Brand Archetypes — An introduction
HOW DEEP DOES PERSONAL BRANDING GO?
When you hear about Personal Branding, you might think of pretty colors and fonts.
But Branding is so much more, especially when it comes to Personal Branding, the one which has evolved more and more with the rise of influencers and solopreneurs in today’s digital age.
The official definition of Personal Branding is
“A personal brand is a widely recognised and largely-uniform perception or impression of an individual based on their experience, expertise, competencies, actions and/or achievements within a community, industry, or the marketplace at large.” (Source 1)
What should Personal Branding represent?
Personal Branding should represent your
1.Vibe:
What kind of energy do you want to convey? How do you want people to feel when they interact with your brand?
2. Uniqueness:
What makes you different from others?
3. Mission:
What is the impact you want to make with your service or product? What is your message to the world?
4. Personality:
Who is the person behind the brand? Who are you?
5. Look and Feel:
Who is your ideal client? Which consistent feeling do you transmit to them?
Let us go even deeper: There is this concept of archetypes which is rooted deep in our psyche, discovered by psychologist Carl Gustav Jung. What really makes us different from others lies in our subconscious mind and the collective Archetype.
Archetypes are “A pattern of ideas and way of thinking that is consistent across time, generations and cultures.”
Brand Archetypes
- The Innocent
- Everyman
- Hero
- Outlaw
- Explorer
- Creator
- Ruler
- Magician
- Lover
- Caregiver
- Jester
- Sage
The Innocent
As an “Innocent”, you enjoy the good and simple things in life and radiate happiness and optimism to infect others with. The Innocent desires a better world in peace and harmony and wants to help other people.
The downside of “The Innocent” is that he fears to be punished for making mistakes and a tendency to being naive.
An example brand of the Innocent is Coca-Cola.
The Everyman
Connection and Belonging are the desires of “The Everyman” and his biggest fear is not being part of or wanted by others.
His strengths are empathy, being supportive and authentic as well as blending in with others.
IKEA is an example for an “Everyman” Brand.
The Hero
The Hero is very ambitious and his goal is to master and show his skills but also to do things for others. He is courageous and inspirational and his relentless quest for mastery helps him to make a difference in this world.
His challenge is that he can come across as arrogant.
Example brand: BMW
The Rebel
The Rebel questions the status quo and breaks rules in order to evoke change authority.
He is challenging society's taboos by looking into the dark psyche of humans and needs to be careful to stay legal.
Example brand: Harley-Davidson
The Explorer
The Explorer enjoys travel, risk, adventure, freedom, and new experiences. He is always looking to grow, self-realize, and find purpose in their life. Explorers want to fully express themselves and feeling trapped is their worst nightmare.
Aimless wandering around without being able to commit to something is the danger of their personality.
Example brand: Red Bull
The Creator
The Creator is on a quest to bring meaningful ideas and visions into reality. He is passionate about creations and innovations and is very open to out-of-the-box thinking. His strengths are problem-solving through creative thinking and limitless imagination.
The challenge he might encounter is experiencing creative blockage and perfectionism.
Example brand: Lego
The Ruler
The Ruler likes to be a leader and role model for others. He follows rules strictly as he strives for control and security.
Rulers feel accomplished if they built a successful community or prosperous family. Their strengths are responsibility and the ability to organize.
In order to achieve his goal, the ruler uses power and influence. He gets shaken by chaos and uncertainty.
Their shadow side is that they are unable to delegate tasks and come across as authoritarian.
Example brand: Mercedes
The Magicians
The Magician's talent is to be great at facilitating change and make the impossible possible and the basic, extraordinary. The strength of a Magician is to turn problems into opportunities; to make visions a reality motivating people and teams and developing solutions that are good for everyone involved in a situation.
Their fear is to cause unwanted negative consequences and the danger is to become manipulative
Example brand: Disney
The Lover
The Lover likes passion and commitment.
The strength of the lover is to be able to be attractive and have relationships but the danger is to be a people pleaser stemming from the fear of being unwanted.
Example brand: Chanel
The Caregiver
The caregiver protects others in a compassionate and nurturing way.
Their fear is instability and neglection and they carry the potential danger of being exploited for their selflessness.
Example brand: UNICEF
The Jester or Entertainer:
The Entertainer brings joy to the world through play and humor.
His biggest fear is being bored which results in his struggle of focusing on a task. Example brands include: M&Ms
The Sage
The Sage is always in search of the truth and wants to help the world gain deeper insight and wisdom which makes them a thoughtful advisor.
They might appear ignorant or could struggle to implement all the knowledge they are constantly consuming.
Example brand: Google
Which Archetype are you?
In order to find that out, you can start by taking a test online, e.g. at http://brandpersonalityquiz.com/ but the real magic begins being asked powerful questions by a coach.
As you can see, Personal Branding goes so much deeper than aesthetics. In the end, you are unique and nobody is like you, so take your time in finding out who you really are.
If you want to know more about Branding come to our free “Ask me Anything” Event on January 12/13th 2021. Sign up for free here: https://remoteworkmentors.com/ask-me-anything/
We will talk about how to get started with Remote Work and an Online Business covering Mindset, Community Building, Marketing & Sales, Tools and Systems, and of course Branding.
We cant wait to see you there!
