As talked about in my first blog post, having a distinct identity is essential to online success. It raises your visibility and allows you to connect with your customers on a more personal emotional level. So discovering what your brand archetypes are, is central to positioning your company and products in a unique way. There are 12 of them, and we have already discussed The Innocent and The Regular Guy/Gal, and The Hero and the Outlaw/Rebel, so in those post, we will discuss two more; The Explorer and The Creator.
Brand Archetype: The Explorer
The Explorer archetype’s main goal is to find fulfillment through discovery and experiences. The main traits are; Restless, adventurous, ambitious, individualistic, independent and pioneering.
The Explorer customer like brands that promote freedom and self-discovery and usually aren’t influenced by domestic and anything to do with the “norm” type advertising.
Explorer brands have ads that show a means to experience the new and then unknown and their brands will be there right there with you.
Companies that Use this Brand Archetype
Have some brands in mind that cater to The Explorer Archetype? Well, for me, the standouts are North Face and Go Pro.
North Face doesn’t really show off their products that much in the sense they are blatantly advertising their goods. Their ads promote the spirit of exploration. One of my favorite North Face ads has to be the Your Land advertisement with the “This Land is Your Land” song. The imagery is fantastic with different beautiful environments and people experiencing those environments. All the people in the ad are wearing or using North Face products, but they aren’t blatantly advertising them. They are more urging everyone to Head Outside. Another ad is Never Stop…..with the message that exploration is finding the thing we love and relentlessly pursuing it. Again, beautiful imagery, people experiencing amazing things with North Face products, but again, not blatantly advertising their goods.
Go Pro, the company that brought video recording for extreme action into the mainstream. Just like with North Face, their advertising is filled with beautiful and exciting imagery. Go Pro successfully captures what it would be like to experience these extreme activities, but with no blatant advertising. It’s the spirit of what you can do that really captures the consumers attention.
If your products are intended to help consumers experience the unknown or pioneering, keep these brands in mind when creating your marketing materials.
Brand Archetype: The Creator
The Creator archetype’s goal is to create something with meaning and enduring value. They are creative, imaginative, artistic, inventive, entrepreneurs and non-conformists. At their worst they are self-indulgent and impractical.
The Creator customer is usually pretty hard to market to. Because they always feel that they can do better..but generally they enjoy experimental & boundary-pushing ads and successful creator brands develop devout fan bases.
Companies that Use this Brand Archetype
The Creator brands promise authenticity and position themselves as the keys to unlocking your creativity. Have some brands in mind? I do… Lego and Crayola…
Lego ads can be inspiring. One of their ads from 2014 was about girl empowerment with the tag #KeepBuilding and with the message to inspire her to use her imagination and watch her #KeepBuilding amazing creations with Lego bricks, because you taught her how to think and dream. It’s a beautiful ad and touches on parents wants and dreams for their children to grow, learn, be independent and to create things that will make their parents proud.
Crayola manufacturers products that appeal to every age level. From very young children, to teens to adults and they create advertising that appeals to every age group. The Crayola brand slogan has changed several times over the years, with slogans like; “Everything Imaginable”, “The Art of Childhood”, “Unmistakably-Crayola”, “Crayola-Make Play” and “The Power of Creativity – Crayola – It Starts Here”. Crayola’s brand essence is that they can help unleash the creativity & originality in any child & they create products that will help kids free their “What If” questions. Crayola says that creatively-alive kids blossom and grow to become inspired, original adults who, in turn, have the ability to inspire the world. This is a perfect brand for the “The Creator” archetype, as it speaks to everything that they are.
Even though Lego and Crayola are more considered “Kids Brands”, their ads, slogans and taglines are still the epitome of what appeals to the creative crowds and you should keep these brands in mind for marketing if your products or brand falls under this archetype.
Up next….The Ruler and The Magician! CLICK HERE!