How AI and Carl Jung can improve your brand story

9 min readJun 26, 2023

Introduction

Unraveling the wizardry behind masterful branding? Here’s the secret sauce: Jungian archetypes.

Pioneered by Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung, these archetypes embody universal patterns and personas that resonate with human motivations, behaviors, and emotions. We’re talking about the collective psyche of mankind here. When you weave these archetypes into the fabric of your brand, you create a symbolic mirror that reflects your brand’s mission, virtues, strengths, and trials. This approach communicates your brand’s story in a way that tickles your customers’ subconscious desires and ambitions.

This piece will guide you through the labyrinth of the 12 Jungian archetypes and illustrate how to harness their power for your brand strategy. We’ll also throw a spotlight on real-world brands that use these archetypes to masterful effect. To cap it all, we’ll put the brand of a financial titan, Fidelity Investments under our archetypal microscope, to bring to life how a leading brand lives by its archetypes. And we won’t stop there; we’ll serve up some suggestions on how this financial behemoth could revamp its home pages to create a stronger harmony with its most dominant archetype.

The 12 Jungian Archetypes

The 12 Jungian archetypes are:

The Innocent: A beacon of optimism, purity, and honesty. The Innocent yearns for happiness and simplicity, afraid of wrongdoing or punishment. Often associated with childhood, nature, and — you guessed it — innocence.
The Explorer: The embodiment of adventure, curiosity, and independence. The Explorer seeks freedom and fresh experiences, with a fear of confinement or monotony. This archetype is a synonym for discovery, exploration, and travel.
The Sage: Wise, knowledgeable, analytical — that’s The Sage. They yearn for truth and comprehension, dreading deceit or ignorance. Often linked with education, research, and philosophy.
The Hero: The paragon of courage, strength, and confidence. The Hero battles challenges to prove their mettle, fearing weakness or vulnerability. Their hallmarks? Sports, military, and action.
The Outlaw: Meet the rebel, the radical, the disruptor. The Outlaw yearns to shatter the status quo and challenge authority, fearing powerlessness or insignificance. Revolution, innovation, activism — these are their banners.
The Magician: Creative, visionary, transformative. The Magician aspires to conjure extraordinary things and make the impossible happen, fearing mediocrity or ineffectiveness. They are the touchstone for art, technology, and magic.
The Lover: Passionate, sensual, romantic — this is The Lover. They seek intimate connections and emotional expression, fearing loneliness or rejection. Beauty, love, and sexuality are their dominions.
The Jester: Playful, humorous, and delight-loving. The Jester craves enjoyment and spreading laughter, fearing boredom or dullness. Entertainment, comedy, and games are their playground.
The Everyman: Friendly, pragmatic, and humble. The Everyman seeks belonging and connection, fearing exclusion or isolation. Community, family, and common sense are their safe havens.
The Caregiver: Nurturing, supportive, compassionate. The Caregiver’s mission is to assist others and make a difference, fearing selfishness or ingratitude. Health, service, and charity are their calling.
The Ruler: Authoritative, responsible, influential. The Ruler seeks control and organization, fearing chaos or rebellion. They rule the realms of leadership, business, and politics.
The Creator: Innovative, original, expressive. The Creator seeks to solve problems and create value, fearing a lack of originality or mediocrity. They flourish in the fields of design, invention, and creativity.

How to Use Jungian Archetypes for Brand Strategy

To tap into the power of Jungian archetypes for your brand strategy, start by identifying the archetype that captures your brand’s spirit, values, and mission.

Probing questions like the following can guide your discovery:

What’s the heart and soul of your brand?
What are the prime benefits that your brand delivers to your customers?
What emotional cravings does your brand satisfy for your customers?
How should your customers feel when they interact with your brand?
What words paint a picture of your brand’s voice and style?
What symbols, colors, and images are ambassadors for your brand?

Once you’ve pinned down your brand archetype, it becomes your compass to navigate your brand strategy and communication. It shapes your brand vision, mission, values, name, logo, slogan, identity, visual elements, voice, tone, story, messaging, channels, platforms, alignment with your audience, differentiation from competitors — the whole shebang.

Consistent and authentic usage of your archetype can forge a powerful and memorable brand identity that forms deep connections with your customers.

Examples of Brands that Use Jungian Archetypes

Here are some high-profile brands nailing the art of Jungian archetypes:

The Innocent: Coca-Cola, Dove, Whole Foods
The Explorer: The North Face, Jeep, Airbnb
The Sage: Google, Harvard, BBC
The Hero: Nike, FedEx, Marvel
The Outlaw: Harley-Davidson, Apple, Virgin
The Magician: Disney, Tesla, Netflix
The Lover: Victoria’s Secret, Chanel, Godiva
The Jester: M&M’s, Old Spice, Geico
The Everyman: IKEA, Levi’s, Target
The Caregiver: Johnson & Johnson, UNICEF, Campbell’s
The Ruler: Mercedes-Benz, Rolex, American Express
The Creator: Lego, Adobe, Canon

To illustrate how Jungian archetypes can be used to analyze and build brands, we will conduct a review of the financial services brand, Fidelity Investments. We will rank Fidelity against the 12 archetypes based on their brand personas and use a scoring criteria of 1 to 10 (1 being the lowest and 10 being the highest). We will also suggest how each of these brands could improve their home pages to better align with their most dominant archetype.

Fidelity Investments

Fidelity Investments is a multinational financial services company that offers a wide range of products and services, including retirement plans, investing, brokerage, wealth management, financial planning and advice, and online trading.

Based on our analysis of their website, social media and advertisements, we think that Fidelity Investments has a combination of three archetypes: The Sage, The Caregiver and The Ruler.

Introduction Unraveling the wizardry behind masterful branding? Here’s the secret sauce: Jungian archetypes.

This piece will guide you through the labyrinth of the 12 Jungian archetypes and illustrate how to harness their power for your brand strategy. We’ll also throw a spotlight on real-world brands that use these archetypes to masterful effect. To cap it all, we’ll put the brands of four financial titans: Fidelity Investments, Vanguard, Schwab, and Blackrock, under our archetypal microscope, comparing them against the 12 archetypes based on their brand personalities. And we won’t stop there; we’ll serve up some suggestions on how these financial behemoths could revamp their home pages to create a stronger harmony with their most dominant archetype.

Decoding the 12 Jungian Archetypes Here are your 12 Jungian archetypes:

The Innocent: A beacon of optimism, purity, and honesty. The Innocent yearns for happiness and simplicity, afraid of wrongdoing or punishment. Often associated with childhood, nature, and — you guessed it — innocence.
The Explorer: The embodiment of adventure, curiosity, and independence. The Explorer seeks freedom and fresh experiences, with a fear of confinement or monotony. This archetype is a synonym for discovery, exploration, and travel.
The Sage: Wise, knowledgeable, analytical — that’s The Sage. They yearn for truth and comprehension, dreading deceit or ignorance. Often linked with education, research, and philosophy.
The Hero: The paragon of courage, strength, and confidence. The Hero battles challenges to prove their mettle, fearing weakness or vulnerability. Their hallmarks? Sports, military, and action.
The Outlaw: Meet the rebel, the radical, the disruptor. The Outlaw yearns to shatter the status quo and challenge authority, fearing powerlessness or insignificance. Revolution, innovation, activism — these are their banners.
The Magician: Creative, visionary, transformative. The Magician aspires to conjure extraordinary things and make the impossible happen, fearing mediocrity or ineffectiveness. They are the touchstone for art, technology, and magic.
The Lover: Passionate, sensual, romantic — this is The Lover. They seek intimate connections and emotional expression, fearing loneliness or rejection. Beauty, love, and sexuality are their dominions.
The Jester: Playful, humorous, and delight-loving. The Jester craves enjoyment and spreading laughter, fearing boredom or dullness. Entertainment, comedy, and games are their playground.
The Everyman: Friendly, pragmatic, and humble. The Everyman seeks belonging and connection, fearing exclusion or isolation. Community, family, and common sense are their safe havens.
The Caregiver: Nurturing, supportive, compassionate. The Caregiver’s mission is to assist others and make a difference, fearing selfishness or ingratitude. Health, service, and charity are their calling.
The Ruler: Authoritative, responsible, influential. The Ruler seeks control and organization, fearing chaos or rebellion. They rule the realms of leadership, business, and politics.
The Creator: Innovative, original, expressive. The Creator seeks to solve problems and create value, fearing a lack of originality or mediocrity. They flourish in the fields of design, invention, and creativity.

Applying Jungian Archetypes to Brand Strategy To tap into the power of Jungian archetypes for your brand strategy, start by identifying the archetype that captures your brand’s spirit, values, and mission.

Probing questions like the following can guide your discovery:

What’s the heart and soul of your brand?
What are the prime benefits that your brand delivers to your customers?
What emotional cravings does your brand satisfy for your customers?
How should your customers feel when they interact with your brand?
What words paint a picture of your brand’s voice and style?
What symbols, colors, and images are ambassadors for your brand?

Consistent and authentic usage of your archetype can forge a powerful and memorable brand identity that forms deep connections with your customers.

Famous Brands Playing Their Archetypal Roles Here are some high-profile brands nailing the art of Jungian archetypes:

The Innocent: Coca-Cola, Dove, Whole Foods
The Explorer: The North Face, Jeep, Airbnb
The Sage: Google, Harvard, BBC
The Hero: Nike, FedEx, Marvel
The Outlaw: Harley-Davidson, Apple, Virgin
The Magician: Disney, Tesla, Netflix
The Lover: Victoria’s Secret, Chanel, Godiva
The Jester: M&M’s, Old Spice, Geico
The Everyman: IKEA, Levi’s, Target
The Caregiver: Johnson & Johnson, UNICEF, Campbell’s
The Ruler: Mercedes-Benz, Rolex, American Express
The Creator: Lego, Adobe, Canon

To demonstrate how you can leverage Jungian archetypes to dissect and compare brands, we’ll scrutinize the financial services brand, Fidelity Investments. We’ll assess them against the 12 archetypes based on their brand personas using a 1 to 10 score (1 signifying the lowest and 10, the highest). Then, we’ll serve up recommendations on how they could tune up their home pages to strike a stronger chord with their primary archetype.

Fidelity Investments is a global financial services titan, boasting a diverse portfolio of products and services — from retirement plans and investment to brokerage, wealth management, financial planning, advice, and online trading.

We’ve analyzed their website, social media, and ads, and we reckon that Fidelity Investments is a cocktail of three archetypes: The Sage, The Caregiver, and The Ruler.

The Sage surfaces in their stress on research, education, and expertise. They arm their customers with insightful market intelligence, analysis, and guidance to make informed decisions. Plus, they offer an array of learning resources and tools to elevate their customers’ financial literacy and skills.

The Caregiver shines through their customer service, support, and trust. They craft personalized advice and solutions to help their customers reach their financial goals. And their social responsibility and community initiatives underscore their commitment to making a difference.

The Ruler is echoed in their reputation for excellence, performance, and leadership. They’re a big shot in the world of financial services, commanding potent brand recognition and loyalty among their customers. Plus, they proudly flaunt their achievements and awards on their website. Here is how we rank Fidelity Investments against the 12 archetypes based on our scoring criteria:

The Innocent 2

The Explorer 3

The Sage 9

The Hero 5

The Outlaw 2

The Magician 4

The Lover 3

The Jester 2

The Everyman 6

The Caregiver 8

The Ruler 8

The Creator 4

From our assessment, we suggest that Fidelity Investments double down on their Sage archetype. To do so, they could revamp their homepage by:

Showcasing testimonials or reviews from content customers who’ve profited from their research and advice.
Amplifying their learning resources and tools that empower customers to enhance their financial knowledge and skills.
Spotlighting their market insights and analysis that guide customers in making informed decisions.
Sprinkling in more words and phrases that evoke wisdom, expertise, and credibility.

So where does AI come in?

Well, this entire article was written by Chat GPT. The analysis and recommendations come from AI. You can do this same analysis for your brand by downloading Explorer Edge, and typing into the chat box:

“Using Jung theory and [link to your site or content] conduct a review of the brand persona and rank it against the 12 archetypes, review using a scoring criteria of 1–10 1 being the lowest. The results should be presented in a table format.”

You can then add on instructions to evaluate specific sections of your site or advertising and ask for recommendations on how to better align your branding with your archetype.

Is it perfect? No, but it’s surprisingly good. Give it a go.

Thanks to The Future Collective for recommending this approach.