Want to be favorably remembered?
Ask a 3-year-old to draw a dog biscuit and he or she will sketch a Milk-Bone. Where does that come from? Etched deeply in our memories are stories from our ancestors and both realized and unfulfilled childhood dreams. Successful branding is accomplished by incorporating these unconscious but deepest memories and longings.
The best brands strike a deep nerve or reveal a timeless truth. To create such appeal, organizations must identify the most appropriate and effective single archetype to market their brand to. Margaret Mark and Carol Pearson, authors of “The Hero and the Outlaw” say that nicknames such as “the Mac,” “Coke” and “the Bug” sometimes develop. “Customers relate to a product as if it were alive in some way.”
What might be some deep memories and longings? In medieval times, people built walls around their villages and moats around castles. We still have a deeply rooted desire for security and order. Many feel that life is more chaotic today than ever. The “ruler” archetype has a deep and profound desire for control and places a high premium on responsibility and leadership.
A ruler”™s goal is to create a prosperous and successful family, company or community and would include mothers, the IRS, Brooks Brothers, Microsoft, IBM and American Express. Do you offer products or services that would appeal to the ruler archetype buyer?
Another archetype is the “caregiver” who feels a heightened awareness for human vulnerability and is preoccupied with resolving other people”™s problems. Think of Mother Teresa and Albert Schweitzer. Caregiver brands include Campbell”™s soup, AT&T and Sesame Street.
Although AT&T”™s brand was built on the caregiver archetype, in recent ads it has shown how it can help mothers who fit the ruler personality by allowing them to take their kids to the beach and use a cell phone to keep in touch with the office, text customers and be more in charge of their time.
Customers with high ruler archetype tendencies are concerned with issues of image, status and prestige. More people want to be rulers than ever before and technology is empowering them to do so. We all crave to have no delays in lines and no concerns.
There are many archetypes including the “jester” who has existed since medieval times. When tobacco products were more widely advertised, we saw Joe Camel as the jester. Marlboro succeeded with a serious “hero” ad campaign. Pepsi has built another kind of jester brand, poking fun at Coke”™s “innocent” identity. Starbucks transformed coffee from a “caregiver” product into an “explorer.”
Remember the story of Cinderella? It”™s a great story for a “lover” brand. But if your function is similar to that of the Fairy Godmother, this same story could be used by a “magician” brand. If your brand has a “hero” or “explorer” identity, you would focus on the role of the prince.
Ronald McDonald, the Jolly Green Giant, and the Nike swoosh are just a few of the symbols that endure while most others disappear in just a few weeks. When done well, people don”™t tire of the archetypal ideas after years or even decades of being exposed to them. Other ideas are like old soldiers in the words of Douglas MacArthur, “They just fade away.”
Any businesses can be favorably remembered, avoid chaos and gain a position of standing head-and-shoulders above competitors. Although everything is changing, archetypes are eternal. Our organizations can be anchored in permanence, even as the products and services we supply to our properly categorized “archetype” customers change.
Joe Murtagh is The DreamSpeaker, an international keynote speaker, meeting facilitator and business trainer. For questions or comments, Joe@TheDreamSpeaker.com, www.TheDreamSpeaker.com or call (800) 239-0058.