MENU
  • Blog, Creative, Digital, Marketing

  • By Vicky Holland

    The Power of Archetypes

    March 05, 2014 | About a 2 min read

    Blog, Creative, Digital, Marketing

    The Power of Archetypes

    By Vicky Holland
    March 05, 2014
    About a 2 MIN read

    PF_Blog_Power-604x270

    Archetypes. What the heck are they? In our opinion, they are team-unifying, sales-generating branding essentials. In fact, successful companies have been using them for years.

    By using archetypes, brands can tap into key emotional needs that are part of “collective unconscious” (you can thank psychiatrist Carl Jung for this heady description). In short, there are 12 archetypes that are consistently identifiable in every character throughout the history of storytelling.

    BlogAssets_ArchetypeMap

    Brands that successfully mine their archetype and allow it to come through everywhere, typically do best. Those that jump around the archetype spectrum do worse. Here are some examples.

    The Ultimate Caregiver

    Campbell’s Soup repeatedly tells the story of the Caregiver. Their goal is to protect and care for others. All of their communications appeal to this sentiment, demonstrated perfectly by this classic TV spot.

    The Hero In Us All

    Nike has successfully mined the Hero archetype and instinctively taps into something relevant in all of us. Even their name Nike – the Greek Goddess of victory – ties directly back back to the Hero archetype.

    just-do-it-hed-2013

    The Patchwork Archetype

    Levi’s – is a good example of a brand that had tried being multiple archetypes all at once. They’ve ventured from Outlaw to Hero, from Explorer to Jester – and their market share declined accordingly. They have now returned to their Explorer roots and have once again regained their footing. Their net income soared 17% one year into their unified Global “Go Forth” campaign, and has increased every year thereafter.

    levis_country

    Finding Your Archetype

    So, how do you determine your brand’s archetype? That’s not a simple answer; however, a few places to start are:

    • What was the motivation of the founder?
    • How you perceive yourself?
    • How would you like to be perceived?

    For us, we like to start by understanding how customers perceive your brand. While the internal viewpoint is important, the external one is critical. That’s where we started when we began to explore our own archetype, and any clients we’ve taken through this process.

    So, what’s the moral of all this? For lasting happiness, be monogamous to your archetype.

    Vicky Holland

    As an energetic industry veteran and Chief Growth Officer of Pathfinders, Vicky Holland comes in each day fueled with equal parts enthusiasm and caffeine. Her genuine love for marketing galvanizes the entire staff and keeps bold, eye-opening strategic direction brewing. After almost forty years in the biz, work has never once become a daily grind to her. She’s fearless and fiercely determined to provide solid results in her strategic planning, brand positioning, and new-business goals.

    Subscribe to

    Pathfinders Blog

    • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

    You might also like

    View all posts