A guide on how to

use psychology
to produce
communications with
meaning & make you
M. Davies more sales 1
 Produced by:

www.attitudedesign.co.uk

Edition 1.1

August 2016
2
Introduction
Hello and welcome to “Brainy Branding - A
guide on how to use psychology to produce
communications with meaning and make
you more sales”.

In this guide you will learn the

following things:

What is branding?
The power of storytelling
How brand archetypes provide a
framework for adding meaning to
your brand
How to add heaps of personality to your
brand without appearing silly
Why being authentic is the only option for
the modern business
How to connect a single brand personality
with multiple offers & audiences

3
 Purpose
The purpose of this guide is to highlight
the need for businesses and organisations
to manage the meaning that their target
audience attaches to their brand. In the
modern world buyers are becoming more
clued in, better educated and more aware of
other customers’ experiences1. The power is
no longer with the seller. It’s with the buyer.

So many brands today do not effectively

manage the meaning people attach to them
and sales ultimately suffer. After reading
Brainy Branding we hope you will have a
better idea of how essential branding is and
take away some ideas to put into practice
in your organisation in order to improve
its brand. Together we can rid the world of
meaningless brands and ensure each brand
is clearly communicating to it’s audiences.

1 According to Minewhat in Nov 2014, eighty-one percent of

shoppers conduct online research before they make a purchase.
See: minewhat.com/blog/motivate-shoppers-who-research-
online-to-buy/

4
About the author
Matt Davies is the Creative Director at Attitude
Design - a branding and digital marketing
agency based in Nottingham UK. For the last
15 years Matt has personally been involved
in delivering hundreds of branding projects
from small start-up businesses right through
to working with blue-chip corporations. He is
a passionate advocate of the value of story
telling marketing and archetypal branding.

If you would like to connect with Matt, he’d

love to hear from you.
Follow on Twitter: @mrmattdavies.

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01
6
What is
branding?

7
What is branding?
A definition
Different people define “brand” differently
- from “a characteristic that serves to
identify”1, to “a gut feeling”2, to “the collective
perception”3. However the most common
definition amongst marketers is “the meaning
your audience attaches to your organisation,
product or services”. The scary thing is
that “brands” are therefore not defined by
marketers. They are defined by a person’s
emotional responses to any aspect of an
offer. You don’t own your brand. A potential
buyer does. “Branding” is the practice of
actively seeking to manage the meaning your
audience attaches to your brand.

This is done through marketing assets such

as websites, brochures, videos, social media,
graphics and other communication devices.
These are all employed in order to attract
potential customers and help them make
a decision to purchase. The management
of the meaning our audience attaches to
us, spans the whole buying process and the
customer experience whilst they use our
product and service.

1 “A particular product or a characteristic that serves to identify a

particular product”, Collins English Dictionary
2 “A brand is a person’s gut feeling about a product, service, or
organization.” Marty Neumeier, The Brand Gap
3 “A brand is a collective perception in the minds of consumers”
Faris Yakob, Paid Attention: Innovative Advertising for a
8 Digital World
In a nutshell, good branding will be a way of
clearly communicating to the customer that
the brand has value and it will help them
achieve something. This is the dream. To
manage the meaning of the brand so that
all its assets are communicating value which
resonates with potential customers.

Tips to manage meaning

To begin to even start managing the meaning
of your organisation, product or service, you
need to initially understand the value of what
you are offering to your audience. What
problem are you solving? If there were no
barriers, what would your brand’s vision for
the world be? What is your brand’s mission to
fulfil that vision? Most importantly you need
to understand what your brand is promising.
What it stands for. We call these things the
brand’s ‘DNA’. Work with your leadership team
to determine these branding basics. Without
knowing who you are, how can you explain it
to others?

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02
10
The power of
storytelling

11
The power of storytelling

Adding meaning
The questions every business and
organisation should be asking are; “how do
we add meaning to everything we are doing”?
Not only that but; “how can we communicate
that meaning effectively?”.

The answer? Through telling great stories.

Stories are how humans have been attaching
meaning to themselves, their surroundings
and the tools and products they use since
recorded history. It is the most ancient form
of managing meaning and it is as relevant
today as ever before because although the
technologies humans use change, human
nature does not change. Stories are built into
the way we think. They are how we learn, how
we attach emotions to things, how we make
sense of the world around us and how we
connect together. It is also how we remember
things. They are a fundamental human
communication method.

A picture is worth a
thousand words
Visual storytelling (communication ideas
through a relatively simple visual aid) has
been a cornerstone of marketing for hundreds
12 of years. “A picture is worth a thousand words”
is such a true saying. We see what we want
and we’re driven to buy it. Therefore for any
brand it is essential to consider what ‘story’
they are telling with the way they present
their brand, how they speak and the story that
they tell in the visual cues they present
to their audience.

Consumer behaviour and emotion

In an article within Psychology Today1, the
consumer psychology expert Peter Noel
Murray, highlights the influential role that
emotion plays in consumer behaviour. In
four points he shows the importance of
marketing storytelling:

When evaluating brands Functional MRI

neuro-imagery shows that consumers
primarily use emotions rather than
information to make decisions.
Advertising research has shown that
consumers are more likely to buy a
product because of the emotional
response they feel to an advert, as
opposed to the information and content of
the adverts offer.
According to research conducted by the
Advertising Research Foundation, the
emotion of “likeability” is the measure most
predictive of whether an advertisement will
increase a brand’s sales.

1 “How Emotions Influence What We Buy,” Peter Noel Murray

Ph.D., Feb 26, 2013, www.psychologytoday.com/blog/inside-the-
consumer-mind/201302/how-emotions-influence-what-we-buy 13
 Studies show positive emotions toward
a brand have far greater influence on
consumer loyalty than trust and other
judgments, which are based on a
brand’s attributes.

With this research we see that a person’s

feelings and experiences have far more of
an influence on them making a purchase,
than the brand attributes, features and facts
of the offer. It’s essential then that the way
a customer ‘experiences’ a brand becomes
a focus point in a company’s marketing.
Customers want to know what your brand
believes in. They want to connect on an
emotional level. Telling a story around “why”
you do what you do and not just presenting
“what” you do is therefore crucial.

A brand is a story
The same article from Psychology Today goes
on to state: “Another important foundation
for the emotions that a brand evokes can
be found in its “narrative” – the story that
communicates “who” it is, what it means to
the consumer, and why the consumer should
care. This narrative is the basis for brand
advertising and promotion. When everything
is stripped back a brand, like a person, is
simply a story. We are defined by the stories
we tell... and that are told about us. And
brands are part of that story”.
14
So - is your brand telling a story? If so what
story? Is it clear to consumers why you do
what you do and not just what you do. Are
you able to unlock their emotions in order
to unlock their wallets? Telling a great story
through well thought through visual language
is an essential component of modern
branding. You firstly need to discover your
story, know who you are and what you stand
for - and then tell that story through how you
present each aspect of your business and
customer experience.

Five great examples of

story telling marketing

01. Birds Eye Fish Fingers ‘Captain Birdseye’

www.birdseye.co.uk

Birds Eye have been telling emotional stories

around their products for years. In many
of their adverts you find that the Birdseye
products are just a small part of the family life
which is being lived around them. The most
famous of their story telling adverts contain
a character called Captain Birdseye (also
known as Captain Iglo) a clean living, mature
sailor with a white beard who depicts the
brand’s ethics of behaving responsibly and
being loveable. For an example of this see
www.youtube.com/watch?v=3W1cHsTvUoU

15
 02. The Body Shop
www.thebodyshop.co.uk

The Body Shop is a British cosmetics and

skin care company. It was founded in 1976
by Anita Roddick and was built on making
people feel good – face, body and soul. The
brand always tells stories around products
being natural and produced ethically and
sustainably. This is done with simple and
clever messaging and great photography.

03. Dollar Shave Club 

‘a great shave for a few bucks a month’
www.dollarshaveclub.com

Dollar Shave Club tell a brilliant story. They tell

it in a direct, rebellious, tongue in cheek way
which works. Their marketing is set up around
the question: Why pay more for shaving
technology you don’t need?

Many shaving companies out there have

features that promise a better shave, they
also charge more for it. Dollar Shave Club
wants to change that by delivering shavers to
your doorstep for $1 every month.

The story is told from the perspective of a

rebel going against the grain and breaking
free from an unwanted and unneeded
shaving experience.

16
04. Reggae Reggae Sauce
‘put some music in your food’
www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdjxMMdWucY

Reggae Reggae is a barbecue sauce that

embodies the taste of Jamaican jerk spice. It
became popular when its creator, Levi Roots
appeared on BBC Two’s Dragons’ Den and
went into business with investors Peter Jones
and Richard Farleigh. What was the secret to
securing investment and then the subsequent
success of the project? The story. The story
which the brand told based around Jamaican
culture and fun. “Put some music in your
food” is the slogan and the bright colourful
packaging all go to enforce the story of living
life to the full.

05. British Gas ‘Planet Home’

www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJRqnjibWyY

The energy giant British Gas is a home

services provider in the UK. In 2008 British
Gas was determined to revitalise its brand
by putting the customer at the heart of its
strategy. It did this by conducting research
into how its customers related to their homes.
What they discovered became the basis of
its marketing approach and led to a number
of key customer-centric initiatives. These
initiatives transformed how customers view
the brand and increased brand performance.
Key to this was the story telling marketing
based around the concept that the home was
the customer’s world. If you needed any
help in your world British Gas would be there
to assist. 17
03
18
How brand
archetypes
provide a
framework for
adding meaning
to your brand

19
How brand archetypes
provide a framework
for adding meaning to
your brand

Brands as people
Before we get onto what exactly a “brand
archetype” is it might be worth giving
some context. As humans we tend to
“anthropomorphize” or “personify” things
and objects. This is the case with brands. In
other words we think of these things as other
humans. As having a personality.

Psychology Today tells us that: “Research

reveals that consumers perceive the same
type of personality characteristics in brands
as they do in other people. And just like with
people, they are attracted more to some
personality types than others – attractions
which are emotion based, not rational. Brand
personality is communicated by marketers
through packaging, visual imagery, and the
types of words used to describe the brand.”1

1 Peter Noel Murray Ph.D., How Emotions Influence What We Buy

Feb 26, 2013, www.psychologytoday.com/blog/inside-the-
20 consumer-mind/201302/how-emotions-influence-what-we-buy
So how do we add a personality to a
brand which is believable - and even more
importantly in the modern world, is authentic.
One way is to use ‘archetypal branding’.

Carl Jung and archetypes

Around the year 1919, the psychologist Carl
Jung discovered the idea of ‘archetypes’.
Archetypes are feelings, fantasies and visions
that reflect typical human characters. Their
origins go back hundreds of years to the
classical era2. The Greek root of the word
“archetype” means “first-moulded”. Jung
described them as: “Forms or images of a
collective nature which occur practically all
over the earth as consistency of myths and
at the same time as individual products
The Swiss
of the conscious origin3”. In more modern psychiatrist and

times archetypes have begun to be used psychotherapist,

Carl Jung,
in advertising and marketing. One famous 1875-1961
advertising strategist, Jon Howard-Spink,
has defined an archetype as; “a universally
familiar character or situation that transcends
time, place, culture, genre and age. It
represents an eternal truth”4.

Jung developed the premise that everyone

has a particular ‘archetypal character’ that
they can relate to in their life - or at least
at points and times in their life. From Jung’s
work 12 different character archetypes
have been identified which span many

2 Consider Hippocrates “Four humours” for example

3 Jung, 1959
4 Using archetypes to build stronger brands, Admap, Oct 2002 21
 different personalities. Depending on the
type of person, what that person desires
to do or the situation the person finds
themselves in, archetypes are triggered
and evoked. They are patterns of behaviour.
These archetypes are a part of our human
‘mental architecture’ and are amplified in
stories. All good stories have characters
which embody these archetypes. It doesn’t
matter if it’s a Hollywood blockbuster or an
Indonesian hillside legend, you will come
across the same types of characters. They
transcend culture and demographics. One
has only got to think about the enduring
appeal and success of films such as Lord of
the Rings, Star Wars, Harry Potter and other
iconographic stories to realise the power of
archetypes. Jung believed archetypes are
part of our “collective” unconsciousness as
human beings. They represent the drives,
needs, fears and desires hard-wired into all
of us. When we are driven and motivated to
do a particular thing these archetypes are
evoked and we embody them.

The theories that Jung discovered were

far reaching, influencing well known
psychologists such as Freud and helping to
define human psychology itself.

22
Archetypes and branding
In more recent years, the idea of archetypes
has been used as a framework to add
meaning to brands.

In their book “The Hero and the Outlaw”5

Margaret Mark and Carol S. Pearson showed
how Jungian archetypes enabled companies
to manage the meaning of branded products
and services. They demonstrated how
these archetypes connect with a number of
scientifically defined customer motivations
which resonate with each archetype. By
understanding which archetype serves which
motivation, a framework can be developed
which helps to identify which brand archetype
a business might be. This can then be used
to ensure all communications are consistent
and clear, communicating authentic meaning
to an audience.

Projecting your purpose to your target

audience well is one of the keys to developing
a successful brand. Archetypes provide a way
to do this. They represent your purpose in a
form that everyone can recognise. Knowing
your archetype means you can communicate
on a deeper emotional level and your
audience can understand what you stand for
swiftly. You can tell a better story.

5 “The Hero and the Outlaw: Building Extraordinary Brands

Through the Power of Archetypes”, Margaret Mark & Carol S.
Pearson, McGraw-Hill, 2001 23
 When going through a branding exercise,
a marketing team would consider which
archetype its brand is bringing out in its
audience for the specific product or service
being offered. Successful brands will then
mirror this in the archetype they embody.

As a simple example imagine you sell a range

of T-shirts which are aimed at teenagers. After
doing your research you discover the reason
why your audience is purchasing your t-shirts
is because they fit with the lifestyle choice
of teenagers to be rebellious and free of
constraint. This would inform you that the rebel
archetype is being evoked. This would then
give you an archetype to embody as a brand.

Archetypal branding then is a key tool in the

marketers tool-kit. In a world full of clutter
and competing brands they allow for a story
to be told which resonates with an audience.
Using principles of psychology this framework
allows for brands to connect, communicate
and build relationships with customers. When
used properly archetypes enable brands
to produce a story which people can join
because they also believe this story. They help
companies know how to communicate and
build strategies around who they truly are -
rather than simply what the competition in
their marketplace might be doing.

It is not usual that a brand fits into one

single archetype. Usually, after defining a
core archetype, sub-archetypes (or “wing”
archetypes”) are employed to balance and
24
give structure to a brand’s personality.
Twelve Archetypes
In the following pages we have set out a brief
description of the twelve archetypes based
on Mark and Pearson’s model. We have also
given an example of various brands which
are embodying each of these archetypes.

It is also worthy of note that within each of

these twelve archetypes there are also four
distinguishable personality types which sit
within each one6 - giving sixty personalities
a brand could be embodying. The primary
twelve archetypes are as follows:

01. The Rebel - The rebel desires revolution

or revenge. They want to destroy what is
not working for them or for society around
them. They are against the status-quo
and are catalysts for change looking to
disrupt, destroy or change. Their greatest
fear is powerlessness or being viewed as
inconsequential and so they strive to make an
impact in everything they do.

Brands which evoke this archetype:

Dr Martins, Apple, Harley Davison, American
Apparel, Anonymous.

02. The Hero - The hero is all about

proving their worth through action. Through
courageous and difficult feats they strive to
exert mastery in a way that improves the
world. Hero’s value quality and efficiency

6 See “Archetypes in Branding: A Tool-kit for Creatives and

Strategists”, Margaret Hartwell and Joshua C. Chen, 2012 25
 and don’t have time for things with no real
substance or that do not help them triumph.
They strive for victory even in difficult times.
They are most fulfilled when they overcome
a challenge and fear becoming weak
and vulnerable.

Brands which evoke this archetype: Duracell,

Nike, Fedex, British Army.

03. The Magician - Using their mystical ways

the magician likes to make dreams come
true. Usually having a good knowledge of how
the world and universe works they not only
have the imagination to dream up a vision for
the future but are innovative in their quest to
live it. They are all about transformation and
apply their skills to be catalysts for change.
Their passion is to find successful outcomes
in everything they put their hand to.

Brands which evoke this archetype: Disney,

Lynx, Red bull, Cadbury.

04. The Explorer - The explorer is all about

journeying beyond what is known to discover
new places. They are always on a quest for a
new experience and are constantly seeking a
new destination. They value freedom and do
not like being confined in any way. For them
it’s more about the journey rather than simply
the destination.

Brands which evoke this archetype:

Starbucks, The North Face, NASA, Land Rover.

26
5. The Innocent - The innocents motives are
simple and almost child-like. They want to
be happy. They want to experience paradise
and do not want to tread on any-ones toes
to obtain it. They value doing things correctly
and they like to get things right. They hate to
disappoint and never like to be perceived as
being wrong or of doing anything wrong. They
have an uncanny way of always seeing the
bright side of any situation and are trusting
and optimistic.

Brands which evoke this archetype:

McDonald’s, Innocent Smoothies, Coca-Cola.

6. The Sage - Having a thirst for discovering

truth the sage uses knowledge, data, science
and intelligence to unlock the mysteries
of the universe. They like to backup their
understanding with hard facts. They are prone
to being overly analytical and hate anything
which misleads or that displays ignorance.
They value wisdom and objectivity.

Brands which evoke this archetype:

Wikipedia, The Economist, University of
Cambridge, National Geographic.

7. The Creator - With a core desire to create

something of lasting value the creator strives
to give form to a vision. They are keen to be
expressive in all that they do and have a vivid
imagination which can sometimes run wild.
They get frustrated when obstacles get in the
way of what they are striving to produce.

Brands which evoke this archetype: Lego,

Canon, Adobe, Crayola. 27
 8. The Sovereign - The sovereign wants
to control the world around them. They like
rule, law and order and use these to create a
prosperous and successful future. As strong
leaders they take their position seriously and
have a keen sense of responsibility. They fear
chaos and anarchy as well as having their
position overthrown.

Brands which evoke this archetype:

Metropolitan Police, Hugo Boss, IBM,
Mercedes Benz.

9. The Caregiver - Protecting people from

harm is the main motivating force behind the
caregiver. They use what they have to look
after and protect others from harm.
They are all about hearty service. They are
often selfless and sacrifice their own well-
being for others being people of compassion
and generosity. They struggle to get on with
those who are selfish or not grateful for what
they offer.

Brands which evoke this archetype: Johnson’s

Baby, NHS, Boots, Bupa.

10. The Lover - The lover is passionate about

sharing experiences with others. Emotionally
driven they strive to give pleasure to those
with whom they have a relationship. The lover
gives attention to how attractive they are
to the ones they love and fear being alone
or unwanted.

Brands which evoke this archetype: Haargen-

Darz, Ann Summers, Channel, Gucci, Baileys,
28 Magnum, NESCAFÉ.
11. The Citizen - All the citizen wants to do
is fit in. They are everyday and normal. They
love to connect with other people on a level
and are not ambitious or keen to rise above
their station. They hate to stand out and fear
being exiled and rejected. They are realists
and see the world for what it is. They love
practical solutions that benefit the masses.

Brands which evoke this archetype: ‘This

Girl Can’, Ikea, eBay, Google, Amazon, KFC,
Volkswagen.

12. The Jester - With a passion for living in

the moment the jester is all about fun and
enjoyment. As captivating entertainers they
are often funny and playful. They use their
talents to lighten up the world and bring
smiles to peoples faces. They hate being
bored and are always looking for things which
are entertaining and fun.

Brands which evoke this archetype:

Ben & Jerry’s, M&M’s, Fanta,
Compare the Meerkat.

29
04
30
How to add heaps
of personality
to your brand
without
appearing silly

31
How to add heaps of
personality to your brand
without appearing silly

Discover your authentic brand

So how do you find your brand’s
archetype and brand story and ensure
your communications align in order to
communicate this effectively? How do you
do this in away that can unify your team and
ensure you do not look silly? Good questions!
Each business and brand is different. Larger
organisations find it harder to effect change.
Smaller ones have limited resources. Having a
strategy for marketing and communications
though is essential to any ambitious business
and it’s never too late to work on your brand
personality as the basis of your marketing.

It might be that your business’ main brand

already has this strategy set. However
businesses are always bringing out new
products and services, the meaning of which
needs to be managed. Advertising and
marketing campaigns are executed on an
ongoing basis and all need to be joined up in
the meaning audiences attach to them. On
top of this there are the internal messages
and initiatives (such as training or strategic
32
internal communications) which need to
disseminate amongst colleagues. These too
benefit from good branding.

The process of establishing a brand story is

usually one of collaboration. It is the role of
leadership teams to set the goals, strategy
and vision of an organisation and
so typically marketing leadership teams
would be involved in sitting down together
and reviewing their brand in order to clarify
their offer.

This is usually done over a series of

workshops which result in a “brand strategy”
being produced. This documents the findings
of the workshops, the brand DNA, its story and
the archetype(s) the brand embodies. The
“brand strategy” document sets the strategy
of the brand going forward and how it will
effectively communicate to its audiences.
After this further work is typically undertaken.
If needed, a suitable brand name can be
developed along with a brand identity.
From this a set of visual guidelines for the
brand’s “visual language” and a tone of voice
guideline to ensure communications are
always “on brand” can be produced. Work
might then need to be undertaken to unify
the core brand touch points (like a website,
signage and marketing literature) to ensure
a consistent narrative is being told. Once
these are in place then a marketing plan can
be set out and individual campaigns can be
planned and designed which utilise and draw
from the core principles that have
been established. 33
 Typically focus groups consisting of samples
of the target audience are consulted every
step of the way to test any assumptions
and to ensure that a brand is indeed
communicating effectively.

The bedrock of good marketing and

communication though comes from having a
brand strategy which clearly communicates
what the brand stands for. This unifies teams.
It serves as a touch stone for all decisions
made subsequently. Having a clear process
to go through is essential so that stakeholders
can understand what and why each part of
the process is important to the wider goal
of building a great brand. It is essential to
all those who are involved in the project to
appreciate the context and importance of
the things being considered. This enables you
to ensure the personality of the brand never
appears silly and that it is always relevant.

34
The value of creating
a brand strategy
With no goal it is hard to define what success
looks like. Without defining the brand’s
personality and story it is so difficult to unite
teams so that they all pull in one direction.
For these reasons having a brand strategy
is crucial for any business with growth
ambitions or that values it’s branding. A brand
strategy is the foundation stone in managing
the meaning of a brand.

The benefits of having an effective brand

strategy are:

Your colleagues can unite around a clear

vision of what the brand stands
for enabling joined-up and effective
decision making.
You look forward and have a foundation on
which to continue to build your brand.
You can communicate clearly allowing for
prospects and customers to understand
exactly what you deliver.
It becomes easier to attract and begin
dialogue with new prospects because they
quickly understand what you stand for.
You acquire loyal customers quickly
because your prospects’ experience with
you supports everything you say.

35
 On the flip side if you do not have a brand
strategy in place then the negatives are:

Your colleagues pull in different directions

because nobody appreciates what the
brand stands for.
You have no clear plan to continue to build
your brand.
Prospects are confused as to what
you deliver.
It’s hard to attract prospects because they
don’t understand what you stand for.
It’s a hard long process to retain
customers because their experience with
you is inconsistent.

36
How do I go about this?
There are really two ways of going through
the processes above to create a solid brand:

1. Do it yourself
Someone within your organisation could
lead the charge and set out a process by
which the relevant workshops and work can
be undertaken. The benefits of this is that
those involved know the brand and it’s offer
as it stands.

2. Get outside help

You could look at getting a branding agency
in to help you and your team. An agency
would typically set up their own project team
which would work alongside your team in a
collaborative fashion. They would bring tried
and tested processes and creativity to the
table and rely on the goals and knowledge of
the leadership team. As outsiders they might
also bring interesting insight into the offer of
the brand. The great thing about an outside
team being brought in is that they have no
part in the internal politics of a business.
They can remain objective and deliver advice
which can go against the grain because they
will be judged on the basis of the success of
the brand in the long term.

37
05
38
Why being
authentic is
the only option
for the modern
business

39
Why being authentic is
the only option for the
modern business

Modern businesses need to be true

In today’s information rich world brands can
no longer afford not to be authentic. The more
online and virtual our lives become, the more
consumers crave for something genuine. What
customers want is to experience a brand1.
They want the experience to be consistent
with every aspect of that brand - with what it
offers, its vision, mission, values and promise.
They want consistency with the story it tells.
From viewing a website, to walking around a
store, to unpacking a product - if the customer
experience does not measure up to the brand
promise, in every aspect, customers become
increasingly disenfranchised.

On top of a general desire for consistency of

experience, how brands behave is becoming
increasingly important. With customers having
access to a vast amount of information and
news, if a brand behaves inconsistently it will

1 The Consumer Psychology Model of Customer Experience

Management (CEM), Dr Nigel Marlow, October 10, 2013,
innovationbubble.eu/the-consumer-psychology-model-of-
40 customer-experience-management-cem/
be discovered. The truth will out and untold
damage will be done.

One has only to think of the recent customer

boycotting of big brands such as Starbucks
for allegedly avoiding paying tax on their
British sales2. Although the company used
legal mechanisms in its tax affairs, it provoked
public outrage when it was discovered it paid
hardly any UK corporation tax. This led to some
customers arranging boycotts and protests at
the chain’s cafés. Yes, this customer led protest
(known as ‘tax shaming’) was undertaken
on moral grounds but it was also fuelled by
the fact that Starbucks’ brand promise and
values3 are in stark contrast to its reported
tax affairs. Starbucks’ brand values include
statements like; “Being present, connecting
with transparency, dignity and respect” and
“Delivering our very best in all we do, holding
ourselves accountable for results.” The brand
says it is “performance driven, through the
lens of humanity”. Somehow these values
didn’t seem to fit with reality and so customers
voted with their feet. This led to Starbucks
backtracking and offering to voluntarily pay
twenty million pounds in extra tax4.

2 Google, Amazon, Starbucks: The rise of ‘tax shaming’, BBC News

Magazine, Vanessa Barford & Gerry Holt, 21 May 2013
www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20560359
3 Starbucks Mission Statement Aug 2016
See: www.starbucks.co.uk/about-us/company-information/
mission-statement
4 Starbucks bows to outrage and offers £20m extra tax, The
Telegraph, Matthew Sparks, 6th December 2012, www.telegraph.
co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/9726979/
Starbucks-bows-to-outrage-and-offers-20m-extra-tax.html 41
 Authenticity in branding
With this in mind, when building a brand it
is essential that the key building blocks are
indeed authentic. What do we mean by this?
Well, digitalintelligencetoday.com defines
perceived brand authenticity as: “The extent
to which consumers perceive a brand to be
faithful toward itself, true to its consumers,
motivated by caring and responsibility,
and able to support consumers in being true
to themselves.5”

Brand authenticity then means that a brand

is real. That it truly reflects the beliefs of the
leadership team and staff effecting it. Once
the brand begins to tell its story, once its
messaging is aligned to its archetype and
once it begins to be known for something - it
must stay true to itself.

Gaining insight into customer attitudes by

keeping on top of social media comments
and completing customer surveys are great
ways to ensure that a brand is delivering on
its promise. If it’s not, customers will soon
let you know. They aren’t afraid to air their
grievances. If something in their experience
of your brand doesn’t measure up as being
‘genuine’ it will get called out.

It is therefore essential for the modern

business to innovate and continue to review
themselves in the light of their brand story

5 Brand Authenticity definition and measurement scale study, Dr

Paul Marsden, March 20th 2015, digitalintelligencetoday.com/new-
42 brand-authenticity-scale-released-how-authentic-are-you/
and their customers’ experiences and
continue to seek to close any gaps.

This is the benefit of the archetypal branding

mythology. It tells true stories. It is authentic. It
doesn’t promise anything which is untrue.

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06
44
How to connect
a single brand
personality with
multiple offers
and audiences

45
How to connect a single
brand personality with
multiple offers and
audiences

Archetypal branding is great to use on a

holistic level but when businesses grow to
corporate size it can be difficult to understand
how exactly a brand should communicate. 

With some businesses it is not as simple as

finding one archetypal personality which their
brand can embody.  Different offers have
different audiences which are attracted to the
same offer for a different reason. For business
reasons the main brand cannot be broken
up and so must somehow communicate to
multiple audiences as one brand but also find
a specific personality within that for each
audience and offer.

Some brands that offer a wide range of

services and products to wide demographics
typically try and become ‘all things to all
people’. The problem with this is that the
brand expressions do not demonstrate or
communicate a clear personality. As a result
the brand message becomes diluted and the
46
marketing of the specific product or service
cannot effectively communicate to their
audiences.

Does this sound like your brand? Are you

wondering how you can build a brand system
which has a core personality at its heart - yet
can flex and adapt to meet the needs of a
particular circumstance? Are you wondering
how you could do this and also how do you
make this information easily digestible to your
project teams?

Don’t worry - there is a solution to get

around these problems using the archetypal
branding methodology. 

Method 1 - Create different brand

personalities for each offer
One method would be to segment your
products and offerings so as to give each
of them their own unique personalities. We
call this a “house of brands” - it’s like a house
where every room is completely different.
There is no connection from one room to the
other in terms of decoration.

This is the approach Unilever take (see

www.unilever.co.uk/brands/). They own
lots of products from ‘Dove’ (a brand
offering consumers moisturisers and body
lotions) through to ‘Ben and Jerry’s’ (offering
consumers a range of ice creams). Dove
embodies a “caregiver” archetype. Ben and
Jerry’s is a “jester” archetype.
47
 This is a great example of a business looking
at their offerings through the eyes of a
consumer. They realise they cannot be all
things to all people and so they develop
specific brands which become known as
personalities in their own right. These brands
do not have much connection, if any, with the
main business and brand that operates them
- Unilever.

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Method 2 - A blended approach
For some businesses though it is not as
simple as this. They know which main
archetype they are but some services and
offers interconnect. For legal or business
structural reasons they cannot segment their
services or products for specific audiences.
Also some products can be utilised by
different customer groups for different
reasons. When this is the case more of a
“blended” approach needs to be employed.
We call this approach “a branded house”
- it’s like a house where each room has a
common theme running through each of
them. Although each room is slightly different
and has a different function they all feel part
of the same place.

The way this works is that within the primary

archetype of the brand, sub archetypes are
employed for specific audiences or offers to
ensure the message resonates effectively.
Within each communication though the
primary archetype is still apparent so as not
to destroy the primary brand persona.

Let’s now take some time to show how

this might work and how you might use
archetypal branding to help get this right.

49
 The four stages of the blended
approach
How does a brand stay true to its essence
while adapting to the needs of its audiences?
The trick with this is to determine four things:

1. Audience segments
2. The strongest motivators of each audience
3. The core archetypes which will resonate
with each audience
4. The various products which will be
marketed
You then build these relevant ‘sub-archetypes’
(also known as “wing” archetypes) into your
communication strategies and briefs to the
design teams who will be creating marketing
materials. The result - communications which
stay true to the primary brand archetype but
flexibility to communicate as a ‘sub archetype’
to specific audience segments.

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An example of how to
communicate multiple offers &
audiences under one brand
As a simple example of this imagine you
are in charge of marketing a golf club which
offers its venue not only to golfers but also to
businesses as a venue for corporate functions
as well as sponsorship opportunities. The
businesses can hire out the venue and they
can also sponsor aspects of it. It also has
a restaurant which is open to both golfers
and to corporate clients. You have gone
through a branding exercise and your Brand
and Marketing team have discovered that
your authentic, primary archetype is the “The
Innocent”. As a brand, your venue embodies
the values of getting connected with nature,
with experiencing happiness and with offering
a service which is full of natural goodness. 

There are four different offers going out

to these two different audience segments
and yet the golf club needs to maintain
an overarching brand personalty of the
Innocent across them both. However how
it speaks to golfers and how it pitches its
golfing experience is going to have to be
different to how it pitches its venue hire for
large corporate clients. So - to overcome this
complication you follow the methodology
mentioned above. Let’s walk through it.

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 After doing some research you discover your
audience segments which are:

1. Golf enthusiasts
wanting to enjoy their sport
2. Corporate marketing professionals
representing corporate businesses
Psychologists tell us there are four
motivations which drive consumer behaviour1.
These are: ‘Stability/ Control’, ‘Independence’,
‘Mastery / Risk’ and ‘Belonging’ (for more
information see “The Hero and the Outlaw”
by Mark / Pearson). Knowing this, you then
do some further work to consider the main
psychological motivating elements which
attract each audience.

1. Golf enthusiasts
Mastery / Risk (exhilaration of
accomplishment, desire to leave a legacy)
2. Marketing professionals
Independence (actualisation & fulfilment)
Following the archetypal methodology you
then do some more work to seek out the
relevant archetypes that fit the respective
motivations and customer personas.

1 “The Hero and the Outlaw: Building Extraordinary Brands Through

the Power of Archetypes”, Margaret Mark & Carol S. Pearson,
52 McGraw-Hill, 2001
You discover the core archetypes which
resonate with each audience are:

1. Golf enthusiasts
“Hero” - “prove one’s worth through
courageous and difficult action”
2. Corporate marketing professionals
“Sovereign” - “create a prosperous,
successful family”
The final step in the puzzle is to work out the
various products and services and how each
one is applied to each segment. To make
things simple we have listed four hypothetical
different offers / products - in reality there
could be hundreds.

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Offer Audience Segment 1 Audience Segment 2
Golf enthusiasts “Heros” Marketing “Sovereigns”

Yearly grounds pass

Venue hire

Sponsorship opportunities

Food and drink services

Visually you can see from the table above

how this model allows you to clearly identify
conflicts (as in the food and drink services)
but also where the brand should articulate
messaging evoking the “Hero” and where
it can articulate messaging evoking the
“Sovereign”.

Where there are areas of conflict the

communications can simply be focused
on the primary archetype (Innocent).
Where there is no conflict the marketing
and messaging can be weighted to include
messaging which would attract the Sovereign
or the Hero - but still having the tone of the
primary archetype of the “Innocent” running
through them.
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Unify your team
Having a methodology like the one explained
above means that:

Sales teams and staff can easily

understand how to communicate to
each audience.
Marketing and design teams can be
effectively briefed
A set of clear visual guidelines can be
established to communicate consistently
and effectively across the various sub-
archetypes a brand will employ
Obviously we would always suggest you test
and research each stage of the process with
focus groups to check that any assumptions
are right - but if you want to make your single
brand communications resonate to each
audience this is a great method to do this
effectively. Once you have worked out this
vital information it can become the backbone
of your visual language and tone of voice
strategy ensuring that communications are
always on brand and resonate with each
audience to maximise sales.

55
Let’s do this.

Onwards and upwards

So - now you know a bit about story-telling
marketing and archetypal branding and have
seen first hand how that psychology can help
to produce communications with meaning
and make you more sales.

We wish you good luck and good fortune in

whatever adventure you are setting out on
and hope the tips and advice contained in
this guide help you to achieve success.

If you like what we have had to say

please tweet about it using the hashtag
#brainybranding and include our twitter
handle @AttitudeDesign.

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 Produced by:

www.attitudedesign.co.uk

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 #brainybranding

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