Archetypes

At the beginning of the 20the century, the Swiss psychologist Carl Jung has developed the theory of
universal archetypes. The word (archien) means the original, and the word (typos) mean model, type. So
the word archetype means the original pattern. Archetypes manifest the roots of human motifs of doing
something. If somebody does a bad thing, we can see it in archetypes, or someone falls in love, in the
archetypes we can look for descriptions of the motifs of the person

The MAGICIAN makes dreams come true

Magician brands don’t build you a better toothbrush or help you keep your house clean; they bring your
wildest dreams to life. Disney is an example of a magical brand. Though it is fundamentally a media
company, the company offers a transformative experience. The organization sits in a category of its own
because of its vision. Imagine another brand that could build the Magic Kingdom or a Disney World.

The SAGE is always seeking the truth

To a sage, wisdom is the key to success. Everything else is secondary to the pursuit of knowledge.
Though this brand might give you the warm and fuzzies, and they don’t enrapture you in a fantasy world
like Disney, a sage commands respect by illustrating brilliance.

The INNOCENT just wants to be happy

Everything is free, virtuous and content in an innocent’s world. An innocent brand will never guilt you
try to convince you excessively. Instead, an innocent brand will charm you with something more
powerful: Nostalgia.

The OUTLAW seeks revolution

The outlaw isn’t afraid. Where the innocent touches the part of you that loved snack time in
kindergarten, the outlaw archetype appeals to the part of you that cut classes in high school.

The JESTER lives in the moment

Humor, silliness, and nonsense are all in a jester’s toolkit. The goal of a jester brand is to make you smile
with lighthearted fun. The Old Spice Man is an all-time favorite ad campaign and the perfect example of
a jester archetype. Some male consumers react well to hyper-masculine branding, while others don’t. By
making a joke out of these super manly brands, Old Spice appeal to both sides

The LOVER makes you theirs

Passion, pleasure, and sensuality are keys to the lover’s heart. A lover brand wants you to associate
them with the intimate moments in your life. What do you buy to celebrate? How do you indulge your
significant other?

The EXPLORER break free

Freedom is the top priority for an explorer. Where other brands might try to help you build a home,
these brands want to get you out of it.
The RULER wants absolute power

Luxury and exclusivity – A ruler brand is a gatekeeper. Perception as high-quality and expensive is
critical, so product categories that fall under this umbrella include jewelry and high-end vehicles. Do you
buy a Mercedes-Benz because of its crash-test rating? No. That quietly understood value is what a ruler
brand sells.

The CAREGIVER nurtures you

The caregiver is benevolent and just wants to be there for you. Caregiver brands build trust. It’s rare to
see a caregiver brand run an ad that takes a shot at their competition. They are the opposite of
confrontational. Johnson & Johnson’s tagline line is “Johnson & Johnson: A Family Company.” This is
bread-and-butter for the caregiver archetype.

The HERO wants to prove himself

The hero makes the world better by being the best. A hero brand isn’t concerned with nurturing, it’s
there to challenge you. If you want to rise to the occasion, you’re going to need a hero’s help

The REGULAR GUY/GIRL wants to belong

This archetype is focused on providing something so far removed from pretentiousness that it can
appeal to everyone. It is the most challenging archetype to pull off because you have to have a product
that actually appeals across demographics.

The CREATOR craves perfection A creator isn’t worried about the cost of production or making things at
scale. While the magician stresses vision and imagination, creators are different – they strive to create a
product you can’t live without. Lego is a great example of a creator archetype. In one of ad, Lego
recreated in stunning detail the most famous sights of the world. They didn’t create some new
technology. Lego used the simplest technology possible: blocks. They took this simplicity and pushed it
to its most perfect extreme. .

Why our strategy needs more chaos.

Traditional marketing VS content marketing.

Unlike traditional marketing, content marketing is a permissive marketing approach. It involves creating
valuable content to educate and entertain potential customers with the purpose of drawing them in. It
also comes in a wide variety of forms, including articles, blogs, newsletters, emails, quizzes, infographics,
videos, and podcasts. Content marketing enables you to offer more value to your potential customers
and make them more appreciative of your existence, so that you can turn them into faithful, paying
customers. It is the art of communicating with your target audience without selling.
One of the main differences between content marketing and traditional advertising is that the former is
permissive while the latter is interruptive. Content marketing gives consumers the freedom to seek out
and consume their desired content whenever they want. This means that they have given marketers
permission to reach out to them.

Traditional advertising, on the other hand, often reaches consumers when they are doing something
else, such as watching television, listening to the radio, or driving. It can distract people from their
current activities or experiences. This marketing approach is also sometimes implemented in digital
marketing efforts, such as pop-ups, social media ads, and pre-roll videos.

Content marketing is currently the preferred marketing approach because it offers something valuable
to consumers. It can educate readers or viewers about a certain industry, teach them how to make the
right purchasing decisions, or simply entertain them. This can lead to increased customer engagement
and loyalty.

Unlike content marketing, traditional advertising typically includes only information on the product or
service it intends to sell. Although some traditional advertisements, such as Super Bowl commercials,
also provide entertainment, their main purpose is to educate consumers on the products that are being
sold, such as their benefits and the methods to purchase them.

Content marketing seeks to earn its audience by giving something valuable. Consumers find and view
your content because they want to do so. This means that they choose to be your audience, and you
own them.

In contrast, traditional advertising is usually aimed at a rented audience. Traditional advertisers pay
money to media platforms with an existing audience to get their messages across to people who use
those platforms. Purchased radio airtime, rented billboard spaces, and purchased PPC ads are some
examples of platforms that are commonly used for traditional marketing. The disadvantage of renting an
audience is that the audience does not belong to you, and you will eventually have to give it back once
your paid period is over.

Content marketing is intended to help you start a conversation with your potential customers. By
sharing value and conversing with your customers on a consistent basis, you will establish yourself as a
leader in your industry. As a result, they will trust your brand and eventually decide to buy from you.
Content efforts that are effective in sparking conversations with customers include in-person events,
webinars, and opportunities for user-generated content.

Traditional marketing strategies, such as commercials, only allow you to have a one-way communication
with your customers. They do not encourage or ask for an immediate response. Traditional marketers
just put information about certain products or services in front of their target consumers and hope that
some of them will make a purchase.
Another benefit of content marketing over traditional advertising is that it enables marketers to hone
their marketing strategies in real time. Marketers can find out which content strategies are working and
invest more time and effort in those strategies to achieve better results. This can be done using analytics
programs that show different aspects of sales and marketing campaigns as they are happening, including
purchases, clicks, and links.

Traditional marketing campaigns are more static, because they are difficult to tweak while they are
underway. This is especially so with television and print ads. Marketers have to wait until their
campaigns are over before they can start analyzing the results and make improvements to their
strategies.

Cost is a major consideration when it comes to choosing a marketing strategy. When you compare the
costs of content marketing and traditional advertising, you will find that the former is significantly more
affordable. According to an article published in Forbes, content marketing is 62 percent more cost-
effective than traditional marketing and delivers three times as many leads.

How to choose archetype for our brand.

What are the brand archetypes?

There are twelve primary archetypes we choose from when we’re developing a brand. They are: the
innocent; the everyperson; the hero; the caregiver; the explorer; the rebel; the lover; the creator; the
jester; the sage; the magician; the ruler.

When you’re selecting your brand’s archetype, you need to consider five things: your company, your
industry, your competition, your customers, and your pricing.

Your Company

This one is the most obvious and the most important. The archetype you choose needs to be a true
representation of your brand, not what you think it should be or wish it were. You’ll need to take a good
look at your company culture and the personalities of your top executives when selecting an archetype.
If you don’t, you run the risk of selecting an archetype that’s not authentic for your brand and coming
off as fake or dishonest. For example, if all your employees wear suits and your top execs live lavish
lifestyles, it might be difficult to pull off the everyperson archetype.

Your Industry
In most industries, there are one or two archetypes that are common and a couple that just don’t fit. In
the hunting and fishing space, you’ll find quite a few explorer brands. But in the financial services space,
customers don’t usually want to entrust their money with someone known for being an adventurous
explorer. You don’t always have to stay within the status quo, but it’s important to consider how your
archetype fits within your industry. If you’re a company that people view as risky or inexperienced, going
with the tried and true archetypes of your industry might help to mitigate some of that concern.

Your Competition

While it may make sense to stick with the archetypes commonly found within your industry, you might
not want to have the same archetype as your main competition. To succeed in any business, you have to
differentiate from your competitors. If you can do this at the highest level – the archetype that drives
your entire brand personality – you can avoid some of the price and features competition that wears
down marketing teams and profit margins alike.

Your Customers

Your archetype should match up with the archetype of your customers or, more importantly, the
archetype your customers wish they were. The best example of this is Harley Davidson. By embodying
the rebel archetype, they’ve successfully attracted a customer base of white-collar men with money
who want to feel a little rebellious.

Your Pricing

The last thing you’ll want to consider is your pricing. Some archetypes, such as the everyperson,
innocent, and jester, will fit better with lower to moderate pricing. Others, like the ruler and the
magician, allow for a more premium pricing model. These rules can be broken, but it’s important to note
how the market will expect your products to be priced once you start portraying your brand as a specific
archetype.

And that’s a wrap! Whether you’re a rebel, caregiver, or anything else, the most important thing is
authenticity. Live and breathe your archetype, find your tribe of customers, and get selling!
If you’d like to read more about brand archetypes, I highly suggest the book The Hero and the Outlaw by
Margaret Mark and Carol S. Pearson. This book was one of the first to introduce the idea of archetypes
to branding.