I sat in on a brand identification retreat last week that was interesting. While everyone was there for the same reason, the method we used became very polarizing. Some participants felt it was highly beneficial, and others who thought it was useless.
The brand identification exercise focused on archetypal branding.
The basic premise behind archetypal branding is that your brand falls within a limited selection of archetypes. These archetypes create the foundation for your brand. They include:
The Innocent
The Regular
The Explorer
The Hero
The Outlaw
The Creator
The Ruler
The Magician
The Lover
The Caregiver
The Sage
The Jester
Don't let the titles fool you. An ad agency may believe that its brand would be best identified as a "creator"; but while a creator is creative and imaginative, it can also have a tendency to express its own vision. If I'm a client, I want the agency expressing MY vision, not its own.
Not to say a creator archetype is bad. They all have strengths and weaknesses. but if you use archetypal branding, you need to be honest and take ownership of the archetype that most suits the brand you are trying to create. If you understand your weaknesses, you can always work to improve them.
You also aren't necessarily limited to one archetype. You will generally have a dominant archetype, but can have more than one secondary archetype.
The group that I was working with developed a dominant archetype of "Magician" because the organization believes it makes things happen. It sees itself as a "transformer". However, it also had secondary archetypes of Sage and Ruler because it believed in "seeking out and understanding", while also "developing systems and procedures", respectively.
It is an interesting exercise in brand development that can also be used to develop a personal brand.
Take a look and let me know where you think you fall.
Me? I see my personal brand as a "hero" with a secondary "caregiver" and "Explorer". If anyone reading this knows me personally and would like to share their thoughts on my personal brand, I welcome the feedback.
