How to choose your Brand Archetype

So, you’re developing your brand’s personality and you want it to appeal to your target audience. A great place to start is choosing your brand archetype. If you're not familiar with brand archetypes, they're a marketing tool to help companies develop their brand identity. But do you know how to choose yours? In this article, we'll walk through what each archetype represents and how it will help guide your branding efforts. Let's get started!

Choose a Brand Archetype that speaks to your Audience

Before you can choose the right brand archetype for your company, it's important to understand what the term means. A brand archetype is a personification of your brand in its most basic form. It's an archetype: a template that can be applied across different scenarios and contexts.

You might have heard about archetypes before and how they're used in storytelling; for example, every hero has certain traits that make them heroic (e.g., courage, strength, etc). Therefore, you should think of the qualities of a hero that will resonate with your target audience and integrate those into your brand identity.

What are the 12 Brand Archetypes?

There are 12 different types of brands that can be expressed using archetypes. All 12 of these archetypes are based on basic human desires a brand can appeal to. Here’s the full list:

The Outlaw (Desire: liberation)

The Outlaw breaks the rules and shakes their fist at the establishment. This archetype is defiant and fights to create change. The Outlaw might work for your marketing if your brand is an activist for the rights of the disadvantaged and wants to help people to break free from convention. Be careful not to take it too far though, people will get tired of a rebel without a cause.

The Magician (Desire: power)

The Magician creates extraordinary things. They can make dreams come true using their powerful magic to improve your life. If your brand is an idealistic visionary looking to expand people’s world and inspire change, then the charismatic Magician may be your archetype.

The Hero (Desire: mastery)

The Hero wants to make the world a better place. They are honorable, brave and strong. These qualities are often coupled with an inspirational confidence. The Hero is typical for brand that want to tackle the big problems and inspire others to join them. But watch out because unfounded confidence is perceived as arrogance.

The Lover (Desire: intimacy)

The Lover loves love. They want to go out and bring people together, create intimacy and spread positivity. If your brand is all about fostering meaningful relationships The Lover might be for you. These brands give people the feeling of belonging and connection that we all need. If you’re a Lover, make sure your head doesn’t get stuck in a pink cloud and try to stay grounded.

The Jester (Desire: enjoyment)

The Jester just wants you to be happy. Spreading joy and amusement is their number one priority. The Jester may be a little mischievous at times but that’s nothing a good sense of humor can’t fix. Are you helping people enjoy what they’re doing? The Jester may be for you. Just make sure it’s not all laughs, even the class clown needs to be strong on content.

The Everyman (Desire: belonging)

The Everyman is just your next-door neighbor. They make you feel comfortable and like you belong. They are supportive, down to earth, and unpretentious. If your brand has the common touch with strong community values, you may be an Everyman. Be careful though, it’s easy to blend in too much when everyone is your friend.

The Caregiver (Desire: service)

The Caregiver just wants to be there for you. They are here to protect you with a generous and compassionate energy. Does your brand aim to help people take care of themselves? Or are you helping people through providing care or education? The nurturing Caregiver may be for you. Just watch out, the generous can be taken advantage of.

The Ruler (Desire: control)

The Ruler is out to control the chaos. They are a dependable and organized leader you can look up to. Does your brand help create order in chaos? Are you supporting people taking back control in their lives? Then The Ruler is your archetype. Just be careful that your authoritative mindset doesn’t make you lose the support of your people.

The Creator (Desire: innovation)

The Creator wants to outlive themselves. They want to make something that will be valued for a long time. The Creator is creative and strives for meaningful innovation. Does your brand have a strong innovative vision on how to change the world? Then you’re a Creator! Be careful not to let your perfectionism get in the way.

The Innocent (Desire: safety)

The pure and kind Innocent just wants to be happy. With their strong sense of morality, the innocent is a reliable and trustworthy partner. If your brand is a dependable companion with an optimistic mindset, you might be an Innocent. Someone with such a strong sense of right and wrong as you may be perceived as boring but not breaking the rules is your source of strength.

The Sage (Desire: understanding)

The Sage values knowledge and wisdom above all. They are smart and a trustworthy source of information. If your brand is a highly analytical mentor to your customer, you are a Sage. You help people better understand their surroundings and help them find solution to their problems. Just make sure that all that knowledge your sharing doesn’t make you seem too opinionated.

The Explorer (Desire: freedom)

The Explorer love to explore… obviously. The freedom to discover something new is what makes them happiest of all. The Explorer is exciting, authentic, and ambitious and is always up for adventure. Does your brand like to take risks to bring your customers to new vistas? Then you are an Explorer. You may not fit into the mainstream (but you don’t really seem to care).

Do you have Vision for your Brand?

Your brand is a reflection of your values, and it's important to have a vision for your brand that you can use to guide all of your decisions.

When you're picking an archetype, think about how it aligns with the personal vision you have for your business. If there's not a strong connection between what other people see as the characteristics of a given archetype and how you want to be perceived as a business, then maybe this isn't the right one for you—or maybe it just needs some tweaking.

A good way to start externalizing your vision is by asking yourself these questions: Can I explain my vision for my brand in detail? And do I know why those elements are important? Do they reflect who I am as a business in practice?

Also think about this:

Are you trying to create something new in the world, or preserve something that already exists?

The creator archetype focuses on creating new things, while the ruler archetype focuses on preserving the status quo.

As you can see, this is a major difference between these two archetypes. If you're trying to create something new in the world, go with Creator; if you want to preserve something that already exists or has existed for some time, go with Ruler.

Do you want to be seen as reliable or exciting?

You're going to want to decide if you want to be seen as fresh or staid. If your brand has a traditional feel, choose The Innocent or The Everyman archetype. These kinds of brands are seen as reliable. They're also seen as trustworthy and traditional.

If your brand is more modern or cutting-edge, then go for The Outlaw or the Explorer. This type of company is perceived as being change driven and exciting; it's something customers will want to check out themselves because they believe in what it stands for.

See if you can think of questions like these to find the difference between the archetypes you think might fit your business. Look at that main difference and determine which one described your brand best.

Still feeling stumped?

Reach out for a free creative branding session and see how Namely can help you design your winning brand!