Archetypes: do you use them?
Olga Trykush
5 replies
Short description:
A brand archetype is essentially a character of your brand, the alive representation, that is created taking into consideration all the nuances of the target audience and the brand’s concept. The formula is simple, if a brand is relatable to its target audience, it’s loved by it.
A brand archetype is a person you’re addressing.
What happens after you find out the brand’s archetype?
You can use it. You will now know how people will see, and comprehend your brand. You will know what the brand would sound, look, and behave in certain situations. You will understand its values, and views on life.
Now, you can take this understanding and use it to build your brand personality, and further use it in all communication mediums: from social media posts to video ads; from the website content to choosing your brand’s opinion leaders.
If you are addressing, talking to the archetypes, you can speak to your target audience on an emotional level, instinctual even.
Question: Do you use/refer to archetypes? do you think archetypes can have a place in startup branding?
Recently we created a post on socials regarding this topic and I was surprised how many people showed interest, so now I'm curious to hear your opinion, hunters!
Replies
Raunaq Vaisoha@raunaqvaisoha
My version of creating an archetype is understanding the Job To Be Done for the customer. I'm referring to the framework created by Prof Clayton Christensen, which encourages learning about the emotional and functional task your customer is looking to accomplish and what are the different products they currently hire to do the job for them. The Job To Be Done helps me think about how to communicate to potential users about why they should hire my product.
What's your favorite book/resource for understanding Archetypes? I'd love to learn more.
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@raunaqvaisoha That's another good use case where Archetypes can be taken into account. I personally use them more in branding aims, to define the personality, style, ToV. Regarding resources: I guess the original book «The Hero and the Outlaw: Building Extraordinary Brands Through the Power of Archetypes», Margaret Mark, Carol Pearson is the best to check.
Without a doubt! After all, if you can't create one, you don't know your customer
Hi there, I still do brand consulting to pay my bills while I work on my app and I actively use archetypes in my work. I actually mix the Jungian archetypes together with the Myers-Briggs. The MB was based on Jung but they still have a little bit of different flavors. I think it's important, particularly in an age of social media, to understand what motivates the brand, what its ambitions are, what tribe it belongs to. This helps adjust the conversations it can have in the social space, but also allows you to create kind of a check list of "would my brand do this or not" behaviors. It's also extremely useful for the organization, because it allows a level of standardization for the brand personality. A lot of brand positioning docs can use terms that are pretty generic, leaving a lot of room for individual interpretation. The archetypes help to anchor brand psychographics across an organization.