If you don’t want to be just another business in the market competing on price, benefits and features, then you will need to connect with your audience on a deeper level.
Your brand needs a real personality with a tone of voice.
Less experienced brands may pick a couple of traits that they think their audience will relate to. But archetypes are fully formed personalities with an outlook on life, an opinion on the world and firm beliefs that allow brands to connect as though they were human.
In other words, if you want your audience to know who you are as a brand, your brand needs to know who itis.
Aligning your brand as tightly as possible to a single archetype will allow your brand personality feel all the more familiar to your audience and allow you to communicate with the consistency and humanity of a real person.
The trick is to identify your customer’s personality, then align your brand with the archetype that would most appeal to a desire within your customer.
Since humans feel connections to others humans, it is important to humanise your brand as much as possible. That is why brand archetypes give brands a character that makes them accessible and relatable to audiences who share those same values.
Psychologist, Carl Jung outlined 12 archetypes that can just as easily be applied to brands as they can humans.
The 12 Brand Archetypes
The Innocent
Goal: To be happy
Traits: Strives to be good, is pure, young, optimistic, simple, moral, romantic, loyal
Drawback: Could be naïve or boring.
Marketing niche: Companies with strong values, seen as trustworthy, reliable and honest, associated with morality, good virtues, simplicity, can be nostalgic.
Example: Dove soap, Coca-Cola, Cottonelle bathroom tissue.
The Regular Guy or Gal
Goal: To belong, or connect with others.
Traits: Down to earth, supportive, faithful, folksy, person next door, connects with others.
Drawback: Could lack a distinctive identity and blend in too much.
Marketing niche: Common touch, solid virtues, gives a sense of belonging
Example: Home Depot, eBay
The Hero
Goal: Help to improve the world
Traits: Courageous, bold, honourable, strong, confident, inspirational.
Drawback: Could be arrogant or aloof.
Marketing niche: Make a positive mark on the world, solve major problems or enable/inspire others to do so.
Example: Nike, BMW, Duracell
The Outlaw
Goal: Break the rules and fight authority
Traits: Rebellious, iconoclastic, wild, paving the way for change.
Drawback: Could take it too far and be seen in a negative way
Marketing niche: Agent of change, advocate for the disenfranchised, allow people to vent or break with conventions
Example: Harley-Davidson, Virgin (Richard Branson)
The Explorer
Goal: Finds fulfillment through discovery and new experiences.
Traits: Restless, adventurous, ambitious, individualistic, independent, pioneering.
Drawback: Might not fit into the mainstream.
Marketing niche: Exciting, risk-taking, authentic.
Example: Indiana Jones, Jeep, Red Bull.
The Creator
Goal: Create something with meaning and enduring value.
Traits: Creative, imaginative, artistic, inventive, entrepreneur, non-conformist
Drawback: Could be perfectionistic or impractical.
Marketing niche: Visionary, help customers express or create, and foster their imagination.
Example: Lego, Crayola
The Ruler
Goal: Control, create order from chaos.
Traits: Leader, responsible, organized, role model, administrator
Drawback: Could lack a common connection, or be too
authoritative or controlling.
Marketing niche: Help people become more organised, restore order, create more stability and security in a chaotic world.
Example: Microsoft, Barclays, Mercedes-Benz.
The Magician
Goal: Make dreams come true, create something special.
Traits: Visionary, charismatic, imaginative, idealistic, spiritual
Drawback: Could take risks that lead to bad outcomes
Marketing niche: Help people transform their world, inspire change, expand consciousness.
Example: Disney, Wizard of Oz, Apple
The Lover
Goal: Create intimacy, inspire love
Traits: Passionate, sensual, intimate, romantic, warm, committed, idealistic.
Drawback: Could be too selfless or not grounded enough.
Marketing niche: Help people feel appreciated, belong, connect, enjoy intimacy, build relationships.
Example: Victoria’s Secret, Godiva, Chocolate, Marie Claire
The Caregiver
Goal: To care for and protect others.
Traits: Caring, maternal, nurturing, selfless, generous, compassionate
Drawback: Being taken advantage of, taken for granted, or exploited.
Marketing niche: Help people care for themselves, serve the public through health care, education or aid programs.
Example: Mother Theresa, Campbell’s Soup, Johnson & Johnson, Heinz
The Jester
Goal: To bring joy to the world.
Traits: Fun, sense of humour, light hearted, mischievous, irreverent
Drawback: Could be seen as frivolous or disrespectful.
Marketing niche: Help people have a good time or enjoy what they are doing, allow people to be more impulsive and spontaneous.
Example: Motley Fool, Ben & Jerry’s, IKEA
The Sage
Goal: To help the world gain wisdom and insight
Traits:Knowledgeable, trusted source of information, wisdom and intelligence, thoughtful, analytical, mentor, guru, advisor.
Drawback: Could be overly contemplative or too opinionated.
Marketing niche: Help people to better understand the world, provide practical information and analysis.
Example: BBC, PBS, Google, Philips
