level Two:
As with a soldier, doing your duty for your country, organization, community, or family
Level Three:
Using your strength, competence and courage for something that makes a difference to you and to the world
The Hero might be right for your brand if:
Your product or innovation will have a major impact on the world
Your product helps people perform at their upper limit
You are addressing a major social problem and asking people to step up to the plate and address it
You have a clear opponent or competitor you want to beat
You are the underdog
Your base identifies itself as good moral citizens
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THE OUTLAW
Motto:
Desire:
Rules are made to be broken
Revenge or revolution
Goal:
To destroy what is not working
Fear:
Being powerless or trivialized
Strategy:
Disrupt, destroy, or shock
Trap:
To go over to the dark side
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Gift:
Outrageousness, radical freedom
Levels of the Outlaw
The Call:
Feeling powerless, angry, mistreated
Level One:
Identifying as an outsider, dissociating from the values of the group or society in a way that flies in the face of conventional behavior and morality
Level Two:
Behaving in shocking or disruptive ways
Level Three:
Becoming a rebel or a revolutionary
The Outlaw may be right for your brand if:
Customers and employees are feeling very disaffiliated from society
The function of your product is to destroy something (literally or virtually) or is genuinely revolutionary
Your product is not very good for people
Your product helps retain values that are threatened by prevailing ones or pioneers new and revolutionary ones
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THE MAGICIAN
Motto:
It can happen!
Desire:
Knowledge of the fundamental laws of how the world or universe works
Goal:
Make dreams come true
Fear:
Unanticipated negative consequences
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Strategy:
Develop vision and live it
Gift:
Finding win-win outcomes
Levels of the Magician
Call:
Hunches, extrasensory or synchronistic experiences
Level One:
Magical moments and experiences of transformation
Level Two:
The experience of flow
Level Three:
Miracles, moving from vision to manifestation
The Magician might be right for your brand if:
The product or service is transformational
Its implicit promise is to transform the customer
Its appeal is to new age consumers or cultural creatives
It helps expand or extend consciousness
It is a user-friendly technology
It has a spiritual or psychological component
It is a new and very contemporary product
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THE REGULAR GUY/GAL
Motto:
All men and women are created equal
Desire:
Connection with others
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Goal:
To belong, fit in
Fear:
Standing out, seeming to put on airs and being rejected as a result
Strategy:
Develop ordinary solid virtues, the common touch, blend in
Gift:
Realism, empathy, lack of pretense
Levels of the Regular Guy/Gal
Call:
Loneliness, alienation
Level One:
The orphan, feeling abandoned and alone, seeking affiliation
Level Two:
The joiner, learning to connect, fit in, accept help and friendship
Level Three:
The humanitarian, believing in the natural dignity of every person regardless of his or her abilities or circumstances
The Regular Guy/Gal archetype provides a good identity for brands
Whose use helps people belong or feel that they belong
Whose function is something used commonly in everyday life
Produced or sold by a company with a down home organizational culture
Who want to differentiate themselves in a positive way from a higher priced or more elitist brand
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THE LOVER
Motto:
I only have eyes for you
Desire:
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Attain intimacy and experience sensual pleasure
Goal:
Being in a relationship with the people, the work, the experiences, the surroundings they love
Fear:
Being alone, unwanted, unloved
Strategy:
Become more and more attractive--physically, emotionally and in every other way
Gift:
Passion, gratitude, appreciation, commitment
Levels of the Lover
The Call:
Infatuation, seduction, falling in love (with a person, an idea, a cause, work, a great product)
Level One:
Seeking great sex or a great romance
Level Two:
Following your bliss and committing to whom and what you love
Level Three:
Spiritual love, self-acceptance, and the experience of ecstasy
The Lover is a promising identity for a brand
Whose use helps people find love or friendship
Whose function fosters beauty, communication, or closeness between people or is associated with sexuality or romance
If it is produced or sold by a company with an intimate, elegant organizational culture
That needs to differentiate itself in a positive way from lower priced competitors
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THE JESTER
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Motto:
“If I can’t dance I don’t want to be a part of your revolution”
Desire:
To live in the moment with full enjoyment
Goal:
To have a great time and lighten up the world
Fear:
Boredom or being boring
Strategy:
Play, make jokes, be funny
Gift:
Joy
Levels of the Jester
Call:
Boredom
Level One:
Life as a game, fun
Level Two:
Cleverness used to trick others, get out of trouble, and find ways around obstacles, transformation
Level Three:
Life experienced in the moment, one day at a time
The Jester is a promising archetype to provide identity for brands
Whose use helps people belong or fell that they belong
Whose function helps people have a good time
With pricing moderate to low
Produced and/or sold by a company with fun loving, freewheeling organizational culture
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THE CAREGIVER
Motto:
Love your neighbor as yourself
Desire:
To protect people from harm
Goal:
To help others
Fear:
Selfishness, ingratitude
Strategy:
Do things for others
Gift:
Compassion, generosity
Levels of the Caregiver
Call:
Seeing someone in need
Level One:
Caring for and nurturing one’s dependents
Level Two:
Balancing self-care with care for others
Level Three:
Altruism, concern for larger world
The Caregiver is a good identity for brands
For which customer service provides the competitive advantage
That provides support to families (fast food to minivans) or that are associated with nurturance (cookies)
For services in the health care, education, and other caregiving fields (including politics)
That help people care for themselves
For non-profit causes and charitable activities
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THE CREATOR
Motto:
If it can be imagined, it can be created
Desire:
Create something of enduring value
Goal:
Give form to a vision
Fear:
Having a mediocre vision or execution
Strategy:
Develop artistic control and skill
Task:
Create culture, express own vision
Gift:
Creativity and imagination
Levels of the Creator
Call:
Daydreams, fantasies, flashes of inspiration
Level One:
Being creative or innovative in imitative ways
Level Two:
Giving form to you own vision
Level Three:
Creating structures that influence culture and society
The Creator may be right for your brand if:
Your product is artistic in design
You’re in a creative field
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If your customers have enough discretionary time for creativity to flourish
If your organization has a Creator culture
Creator brands are inherently nonconformist. The Creator is not about fitting in, but about self-expression. Authentic creation requires an unfettered mind and heart.
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THE RULER
Motto:
“Power isn’t everything. It’s the only thing.”
Desire:
Control
Goals:
Create prosperous, successful family, company or community
Fear:
Chaos, being over-thrown
Strategy:
Exert leadership
Gift:
Responsibility, leadership
Levels of the Ruler
Call:
Lack of resources, order, or harmony
Level One:
Taking responsibility for the state of your own life
Level Two:
Exerting leadership in your family, group, organization, or workplace
Level Three:
Becoming a leader in your community, filed, or society
The Ruler identity might be right for your brand if you have
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A high status product used by powerful people to enhance their power
A product that helps people be more organized
Services that offer technical assistance or information that helps maintain or enhance power
A product with moderate to high price range
A brand seeking to differentiate from a more populist one or that is the clear leader in the field
A field that is relatively stable or a product that promises safety and predictability in a chaotic world
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