People are a combination of desires, values, emotions, and personalities, but can we replicate this human nature into a brand? Giving a brand personality and character?
Prefer to watch and listen? I got you!
A brand can often underestimate the importance of a personality. This personality allows people to connect with the brand as it has a clear meaning, mission, vision, and values, all of which are dependent on the brand's personality.
This book has really changed my view on branding, specifically brand strategy, and has changed my life as a designer! Today we will be talking about the book Hero and Outlaw by Margaret Mark, which is all about brand archetype and is a guide to creating brands with a personality. If you want to create brands that connect, this is the book for you.
So there are 4 categories that this book splits the 12 archetypes into and talks about in great detail, and I want to summarise the 12 archetypes, which are:
1. The innocent, explorer, and sage
2. Hero, outlaw, and magician
3. The regular guy or gal, lover, and jester
4. Carer, creator, and ruler
The following 12 archetype brands represent every company, including many whose leadership doesn’t realise they are following an archetype at all.
Every archetype has such a trap. To the degree that you fully understand the archetype that fuels your own organization's efforts, you can guard against its negative effects and save yourself from such embarrassing and brand-damaging publicity."
It's important to know your archetype traps.
The common thing with these three archetype is their focus on self and independence.
The Innocent
The innocent is driven by finding the perfect world where they are allowed to be free; they seek a simpler and happier life and are generally optimistic.
Core Desire: Experience Paradise
Goal: To be happy
Fear: Doing something wrong that will provoke punishment
Strategy: Do things right
Gift: Faith and optimism
The innocent consumer
Innocent brands can attract an innocent consumer by creating clear, positive, and hopeful ideas and using nostalgic images. The innocent consumer likes predictability and certainty.
Example
McDonald's is a great example of a brand tapping into its innocent archetype. They promise fun for families and nostalgia. The McDonald's arches in its logo also resemble the entrance into the promised land, Eden, or heaven.
McDonald's really taps into the consumer's desire for predictability and certainty by making every McDonald's the same no matter where you are. The company tries to make the world a better place with the Ronald McDonald Houses, which help children and families cope with critical illness.
The explorer
The explorer seeks a better, more authentic world of freedom; they spend their lives going on journeys.
Core Desire: Freedom to explore themselves and the world
Goal: Experience a better, more authentic, and more fulfilling life.
Fear: Getting Trapped
Strategy: Hit the road and experience new things in the wild.
Gift: Ambition and Independence
The consumer
The explorer consumer is a youthful person, usually in their teens and 20s; however, it's not specific to age but more about finding one's self.
To market effectively to explorers, it's important to understand what drives them: freedom! Explorers feel trapped by the "rules" and regulations of society, which hold them back from being true to themselves. It is also important to be easily found on the internet for young explorers to search, but they are usually sceptical of ads, so it is important to create trust.
Example
Starbucks is a great example of an explorer brand from start to finish. The brand expresses the explorer archetype starting with its theme of the classic Moby Dick novel (which is all about a captain seeking revenge on the whale that bit his leg off). They get their name from this novel, and their explorer archetype is reflected in everything from their logo to their interior decor.
For example, did you know that every Starbucks store has a metal and wood structure representing a sailing ship? Or that the logo itself is a sea goddess? Starbucks also offers coffee beans sourced from all over the world!
Starbucks fuels us with caffeine so that we can keep exploring our own journeys.
The sage
The sage seeks to uncover the truth of the world and uses knowledge to do so.
Core Desire: Discover the Truth
Goal: intellect and analytic skills to uncover these truths.
Fear: being tricked, betrayed, unawareness
Strategy: seek out knowledge, be self-reflective, and understand thinking processes.
Gift: wisdom and intelligence
The consumer
A sage consumer is invested in their personal growth, and they’re looking for opportunities to learn and grow. Sage consumers tend to be independent thinkers who seek freedom, which is why the colour palette for Sage marketing tends towards white, grey, and light blue hues.
When targeting a savvy consumer, it's important to establish your credibility. During a purchase, the sage consumer doesn’t want to be sold to; they want to make an educated decision themselves. They want to feel smart and in charge of their purchases.
Example
Oprah Winfrey is a great example of a sage. She can empathise with anyone, regardless of their socio-economic status. She knows what it's like to be both poor and rich, and so she can relate to people in a way that makes them feel heard and understood.
She is the representation of a mother, aunt, and big sister—the nation's friend.
These 3 archetype are connected by their power to take great personal risk in order to change their lives. They take risks, break rules, and transform their lives.
The hero
The hero is pretty self-explanatory; they want a better world!
Core Desire: Use courage and challenging action to prove one's worth.
Goal: To exert mastery in a way that improves the world. FEAR: weakness
Strategy: become as powerful and strong as humanly possible.
GIFT: courage
The consumer
The hero archetype is hungry for convictions and attracted to people, companies, and brands that have them. When marketing to this consumer, you are being evaluated not only by the quality of your product or service but also by the strength and ethics of your convictions.
Example
Nike is a great example of a hero brand that gets its name from the winged Greek goddess of victory. Their shoes were designed to improve running performance. Their tagline, "Just do it," perfectly resonates with the hero as it promotes heroic values and inspires the future athlete.
Through its marketing, Nike used Jordan Mike in their ads as well as ordinary people, but the ads encouraged people to "feel like Mike." Consumers wear Nike because they want to have the qualities of Mike and feel like heroes.
The outlaw
The outlaw is often seen as the rebel; this archetype seeks revenge or revolution. They believe rules are meant to be broken!
Core Desire: revenge or revolution
Goal: to destroy what's not working.
Fear of being powerless
Strategy: shock the world
Gift: radical freedom
The consumer
The outlaw is drawn to images that have dark, shadowy qualities and feature quite intense colour. The outlaw loves shock, disturbance, a bit of raciness, and edginess. The edgier, the better!
Example
A great example of an outlaw brand is Apple, whose logo has a bite taken out of it, which represents the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, where the pair take the bite out of the apple, which frees Adam and Eve and leaves leaving in paradise. Apple's motto is "think different," which really speaks to creative people and how their passion can change the world! Apple is also associated with computer hackers and businesses as unusual innovators.
The IMAC breaks the rules by introducing colour to computers compared to the usual grey. And the packaging is ground-breaking by coming in see-through cases.
The magician
The magicians are dreamers and believe that dreams come true.
Core Desire: Understand the fundamental laws of how the world works.
Goal: Make dreams come true.
Fear: unanticipated negative consequences
Strategy: create a vision and live it.
Gift: find win-win outcomes.
The consumer
When marketing to the magician consumer, you are selling yourself, your value, and your own consciousness. When targeting this consumer, it's important to be self-reflective and really identify who you are, what you value, and what you want to achieve in this world.
They seek products and services with transformative experiences. They surround their lives with learning and change; they want to be helped with this! It's like the saying, "Give a man a fish, and he will eat for a night. Teach them to fish, and they will eat forever.
Unlike the outlaw, this archetype doesn’t do well with edgy and shocking ads.
Example
Mastercard is a magician brand, and their tagline really captures the magician: "There are some things money cannot buy; for everything else, there's Mastercard." Their ads show that this little bit of plastic can get you anything you want; it is very live in the moment, and with this, you can have anything in the world. It goes further than just materialism as it connects with deeper value and experience. They say we know you are real, grounded, authentic, and know what matters in life.
These three archetypes tap into repressed needs.
The regular guy or gal
This archetype believes that all men and women are created equal and ordinary. This belief system makes it very easy for them to connect with others, belong, and fit in.
Core Desire: Connect with Others
Goal: to belong
Fear: standing out
Strategy: Develop ordinary virtues, blend in
Gift: realism and empathy
The consumer
If we would place the regular guy or gal on the Maslow hierarchy of needs, they would fit in the belongingness and love needs; their greatest want is to belong and fit in. Their needs are pretty basic.
Example
A great example of this regular guy or gal is the brand Just My Size, which offers larger-size clothing, showing that the women wearing it aren’t just heavy women but mothers, sisters, and daughters; they are the norm like you and me.
The lover
The lover's desire is to be intimate and experience sensual pleasure; their goal is to be in relationships with people and surround themselves with loved ones. This makes being alone a big fear for this archetype.
Core Desire: attain intimacy and sensual pleasure
Goal: building relationships with people
Fear of being unlovable
Strategy: become more and more attractive in every way.
GIFT: passion
The consumer
The lover consumer wants to connect on a deeper level, one that is intimate, genuine, and personal. This requires more passion than that of the regular guy or gal. The lover wants to feel special, so email lists that do this allow this consumer to feel loyal to the brand. They are also attracted to real and open brands that are not perfect.
Example
Chanel is a great lover brand; she often wore menswear and used men's clothing lines as inspiration for a bold line for women's clothing, creating a new image of sexy but also independent women. She combined independent women and sexy women together, showing you don’t need a man for his masculinity, and you don’t need to choose between lover and career; you can have both! A line that stands out for me is "There is only one Chanel."
The jester
The jester lives in the moment, full of enjoyment, and they simply lighten up the world; boredom is their enemy!
Core Desire: to live in the moment
Goal: lighten up the world.
FEAR: boredom
Strategy: being playful
GIFT: joy
The consumer
There is a jester in all of us who love humour. Jesters ads and packaging highlight bright colours and lots of action—the more outrage, the better! The marketing method for a jester is cleverness and showing new ways of seeing the world.
Example
A perfect example of a jester brand is Pepsi; these brands are often competing with established brands. A great marketing method Pepsi uses is poking fun at the established brand smugness of Coca-Cola.
These three archetypes seek a stable environment and want to preserve order.
The carer
They are the "love your neighbour as yourself type of people; they aim to protect people and help others.
Core Desire: Protect people from harm.
GOAL: Help others
FEAR: selffishness
Strategy: do things for others.
GIFT: compassion
The consumer
The best way to market to the carer consumer is not by telling them you care but by showing them you care. The carers often take care of others, but often they are not taken care of or supported, so the product that can support them, care for themselves, or meet their obligations succeeds within the carer.
Example
The Zoming painkiller ad showed a woman in bed with her little son by her side, looking sad and bored. The woman takes the painkiller not to ease her pain but to bring joy to her child and not neglect her son.
The creator
They aim to turn a vision into reality and create something that adds value to someone's life. They have a gift for creativity and imagination.
Core Desire: Create something of great value.
Goal: give form to a vision
Fear: having mediocre vision or execution
Strategy: develop artistic control and skill
GIFT: creativity
The consumer
When marketing to the creative consumer, it's important to think outside the box. The creator wants a sense of focus and control.
Example
Post-its are a great representation of a creator brand because they allow the people using them to capture ideas. And the ad for Post-it notes says, "Think of it as Post-it notes on steroids."
The ruler
The ruler believes that power is everything to them; they desire control and aim to create a successful family, company, or community. They are great at leadership.
Core Desire: Control
GOAL: Create a prosperous and successful
Fear of being overthrown
Strategy: exert leadership
GIFT: leadership
The consumer
The ruler is in charge and in control, typical of juggling multiple responsibilities, which helps them manage in an expedient way and also reaffirms the customer's power and status. Consumers want to be rulers; they like control, and they don’t like being told what to do.
Example
Ruler ads usually focus less on status than control and the ability to meet one's responsibilities. Microsoft is a great example, as it emphasises setting industry standards. A great ad for Microsoft allows for technology to work during your surgery, giving the consumer the choice of whether they will work or take more surgeries. The ad shows a man relaxing, in control, and enjoying his life.
Thanks for reading!
Kami x
