BRAND ARCHETYPES & THE 4 CHOICES ALL GREAT BRANDS MUST MAKE
Brand Archetypes
& The 4 Decisions All Great Brands Must Make
Brand archetypes is one of my favourite things to talk about because, when it comes to building your brand, they can have such a profound impact.
So today, I’m diving into how your branding archetype can guide your brand building and help you differentiate yourself from others in your niche.
Think About Your Favourite Brand
First, stop for a minute and think about your favourite brand? Why do you think you like it so much? Ask yourself these questions:
How does your favourite brand speak to you?
Does it reinforce your identity or align with your values? Align with your outlook on life?
Are you inspired by your favourite brand? Or do you aspire to be like it?
Does it reflect something you already know to be true about yourself back to yourself?
Why does this brand mean something to you?
Noticing these things about a brand is something you have to teach yourself to do. Because as much as we like to think we are rational and make decisions based on data and logic - we’re actually all emotional, intuitive beings.
So, the way we feel about a brand comes more from an emotional level than it does from our rational brain. Here’s how a world-famous brand strategist puts it ...
“A brand is a person’s gut feeling about a product, service or organisation.” ~ Marty Neumeier
The bottom line is, we buy based on what’s stored in our subconscious. In fact, it’s well-known that up to 95% of our purchase decision making takes place in the subconscious mind.
That’s why I like to say that archetypes are software for the soul.
What Are Brand Archetypes?
The idea of archetypes has been around for a very, very long time. They were talked about in Greek philosophy and later popularised by Carl Jung. He identified 12 classic archetypes that reside within each of us.
Essentially, we have a little bit of each archetype within each of us, but we default to a primary archetypal personality and maybe a secondary archetype as our way of being.
Our default software for everyday life, so to speak.
And Jung said we all have the same instinctive and intuitive understanding of behavioural patterns. So, when we meet somebody who has the same archetype as us or an archetype we admire or aspire to be, we behave in a certain way. And our subconscious is triggered in a certain way.
A great book that I recommend about this is The Hero and The Outlaw by Margaret Mark and Carol S. Pearson.
They were the first to talk about Jungian archetypes in relation to branding and they famously said archetypes are the heartbeat of a brand.
The difference between Archetypes and Stereotypes
People often ask me what the difference is between a stereotype and an archetype. So I’ll touch on that briefly here.
Stereotypes tend to be rooted in culture-specific norms, are very simplistic, and undifferentiated. We make assumptions and put people into these categories based on their cultural background, what they wear, how they speak, and so on.
Whereas archetypes are rooted in universal truths. They are subconscious ways of being that are rich and distinctive. A collection of traits that, when taken together, reveal core truths about who we are.
So that's a simple way to remember that they're not one dimensional. It's not a stereotype for your brand. And even if you have the same archetype as someone else, it will still be very rich and distinctive. And, importantly, you can apply it in different ways.
For a walkthrough of the 12 Brand Archetypes, check out my article What Are Brand Archetypes (And How To Use Them).
Now let’s look at how your archetype can actually guide your brand development.
The 4 Intentional Choices Every Great Brand Makes
The question is - how can tapping into the power of a compelling archetype help you build an extraordinary brand?
Through all the years I’ve worked with brands, I’ve discovered that all great brands make very intentional choices around these 4 key areas:
Purpose - Your enduring idea and driving belief.
People - The people you serve.
Positioning (Difference) - The stories your brand tells and how you communicate
Presence - How your brand delivers its experience. Everything from design visuals, customer service, to the social media platforms you're found on. How your brand is experienced by others, whether you're a product or a service-based business.
To illustrate how you can use your archetype to make these 4 choices for your brand, let’s look at a few examples.
Brand Archetype Examples
For each of these examples, I’ve spelled out how two very well-known and successful companies have leveraged their archetype to create a rich, and distinctive brand.
Example: Apple
Purpose - Think differently
Apple’s purpose is to think differently. They play really heavily into the archetype of the Alchemist, which is about transformation, innovation, and doing things differently.
People - The contrarian
They like to call the people they’re here to serve “The Contrarian.” So, these are people who want to do things differently, who want to challenge the status quo, want to push boundaries and innovate.
Positioning - People-led experience
Their brand positioning, their ‘Difference’ is really through that people-led experience.
Presence - Design of their products and their customer service
And their presence - how they are experienced - is through the design of those products that we hold in our hands and through their customer experience. When you go into an Apple Store, the experience is totally different from any other store.
Many other retail outlets started to model that Apple experience because they've become well-known for the way they deliver upon their brand.
Example: Disney
Purpose - Bringing magic to everyone
Disney calls upon the archetype of the innocent and their purpose is around bringing magical moments to everyone.
People - The child in all of us
They serve the child in all of us. They don't say they are a brand for kids. They talk about how there is a child within each of us and how we all want to get back the innocence and magic of when we were young.
Positioning - Storytelling and magic
Disney’s positioning and their difference is around how they bring magic to life through storytelling.
Presence - Movies, TV and theme parks
As we all know, Disney is experienced through their movies, TV shows and through their theme parks.
So you'll notice that everything they do at every touchpoint is about bringing that little bit of magic into our everyday lives.
As you can see, both of these companies have a very clear and well-defined personality - a brand archetype - that helps guide them tape into their customers' core desire and frankly, in every other aspect of their business.
And you can do exactly the same thing. The key is getting really clear on your archetype and how you express it.
What’s YOUR Brand Archetype?
Do you know your brand archetype? If not, take my free archetype quiz right here to discover which archetype(s) fit you best.
After you complete the quiz, you’ll receive an Archetype Report that will reveal your motto, superpowers, core desire, shadow, values, voice and some suggested brand words.
All of which you can use to guide you to make these 4 Choices for your own business and create a brand identity that calls in your ideal customers on autopilot.