BRAND ARCHETYPES

ARCHETYPAL
Branding creates

trust

Barak Obama used it well =

CREATOR
Yes we can
If you can imagine it, it can be
done

What do our customers want?

STABILITY
Consistent, sound,
steady, established,
predictable

INDEPENDENCE
Arms length,
autonomous, nonaligned, selfdetermining

BELONGING
Affiliated,
connected,
welcome, at home

SKILLFUL
Adroit, clever,
manual or mental
dexterity

What Clients
Are looking for

From your brand

STABILITY
Consistent, sound,
steady, established,
predictable
Sage

Ruler

Explorer

Nurturer

Creator

Innocent

BELONGING
Affiliated,
connected,
welcome,
at home

Hero
Lover

Regular Guy

Outlaw

Jester

Magician

SKILLFUL
Adroit, clever,
manual or mental
dexterity

INDEPENDENCE
Arms length,
autonomous, nonaligned, selfdetermining

Determining

Brand
personality

Determine Core Personality:

- Tools
- Fun Techniques
- Distil from traits the core personality
elements

Brand
personality
Exploring The BRAND archetypes
Archetypes based on the work by Pearsons
and inspired by Carl Jungs themes.

utopian
romantic

the

Innocent

free to be you and me

Core desire: to get to paradise

Goal: to be happy
Greatest fear: to be punished for doing something bad
or wrong
Strategy: to do things right
Weakness: boring for all their naive innocence
Talent: faith and optimism
The Innocent is also known as: Utopian,
traditionalist, naive, mystic, saint, romantic, dreamer.
Resonance: To be good and safe
Provides an identity for brands that:
Offer a simple solution to an identifiable problem
are associated with goodness, morality, simplicity,
nostalgia or childhood.
Are low or moderately priced are produced by a
company with straightforward values need to be
differentiated from brands with poor reputations.
Examples of Innocent brands: Nestle, Disney,
McDonalds

mystic

dreamer

good old
boy

Solid
citizen

regular
guy/girl

all are created equal

Core Desire: connecting with others

Goal: to belong
Greatest fear: to be left out or to stand out from the
crowd
Strategy: develop ordinary solid virtues, be down to
earth, the common touch
Weakness: losing one's own self in an effort to blend in
or for the sake of superficial relationships
Talent: realism, empathy, lack of pretence
The Regular Person is also known as: The good old
boy, everyman, the person next door, the realist, the
working stiff, the solid citizen, the good neighbour, the
silent majority
Helps: To be OK as they are
The Regular Personality provides a good identity for
brands:
that give people a sense of belonging
with an everyday functionality
with low to moderate prices
produced by a solid company with a down-home
organizational culture
that need to be differentiated in a positive way from
more elitist or higher-priced brands
Examples of Regular Person brands: SPAR, VW,
Klipdrift

seeker

individualist

the

explorer
dont fence me in

Pilgrim

Core desire: the freedom to find out who you are through
exploring the world
Goal: to experience a better, more authentic, more
fulfilling life
Biggest fear: getting trapped, conformity, and inner
emptiness
Strategy: journey, seeking out and experiencing new
things, escape from boredom
Weakness: aimless wandering, becoming a misfit
Talent: autonomy, ambition, being true to one's soul
The explorer is also known as: The seeker, iconoclast,
wanderer, individualist, pilgrim.
Helps: To feel free to expand horizons
The explorer is a good identity for brands that:
- helps people feel free, nonconformist or pioneering
- is rugged and sturdy or for use in the great outdoors or
in dangerous settings
- can be purchased from a catalogue or on the Internet
- helps people express their individuality
- can be purchased for consumption on the go
- want to differentiate themselves from a successful
regular guy/gal brand or conformist brand
- have an explorer culture that creates new and exciting
products or experiences
Explorer brands would be: Virgin, Jeep,
Marlboro, Levis.

wanderer

professional

expert
mentor

the

sage

the truth will

set you free

Core desire: to find the truth.

Goal: to use intelligence and analysis to understand
the world.
Biggest fear: being duped, misledor ignorance.
Strategy: seeking out information and knowledge;
self-reflection and understanding thought processes.
Weakness: can study details forever and never act.
Talent: wisdom, intelligence.
The Sage is also known as: The expert, wise,
scholar, detective, advisor, thinker, philosopher,
academic, researcher, thinker, planner, professional,
mentor, teacher, contemplative.
Helps: To understand the world
The Sage would be a good identity for brands:
that provide expertise or information to customers
that encourage customers to think
that are based on new scientific findings or esoteric
knowledge
that are supported by research-based facts
want to differentiate themselves from others whose
quality or performance is suspect
Examples of Sage Identities: Allan Gray, CNN,
McKinsey & Co.

advisor

winner
warrior
crusader

the

hero

where theres a will,

theres a way

team
player

Core desire: to prove one's worth through courageous

acts
Goal: expert mastery in a way that improves the world
Greatest fear: weakness, vulnerability, being a
"chicken"
Strategy: to be as strong and competent as possible
Weakness: arrogance, always needing another battle
to fight
Talent: competence and courage
The Hero is also known as: The warrior, crusader,
rescuer, superhero, the soldier, dragon slayer, the
winner and the team player
Helps: To act courageously
The Hero could be good for brands:
- That are inventions or innovations that will have a
major impact on the world
- That help people be all they can be
- That solve a major social problem or encourage
others to do so
- That have a clear opponent you want to beat
- That are underdogs or challenger brands
- That are strong and help people do tough jobs
exceptionally well
- That need to be differentiated from competitors
that have problems following through or keeping
their promises
- Whose customers see themselves as good,
upstanding citizens
Companies that express themselves like
this archetype: Nike, Tag Heuer, Black label

rebel
wild man

misfit

the

outlaw

rules are made to

be broken

Core desire: revenge or revolution

Goal: to overturn what isn't working
Greatest fear: to be powerless or ineffectual
Strategy: disrupt, destroy, or shock
Weakness: crossing over to the dark side, crime
Talent: outrageousness, radical freedom
The Outlaw is also known as: The rebel,
revolutionary, wild man, the misfit, or iconoclast
Helps: To break the rules
The Outlaw may strengthen your brand's identity
if it:
has customers or employees who feel
disenfranchised from society
helps retain values that are threatened by emerging
ones, or paves the way for revolutionary new attitudes
is low to moderately priced
breaks with industry conventions
Outlaw brands include: Diesel, Harley-Davidson,
Honda, Russian Standard Vodka

iconoclast

visionary
inventor

the

magician

I make things happen

Core desire: understanding the fundamental laws of

the universe
Goal: to make dreams come true
Greatest fear: unintended negative consequences
Strategy: develop a vision and live by it
Weakness: becoming manipulative
Talent: finding win-win solutions
The Magician is also known as: The visionary,
catalyst, inventor, charismatic leader, shaman, healer,
medicine man
Helps: To affect transformation
The Magician could be the right identity for your
brand if:- the product or service is transformative
- its implicit promise is to transform customers
- it has a new-age quality
- it is consciousness-expanding
- it is user-friendly has spiritual connotations
- it is a very new, contemporary product
- it is medium- to high-priced
Example of magical brands: Axe, Smirnoff, BMW,
iPod, Intel, Apple

shaman

catalyst

intimate

partner

friend

the

lover

youre the only one

Core desire: intimacy and experience

Goal: being in a relationship with the people, work and
surroundings they love
Greatest fear: being alone, a wallflower, unwanted,
unloved
Strategy: to become more and more physically and
emotionally attractive
Weakness: outward-directed desire to please others at
risk of losing own identity
Talent: passion, gratitude, appreciation, and
commitment
The Lover is also known as: The partner, friend,
intimate, enthusiast, sensualist, spouse, team-builder
Helps: To find love and romance
The Lover may be a good identity for your brand
if:
it helps people belong, find friends or partners
it's function is to help people have a good time
it is low to moderately priced
it is produced by a freewheeling, fun-loving
organisational structure
it needs to differentiate itself from self-important,
overconfident brands

sensualist

enthusiast

Some of the great Lover brands: Alfa Romeo, Tivoli

Taps, Marie Claire

comedian

satirist

the

fool

jester

you only live once

Core desire: to live in the moment with full enjoyment

Goal: to have a great time and lighten up the world
Greatest fear: being bored or boring others
Strategy: play, make jokes, be funny
Weakness: frivolity, wasting time
Talent: joy
The Jester is also known as: The fool, trickster,
joker, satirist, muse, court jester, practical joker or
comedian.
Helps : To have a good time
The Jester may be a good identity for brands:
that give people a sense of belonging
that help people have a good time
that are low or moderately priced
that are produced by a fun-loving company
that need to be differentiated from self-important,
overconfident established brands
Examples of Joker brands: Nandos, Dial Direct,
Kulula.

trickster

saint

altruist

helper

the

nurturer

love your neighbour

as yourself

caregiver
parent
supporter

Core desire: to protect and care for others

Goal: to help others
Greatest fear: selfishness and ingratitude
Strategy: doing things for others
Weakness: martyrdom and being exploited
Talent: compassion, generosity
The nurturer is also known as: The saint, care giver,
altruist, parent, helper, supporter
Helps: To care for others
The Nurturer may be right for your brand identity
if:
it gives customers a competitive advantage
it supports families (products from fast-food to
minivans) or is associated with nurturing (e.g. cookies,
teaching materials)
it serves the public sector, e.g. health care,
education, aid programs and other care giving fields
helps people stay connected with and care about
others
helps people care for themselves
is a non-profit or charitable cause
Examples of nurturing organizations: Volvo,
Amnesty International, Nivea

Core desire: to create things of enduring value

Goal: to realize a vision
Greatest fear: mediocre vision or execution
Strategy: develop artistic control and skill
Task: to create culture, express own vision
Weakness: perfectionism, bad solutions
Talent: creativity and imagination
The Creator is also known as: The artist, inventor,
innovator, musician, writer or dreamer

the

Helps: To be artistic and creative

creator

The Creator may be right for your brand identity

if:
it promotes self-expression, gives customers choices
and options, helps foster innovation or is artistic in
design
it is in a creative field like marketing, public relations,
the arts, or technological innovation
you want to differentiate it from a "do-it-all" brand
that leaves little room for the imagination
your product has a do-it-yourself aspect that saves
money
your customer has the time to be creative
your organization has a creative culture

if you imagine it,

it can be done
inventor

innovator
writer

artist

musician

Examples of Creator brands: Lego, Sony, Swatch ,

3M

leader

aristocrat

the
dictator

ruler

power isnt everything,

its the only thing

king

manager

Core desire: control

Goal: create a prosperous, successful family or
community
Strategy: exercise power
Greatest fear: chaos, being overthrown
Weakness: being authoritarian, unable to delegate
Talent: responsibility, leadership
The Ruler is also known as: The boss, leader,
aristocrat, king, queen, dictator, politician, role model,
manager or administrator
Helps : To be responsible and prestigious
The Ruler may be right for your brand identity if:
it is a high-status product used by powerful people to
enhance their power
it makes people more organized
it offers a lifetime guarantee
it empowers people to maintain or enhances their
grip on power
it has a regulatory or protective function
is moderately to high priced
you want to differentiate it from more populist brands
or one that is a clear leader in the field
it is a market leader that offers a sense of security
and stability in a chaotic world
Examples of "Ruling" companies: IBM, Mercedes,
Microsoft