Emotions + Branding

I’ve been thinking a lot about the power of emotion, lately.

Between the political climate and the upcoming holidays, emotions are getting stirred up. And it’s only human for us to want more of those that feel “good” and to avoid the ones that feel “bad". I’m learning to get more comfortable with my shadow emotions that feel negative, because pushing them out of sight doesn’t really solve anything. But when I stop and think about what they’re telling me I can own them and deal with whatever issue they raise. Sometimes they can even transform into a positive lesson.

Emotions play a massive role in branding. A brand’s effectiveness and authenticity is tested in the shadows, and the way they issues are addressed is often tested publicly. A solid brand strategy should bring up both positive and potentially negative market perceptions, with honest dialog about the most authentic way to manage issues. I find working with archetypes to be a great entry point to these discussions. Emotions are key to articulating the character makeup of the brand and target audience.

I find both clients and colleagues are really uncomfortable identifying and talking about the shadow aspects of identity. And its tempting to focus only on the aesthetic aspect of brand identity — to make it pretty and just get it checked off the to-do list. It’s common to see admitting challenges as admitting weakness. I think it’s a sign of strength and wisdom to fully know yourself, so that when the inevitable crisis hits your solutions come from a place of humility and authentic values. There’s nothing like corporate speak and spin to damage a brand reputation. We can all smell it a mile away.

Personal Archetypes

Although we use archetypes in branding, marketing and storytelling, Carl Jung originally studied them as tools of psychology. Their real power lies in how they influence and reflect the full human experience, not just our shopping profiles. If you consider your own habits, identity traits and ambitions against the universal human archetypes you can see the bigger picture of how you navigate the world.

This is more about personal development than it is personal branding, which has been a pretty trendy topic. We run into characters throughout our lives and we react or respond to them from the lens of the characters we have chosen to identify ourselves with. We all do it, and some of them are obvious: devoted wife/husband, singleton, nurturing mother/father, obedient or rebellious child, competitive athlete, gardener, artist, cook/chef, gambler, mentor, and ambitious entrepreneur to name a few. Then there are the less flattering ones like bully, dictator, victim, servant, people pleaser, and vampire. We all have some of these, and they show up in our relationships at home, at work, with friends and especially on social media. These characters can define and run our lives if they remain in our unconscious. And for a lot of people they do.

My life shifted when I started to really look at the story I had written for myself, and the roles I had embraced, both positive and negative. When I was totally honest with myself, I realized that some of my story had run its course, and I didn’t really want to continue some of those roles. The story was ok, but it wasn’t going anywhere satisfying. And life really is short, so what’s the point of settling for a storyline that doesn’t interest you? Playing roles you don’t enjoy? Why NOT be authentic? Once I waded through that mental muck, I learned the best part: we always have choices and the ability to write a twist into your story.

If you pay attention to your archetypes you realize that they evolve over time. You can choose to retire some of them, either because outgrow your need for them (obedient son, apprentice) or they no longer serve you and you want something more (victim, bully). You can thank these identities, be honest about how they served you and then bid them goodbye. They may pop up for a visit from time to time, but they no longer have the power to define you.

Who are you showing the world? showing yourself? or your family and friends?

And who do you want to be?

Archetypes 201

Leveraging archetypes is a common component in brand strategy and identity development. The 101-level focus is usually on articulating the personality that differentiates the brand in the market. But its also very important to identify the archetype mix of the ideal customer — and its not always a mirror of the brand identity.

Brands essentially have relationships with their customers or audience. And like any other relationship, to be satisfying both parties need to get to know and care about the other party.

So, after articulating the archetype mix of the brand itself, its only logical to identify the archetypal mix of the ideal audience as well. Sometimes, we even start with articulating the audience’s archetype mix first and auditing the existing brand against that.

The days of a product successfully marketing to “everyone” are long gone. - we are now a bunch of demographic islands with overlapping preferences. We don’t buy things anymore based solely on the features they offer and the price. We want more from our purchases, be it goods, services or experiences. Behavioral economics have made it clear that humans make most decisions from an emotional standpoint, even if we think we’re being logical. What we purchase say something about us, and we are increasingly aware of that. Brand identity isn’t just about the company behind the product — it’s increasingly about how the brand makes the purchaser feel about themselves.

Having an accurate and authentic read on a product’s key audience is critical for the bottom line. Building a long-term, trust-based relationship with customers takes ongoing efforts by the brand team, including refining and correcting as dynamics change.

The Sage

Another one of Carl Jung’s primary archetypes is the Sage: the wise pursuer of truth and knowledge.

In myths and stories, the Sage acts as a wise guide for the hero as they travel on their path. They share their insights to better the world. In many fairytales it is common for the Sage to overlap with the Magician possessing magical powers, like a Fairy Godmother or Dumbledore in Harry Potter. Valuable advisors and teachers, they ultimately can’t protect the hero from his/her challenges ahead.

Some common things associated with the Sage are wisdom, intelligence, understanding, life-long learning, balanced judgement, mental clarity, coaching, and strategy.

The shadow aspect is centered around false information — the Sage’s greatest fear is that their efforts are based on untruths and are therefore invalid.

Many of my clients have gravitated to this profile, especially those in the corporate world. The Sage is a very cerebral profile, and it often appeals to people who embrace logic as core to their own identities. It’s not uncommon for those from financial, manufacturing or engineering industries to have a hard time connecting with some of the emotional aspects of archetypes. The Sage can seem like a safe harbor for them during a workshop. But the secret sauce of archetypes lies in the feelings they elicit.

So this is one profile I really try to refine by exploring adjacent character variations like the Detective, Mentor, Researcher, Counselor, Advisor, Shaman, and Translator. True differentiation relies on articulating nuances that authentically resonate emotionally beyond “intelligence.”

The Jester

In honor of April Fool’s Day, let’s explore the Jester archetype!

One of Carl Jung’s universal 12 archetypes, the Jester is used in branding as a master category. Categories help teams focus on general profiles to quickly eliminate those that don’t resonate. With a mix of two or three categories, there’s an art to refining them a unique identity.

Common adjectives associated with the Jester imply humor: funny, sarcastic, silly, sly. But there’s more to the jester than jokes.

In medieval royal courts, the jester was both an entertainer and valued advisor to the ruler. Royalty was surrounded by social climbers and politicians with hidden agendas — loyalty could be deceiving. Jesters enjoyed the rare privilege of speaking the truth to the king or queen, masked as humor. Posing as a fool meant their commentary could be dismissed and ridiculed. Choosing the best words to disguise their messages required skill, wisdom and judgement. It was a dangerous role. Saying the wrong thing at the wrong time to the king could result in banishment or even death.

Tricksters are a variation that found in countless myths around the world, including China, Japan, Mexico, Brazil, Africa and North America. They often appear to provide a lesson to the hero. They exhibit high intelligence and often are keepers of secret knowledge. They can play a powerful shadow role, playing tricks on others and defying rules.

Other variations include the clown, comedian, fool, joker, provocateur, fool and shapeshifter.

Today, stand-up comics are our most common jesters. In addition to making us laugh, they can make us think by pointing out underlying truths that make us uncomfortable. Comedians are also a great example of how individuality beyond archetypal stereotypes is critical. Dave Chappelle, Amy Schumer and Trevor Noah’s brands all fall under the Jester/Comic. But their material and audiences are very different. Offending an audience these days can lead to career suicide or banishment, in some ways echoing the experience of a court jester.

If a variation of the jester is part of a project you’re working with, tread lightly. Like a comic, its very important to understand your audience well — and to hit the right note and not offending them. Using humor well for a brand or campaign takes a pro.

#archetypes #branding #jester #30daychallenge #brandstrategy

Archetypes 101

I first became fascinated by archetypes when a spiritual friend of mine introduced me to Bill Moyers’ The Power of Myth, over 20 years ago. At the time, we were both intrigued by the idea that these universal characters could have major impacts on our life paths, and how exploring their lessons could help us navigate the world at a deeper level. I became hooked on Carl Jung’s work and Bill Moyers’ PBS series.

Another thing that stuck with me was how blockbuster books and films harnessed storylines and character profiles from ancient myths. The most famous and convincing example at the time was George Lucas’ work on Star Wars. Fast forward a few years and the concept of leveraging storytelling in advertising and marketing had become mainstream.

As a corporate communication and design consultant, I helped HR clients educate employees on complex health care and retirement plans. Not exactly an exciting topic area, we used storytelling to strategically reach people. And every story relies on characters.

Part of my job as a creative director was facilitating workshops to define the face, or look and feel, of campaigns. We had a set of exercises that worked well to define aesthetic preferences, but I wanted to do more than create visually appealing media. I wanted to attract the audience’s attention and help them make good choices that would benefit them long. Since employment is essentially a relationship between the employee and the company, I turned to Archetypes to create personalities that would resonate.

Incorporating the 12 core archetypes defined by Mark and Pearson in their seminal brand psychology book The Hero and the Outlaw, I built my own workshop exercises. My goal was to identify one core and two supporting archetypes to use as a starting point to reflect each organization’s unique culture. Surprisingly, my new exercises resonated with clients right away.

A team of senior leaders in a manufacturing company told me my session was the best meeting they had ever attended. One client at a university was studying psychology and reminded me not to forget about the Shadow side of archetypes. Colleagues started asking for slide deck and embraced the whole concept. I loved how interested clients were to learn more and how willing they were to collaborate.

Over multiple sessions I started to see patterns of common combinations across clients. Inspired by Margaret Hartwell’s Archetypes in Branding Toolkit for Creatives and Strategists, I expanded my understanding beyond the core 12 Archetypes into 60 variations. When I was limited by project scope and time constraints on corporate projects, I experimented with one-on-one sessions for friends who wanted to articulate their own personal brands. That led me to develop more exercises to build brand voices and value propositions.

Somewhere along the line, an interesting shift happened: I stopped thinking about how much I could get from these sessions and started thinking about how to give my clients more. More profiles + more insights + more ah-ha moments = more fun.

That’s when I felt successful.

Branding 101

I love facilitating branding workshops. All aspects of it spark joy for me — from developing the presentation and customizing the exercises, to leading the session with clients, to drafting the summary and creative brief. It gets me in the flow. Plus, there’s nothing like watching a skeptic when their eyes light up as they realize something they thought of as fluff is actually smart strategy .

When I’m working with a new client, or a team that isn’t composed of creative professionals, I like to position the session as Branding 101. Focusing everyone at the start, I open by level setting using the term “branding.” It may sound basic, but experience has taught me that many people misunderstand what a brand really is. They may assume its a logo, or the tagline, or the name itself. If everyone isn’t on the same page things can fall flat really fast.

After a visual exercise I share AIGA’s succinct definition, then expand it a bit:

BRAND: a person’s perception of a product,
service, experience or organization

BRANDING: the conscious crafting and nurturing
of that perception

The reality is every organization, product, experience and location has a brand — even if they’re unaware of it. Neglecting it or letting the public define a brand leads to disjointed, confused and even conflicting perceptions in the market. And that’s never profitable.

Thoughtfully developing the narrative and managing the evolution of that brand may be overwhelming, but its critical to authentically connect with your target audience and build trusting relationships. Relationships bring revenue. Articulating a brand is no longer nice to have — It’s needed to play.

Brand building is relationship building, and relationships have never been more important than they are today. Trying to appeal or sell to everyone isn’t viable anymore. A steady stream of options for pretty much everything from products to events to jobs scroll past us with lightening speed. In our over-saturated, over-stimulated, global marketplace it’s easy for a brand to get lost or forgotten. A differentiated, clear and consistent narrative is needed to thrive.

And helping clients thrive is really fun.

What is the problem we’re trying to solve?

I believe success lies in knowing the right questions to ask from the start.

As a corporate consultant, I developed strong listening skills that are critical to working collaboratively with clients and internal project teams. Ironically, effective listening starts with asking effective questions — the kind that lead to clearly uncovering the real problem itself.

For example when it comes to design projects, plenty of clients think the creative problem they need help with is just a lack of appealing visuals. Jumping into tactics and sketches may meet their expectations, but there’s usually something underlying that need — maybe a sales or engagement issue. Or my favorite: a client is sure they just need to refresh their brand identity to reach their audience, when they really need to first identify their “why” and build from there.

Discussion brings the biggest problems to light pretty quickly. And successful creative requires a solid foundation — clear rails, objectives and a defined purpose are essential. Without them, you risk spinning your creative wheels and throwing ideas at the wall hoping they stick.

I’ve annoyed plenty of my overworked, deadline-driven colleagues by asking my favorite question: What is the problem we’re trying to solve? The conversation that follows usually leads to thoughtful insights, better scopes and clearer creative briefs. When brainstorming starts going off the rails, or concepts just aren’t hitting the mark I step back and ask the same question again. That really annoys people, but it tends to make it easier to identify which ideas are nearing the mark and which to give up on. It also tends to curb scope creep which makes pretty much everyone happy.