Brand archetypes are the secret sauce to creating stronger brands, and are an essential tool for any marketing toolbox! To learn more, read the introduction here.
There are three big things that will influence your brand archetype.
The biggest reason why existing brands have difficulty determining their brand archetype is because they are looking at their brand as a combination of these three things, and can’t pinpoint which one is “most important.”
The good news: you don’t have to choose one and ignore the others. The combination of your category, your method, and your motivation is what makes your brand unique.
But, it can contribute to a lack of focus in branding and marketing, and that’s why it’s still a good idea to flesh out a primary archetype. Theoretically, particularly as a new brand, you could probably pick any one of these archetypes to focus on as your primary. So how do you make sense of it all?
You want to focus on the one that is going to make you stand out and allow the most intuitive connection with your audience. The single factor that will influence your brand archetype most is the one that allows you the greatest freedom of authentic expression. Here’s what I mean by that.
Say you make ice cream. Your recipe isn’t especially inventive; I mean, how many different ways can you make basic vanilla ice cream, right? But, you take great pride in keeping it simple (pure wholesome ingredients), without any fillers, artificial sweeteners, or hard-to-pronounce words. A large part of your business model is social responsibility. For every cone of ice cream you sell, you donate a portion of the profit to helping others in need, specifically, funding a microloan to empower impoverished farmers in developing nations to make a living raising cattle. So let’s dig into this briefly:
In this case, while you’ll never be able to escape your Lover category completely, your “why” and your “how” are the aspects that actually impact your brand’s personality more, present bigger opportunities to set you apart from others in the industry, and allow others to connect with you more intuitively.
By contrast, another ice cream maker may claim to have the best tasting ice cream in the world (sinfully delicious!), due to their mixtures of exotic and rich flavors. Their only goal is to make you blissfully unaware of your worries, for at least as long as you are indulging in their ice cream. By nature of category, method, and motivation, this brand is a Lover archetype. They’ve got it easy. ☺
Your category is sometimes your primary archetype simply because it offers the high-level answer to meeting a need that people have. N-Vision Designs is primarily a Magician brand, with secondary and tertiary archetypes of Sage and Creator. In this case, the Magician reflects the “what”, whereas the Sage and Creator stem from the “how” and the “why”. But, as seen in the first ice cream example, what you are does not solely define you. In fact, people buy for the why and the strongest brands start from the place of purpose (motivation), which only then informs their methods and products. So if your why and your how loom larger than your what, this is where your primary archetype is, and this is where your branding efforts should lie. If you find you are floundering a bit in determining your archetype, start with your why.
Do you have a burning question about brand archetypes? Want to dig deep and explore the hidden potential of your brand’s personality? Let us know! We will be happy to schedule a consultation to find out how you can use the power of brand archetypes in your marketing. Still haven’t taken the quiz? Set aside ten minutes and do it here: brandpersonalityquiz.com.
Just think where we’d be without structure and order in our lives. While power, control, and authority may be easy to abuse, chaos still needs to be managed. Brands that are able to provide the world with the security and stability we all desire are the ones that earn the title of Ruler.
“We try to help as many families and kids as possible. We want to be a voice for children and families…We are always out spreading the word about the need that exists for children in foster care.”
You’ve been introduced to brand archetypes and are trying to determine which one you are, yet you see more than one archetype that your business could align with. How can this be? What gives?
