Loves, does not love?
Although with all companies we have a purely transactional relationship (they give us something in exchange for money), nevertheless, with some companies our hearts beat harder. These are the brands we resonate with more — a bit like we've known them for a long time or they're similar. We are united by ties that are difficult to define, and thanks to which we show loyalty and direct our hands in the right direction in the store.
What attracts us to them? Great advertising slogan? Nice color? Or maybe a new marketing ploy unknown to us yet?
The answer is: these are brand archetypes.
What are archetypes?
Archetypes are collections of universal patterns of behavior shaped by history, art, religions, and myths. What they all have in common is that we all understand them instinctively — and that they were all born of human, primitive emotions.
Archetypes are a kind of roadmap that allows you to personalize emotions in the form of specific personalities — it is in their context that the Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung coined the name. And although it seems as if it was not until the beginning of the 20th century that the train of psychoanalysis was accelerated, the archetypes are as old as the art of storytelling itself. The idea of “forms of intuition” as templates of intuitive understanding was already studied by the Greek philosopher Plato in the 4th century BC.
Basic human desires, corresponding to certain archetypes:
Liberation
Rebel. It wants to bring about retaliation or revolution and destroy what is functioning badly. He throws challenges.
Examples: Apple, Robin Hood, The Virgin.
Power
Wizard. He wants to make dreams come true. He helps from the side, without explaining how exactly what he does works.
Examples: Intel, Walt Disney, Steven Spielberg.
Championship
The hero. He wants to prove his worth by acting boldly and consistently. It is driven by the admiration of others.
Examples: Nike, Michael Jordan, Barack Obama.
Intimacy
Mistress. He wants the experience of pleasure. She wants to be admired, to enter into relationships with those she chooses.
Example: Magnum, Victoria's Secret, Ferrari.
joy
The clown. He wants to live in the moment and bring joy to others. His strength for a show that he knows how to turn into business.
Examples: M&M's, Snickers, Will Smith
Affiliation
Companion. He wants good relationships with others, to belong to a group, to feel part of a larger whole and to be at his fingertips whenever he is needed.
Examples: IKEA, Whoopi Goldberg, Wrangler Jeans
Slagging
The caretaker. He wants to protect others from harm even if it requires self-sacrifice. It is driven by altruism.
Examples: Dove, Gerber, Mother Earth
Control
The ruler. He wants to maintain the rules in force, he stands guard of order. He makes sure that everything works as it should.
Examples: Mercedes Benz, Bill Gates, IBM.
Innovation
Creator. He wants to create — preferably something timeless and lasting, but he remains in the shadow of his creations. Formulates new visions.
Examples: Lego, Red Bull, Nikon.
Security
Innocent. He wants happiness for himself and others. It takes you into a world of idealized memories where everything was simpler.
Examples: Werther's Original, Kinder, Phoebe from Friends.
Knowledge
Sage. He wants to carry the truth. It uses intelligence and analysis to understand the world around it. He is happy to share his experience.
Examples: L'Oreal, Harvard, Google.
liberty
The explorer. He wants to find himself by exploring the world. He follows his paths, and the journey is more important to him than the goal itself.
Examples: Timberland, GoPro, Jeep.
I don't need to know you to know you
Surely you know someone who doesn't have a penny sense of the situation and (like a hoppy uncle at a wedding) jokes at every opportunity. Or the perpetually walking in his own ways, who escapes convention, looks at the world from a different perspective and inspires.
Even if you do not see anyone from your family or acquaintances in any of the archetypes, you will instinctively recognize their behavior and be able to imagine a similar character. This is because archetypes are programmed by the brain. Consciousness gives them to us, like prompts on an exam.
Why is this happening?
The brain receives such a gigantic amount of stimuli that if it were to process them all by disassembling and analyzing them in detail, it would overheat like an old processor. That's why he likes to take shortcuts. Wherever he can, he uses schemes — to relieve himself and fully focus on those processes that actually require it.
Because this response is so automated and permanently embedded in our psyche, archetypes have become an extremely useful tool for determining brand positions and personality traits that can resonate with your target audience. Margaret Mark and Carol S. Pearson, in their book “Hero and Outlaw: Building Extraordinary Brands Through the Power of Archetypes,” argue that “Archetypes are at the heart of a brand because they convey a meaning that makes customers relate to a product as if it were somehow alive, relate to it, and care about it.”
Why are archetypes important?
As many as 95% of our purchasing decisions are made in the subconscious (according to Professor Gerald Zaltman of Harvard Business School). That is, brands with a strong personality (I wrote more about them in the article “Strong image drives success” 👉), who connect with the audience on a deeper level of emotion, gain a huge advantage over the competition.
For a brand, there is no better way to have a strong bond with the customer than to acquire a human personality. And the recipe for the development of the human personality and the creation of desires is precisely the archetypes. They give the brand values such as understanding and differentiation. In order to keep your business going, your brand needs to both grab your audience's attention and be memorable (what you probably already know from the previous article “Stand out or die” 👉).
Emotions are the key
Although brand archetypes are not a new concept, they are still underused (especially by small companies). Emotions in branding are the key!
Identify the needs of your customers and the desires that your brand is intended to arouse. And then use that knowledge to develop a personality — intriguing, magnetic, and authentic.
