January 2023 I part two
Deep Dive into Brand Archetypes: Why are they so powerful?
The 12 brand archetypes have qualities that address our innate desires, wants, and needs.
Every day, we encounter countless brands, but what is it that creates a meaningful connection with the ones we truly love? Is it their logo or colors? Their clever ad campaigns or cutting-edge design schemes? Or perhaps it’s simply their product or service. Whatever they’re using to gain our loyalty and recommendations – or in some cases, love – we want to know.
Of course, each of these things can help draw you towards a brand. But the real answer is that they connect with us by embodying a specific brand persona: a brand archetype.
The 12 brand archetypes have qualities that address our innate desires, wants, and needs. The vast majority of memorable brands are constructed around an archetype.
The vast majority of memorable brands are constructed around an archetype.
The 12 Brand Archetypes
People connect with the brands they love on a much deeper level than mere transactions. These types of businesses go beyond just buying and selling, they play off our natural human instincts. We don’t need to be persuaded that we want or need their product–we just do.
As we are all different, our desires are different. My core desire might be Service, while yours might be Freedom or Mastery.
When we take into account that people with certain behaviours or personalities are more likely to have specific desires, it becomes clear why some types of personalities appeal to us more than others.
By using archetypes, we are able to more accurately identify the behaviours and personality traits of our target audiences, and appeal to their desires.
Key Benefits of Brand Archetypes
Connection
If you want your brand to stand out, you will need to establish a connection with your audience that is based on more than just features, benefits, and price.
Differentiation
Being different is essential to succeed and standing out in a crowd, but sometimes it can feel like all the good ideas have already been taken. If you’re looking for something unique that will make you unforgettable, focus on developing your personality.
If you want your audience to know your brand, your brand needs to first understand itself.
Why Archetypes Are Effective
We all understand universal patterns of behaviour that are characterised by religion, myths and storytelling.
After you study these archetypes and the characteristic behaviour of each, you will most likely see aspects of yourself, your family, and friends in them- as well as noticing age old tales that have shaped our beliefs and continue to guide our actions.
We may not think of an archetype character right away when we see the behavior, but it is an instinctive understanding that feels familiar.
We connect with (or avoid) others based on archetypes, which we understand instinctively. This is true of both people and of brands that are well-aligned with an archetype.
Because we are pre-programmed to recognize personalities, they can be an extremely useful tool for defining the positioning of your brand and the personality traits that will resonate with your intended audience.
We feel more connected to some brands than others because of the way they communicate with us, it may feel like magic but in reality they do this by understanding and using archetypes.
When a brand’s archetypal personality resonates with their target audience on an emotional level, they hold a significant advantage over their competition.
If you don’t want your business to fall into the confines of bland, cookie-cutter competition, you’ll need to create a brand personality that resonates with your audience. This involves creating a voice for your brand that is unique and speaks to them on a deeper level.
Some brands, especially newer ones, may choose a few qualities that they think their target market will identify with. However, archetypes are complete personalities with a worldview, viewpoint on current affairs, and solid convictions that let companies connect as though they were actual people.
If you want your audience to know your brand, your brand needs to first understand itself.
If you want your brand to feel familiar and relatable to consumers, consider carefully narrowing its focus to a single archetype. By doing so, you will be able communicate with the same level of consistency and warmth as an actual person.
Understand yourself, understand your audience and don't try to make everyone happy.
Brand Archetypes help you create a niche
Brand archetypes are not about making your company relatable to everyone.
Although it may be tempting to adopt qualities from multiple archetypes to make your brand stand out, understand that this can often have the opposite effect.
The takeaway? Understand yourself, understand your audience and don’t try to make everyone happy.
Should my Brand Archetype be the Personality
of my Customer or my Brand?
As archetypes represent all personalities then they are both your customer and your brand.
Here’s the secret: you have to figure out your customer’s personalities, and then connect your brand with an archetype that would pique their interest. Usually, these two things are aligned, but not always.
As an example, your customer might identify as “The Caregiver” but you want your brand to speak to “The Creator” within them. Instead of including elements of The Caregiver, make sure your brand is FULLY aligned with The Creator so you can tap into their need to innovate.
An example of this duality of customer personas would be Kiwico. The primary audience is parents and extended family who are firmly in the Caregiver corner, this is exaggerated by the nature of the product being gifted to the actual consumer (kids). However, aligning the product to the Caregiver personality is a mistake, the brand and product must appeal to the innovator in them, they must personify The Creator.
Figure out your customer's personalities, and then connect your brand with an archetype that would pique their interest.
What's next?
We’ll be diving deep into each of the 12 Brand Archetypes over the next few weeks, stay tuned for more!