If you haven’t pitched a business on the significance of defining – and living – a brand archetype, only to be met with eye rolls, have you even lived? Doubtful. Let’s pause for a pulse check.
Still breathing? Excellent.
The point is this: The idea of brand archetypes, and why they matter in a world where we measure everything, is often misunderstood among many business leaders. It doesn’t need to be.
Let’s break it down.
What hell is this archetype nonsense?
Well, it’s not complicated. A brand archetype is the character at the core of your brand. It’s not Tony the Tiger or Joe Camel. It’s not a persona that shifts. It’s a fundamental human pattern people easily recognize, and connect with, having seen them repeatedly for centuries in stories and cultures.
The idea of brand archetypes really took shape when Margaret Mark and Carol S. Pearson published “The Hero and the Outlaw: Building Extraordinary Brands Through the Power of Archetypes”, in 2001. It introduced the idea of the 12 brand archetypes to the business world, further bridging the power of psychology in business.
Of course, this isn’t business school b.s. It’s anchored in some of the most pivotal thinking and research from famed psychiatrist, Carl Jung. If you’re not familiar, he is THE man, when it comes to analytical psychology.
Jung’s core idea: Archetypes preexist as instinctual behavior patterns that surface across all cultures, religions, dreams, myths and more. We don’t learn archetypes. We inherit them. Important note: He never applied them to brands. He was, rightly so, above that.
Still feeling that ‘so what’ energy regarding archetypes? Fair enough. There are real reasons – real business reasons – you should give a damn.
Archetypes Driving Business Results
At the end of the day, the idea of archetypes remains a bit esoteric for most business leaders if it doesn’t impact their business. If it doesn’t ‘get that bread,’ who cares? Well, it does. In fact, it’s the bakery.
Your archetype – when you truly let it guide you – ensures your brand endures when the discounts don’t carry the weight they used to and competition gets fierce. It guides everything from customer service to ad campaigns.
That brings us to the two most important points you should care about:
- Brands with tightly defined archetypal identities grew in value 97% over six years compared to what we’ll call “confused” brands, according to the now famous Young & Rubicam analysis of 50-well known brands.
- 95% of purchasing decisions are made in the subconscious mind, a key takeaway from Gerald Zaltman’s famous book, “How Customers Think.”
We’ll go deeper into each point and how they reached these conclusions in future articles.
If those two straightforward stats aren’t cause for pause, what is? When you wonder why amazing “features and benefits” aren’t building the value you expected, ask yourself: “Are we really connecting with customers in a meaningful way?” The lack of a clearly expressed archetype may be at the root of the problem.
Define It, Then Live It
A lot of brands have an archetype by accident. Maybe they have three. That breeds confusion and confused brands lose. Or, they go through some “marketing exercise” only to abandon it.
But when you approach archetypes (coupled with brand personality) as a system, with rigor and discipline, you begin to set the stage and your guide for building a brand people connect with.
So claim your archetype and live it consistently. It’s how your brand speaks, what it stands for, what it refuses to do. When you do it correctly, your brand stops feeling like a company and feels like something consumers have a relationship with – rather than marketing that elicits eye rolls.
