Brand Narratives Drive Performance

There is so much focus currently on brand expression via performance and other digital mediums that I thought it might be wise to revisit some fundamentals in brand building. Regardless of the medium that is connecting the brand to the consumer, brands have to feature a consistent, foundational human motivation for consideration. Too often brands believe that just showing up in the latest medium will be enough to win consideration but this is erroneous thinking at best and at worst could have the opposite or negative effect. I offer here for your consideration, one of the best ways that I have found to identify and manage brand and category meaning and consumer motivation.

ARCHETYPES IN MARKETING

The word archetype, originated by Carl Jung, who theorized that humans have a collective unconscious that accesses "deposits of the constantly repeated experiences of humanity, a kind of readiness to reproduce over and over again the same or similar mythical ideas." Our shared memory of these repeated experiences has resulted in a resonance with concepts of character types and personalities that transcends time, place and culture. Jung called these recurring personalities archetypes, from the Greek word archetypos, meaning “first of its kind.”    

The foundational psychological premise of these characterizations is perhaps the most compelling part of Jung’s work. His theory states that all human motivations are based on a simple framework consisting of two axes: Order vs. Change and Belonging vs. Individualism.

Figure 1. The graphic above demonstrates how different archetypes adhere to Jung’s motivational framework.

ORIGIN OF THE PREMISE IN MARKETING

In the 1980s, Margaret Mark (who led research and strategy at one of the world’s largest advertising agencies, Young and Rubicam) and Carol Pearson (a prominent scholar and corporate consultant) teamed up to research how Jung’s theories played out in the rapidly developing world of branding. What they discovered was surprising. They found that not only did people personify brands by imbuing them with human-like personality characteristics, but also that brands fulfilled certain roles in the consumer’s life that were strongly reflective of the motivational framework that Carl Jung pioneered. This was groundbreaking because it provided the marketing world with an innovative and powerful approach for managing and measuring brand meaning.

Together, Mark and Pearson created the first way to measure the relative effect that properly managed brand archetypes had on marketing efforts and market valuation. Their rigorous quantitative methodology proved that, whether through conscious intent or fortunate accident, brands (including political candidates, celebrities, causes, products and companies) achieved deep and enduring differentiation and consumer relevance by consistently embodying archetypes.

In fact, as published in their seminal work, The Hero And The Outlaw, they found that brands that were strongly aligned with an archetypal characterization grew at a rate 66% greater than those that were weakly aligned or were inconsistent with their archetypal characterization. They also found that brands which were strongly and consistently aligned with an archetype outperformed their competitors in the market and generally needed to expend far less marketing investment to do so.

SUPPRESSION VS. EXPRESSION

Jung’s motivational theory is distilled into four major human drives positioned along two axes: Belonging vs. Individualism and Order vs. Change.

The points of the axis represent profound human needs and drivers and yet they pull us in opposite directions. Life requires a constant navigation of these basic human drivers which exist in all of us (regardless of origin or generation). As we seek to maintain balance, however, consistent suppression in any desired state will motivate us to seek some degree of counter-balancing expression. Consumers often turn to brands to address these needs for expression.

Figure 2. The graphic above illustrates how beloved brands channel archetypal motivation to become differentiated leaders in their categories.

BRAND POSITIONING

 The Archetypal framework also provides a physical map of the marketplace to chart the placement of your brand and competitors. Figure 2 (above) displays how two brands can use differing motivations in the same category. Both Starbucks and Dunkin, brands with nearly identical business models, clearly and consistently project their archetypal motivations, polarizing consumers in different ways and yet propelling both brands and the category to new heights. Their archetypes provide each brand with a very clear way to communicate core values to their constituents. Conversely, the framework also clearly displays the motivational themes and personalities to avoid.

 One salient point to understand (and this example displays it in action) is that there are no good or bad archetypes or positions on the wheel – choose an archetype that makes sense for your category, resonates with your audience and that reflects the value your product or service provides to that audience.

ARCHETYPAL BRAND / CONSUMER CONNECTION

Below are sets of descriptions that can help you to match an archetype with your product or brand. I'm also included a 'poster child' image of a brand communication that channels this archetype. All of the points below do not have to be true for the archetype to match well with a specific brand, however, these points should not be obviously controverted by the product either. It’s most important to remember that the consumer’s motivation to use the product or service attracts them to a particular archetype – this is why they should not be arbitrarily assigned. Once you firmly ensconced in your archetype, effective and consistent embodiment of the motivational principles of the archetype will begin to take hold in the psyche of the consumer that is most likely to be motivated by those principles.

The Innocent archetype provides a good identity basis for brands that:

• Provide a relatively simple answer to an identifiable problem
• Are associated with wholeness, nature, goodness, morality, simplicity, nostalgia or childhood
• Have functions associated with cleanliness, health or virtue — and that are infinitely replicable
• Are priced moderate to low
• Are produced by a company with straight-arrow core values
• Desire to differentiate from a product with a tarnished image (tap water, bottled tap water)

The Explorer archetype might provide a strong basis for identity for your brand if:

• Your product helps people feel free, is nonconformist or is pioneering in some way
• Your product is rugged and sturdy or is appropriate for use in nature, on the road or in dangerous setting or occupations
• Your product can be purchased from a catalogue, the internet or another alternative source
• Your product helps people express their individuality (e.g., fashion, furnishings)
• Your product can be purchased and consumed on-the-go
• You seek to differentiate your brand from a successful Everyman other more conformist brand
• Your organization has a culture that values achieving experiences (travel related or things you experience when traveling such as an imported beer)

The Sage archetype might provide a suitable identity for your brand if:

• It provides expertise or information to your consumers
• It encourages customers or clients to think, plan, prepare
• The brand is based on a new scientific breakthrough or esoteric knowledge
• The quality of the brand is supported by hard data
• You are differentiating the product from others whose quality or performance is questionable
• Your organization values experience, knowledge and the application of it to solve problems or capitalize on opportunities

The Hero identity may be right for your brand if:

• You have an invention or innovation that will have (or is planning to have) a major impact on the world
• Your product helps people perform at their upper limit
• You are addressing a major social problem and asking people to step up to the plate to help address it
• You have a clear opponent or competitor you want to beat
• You are the underdog and want to rival the competition
• The strength of your product or service is its ability to do a tough job efficiently and well
• You need to differentiate your product from one that has problems with follow-through
• Your customer base identifies itself as good, moral citizens that take action on behalf of others

The Outlaw may be a good identity for your brand if:

• Customers and employees are feeling very disaffiliated from society or identify with values at odds with those of society at large
• The function of your product is to destroy something (actually, like a bulldozer, or virtually, like many video games) or is genuinely revolutionary
• Your product is not very good for people, so that using it is akin to thumbing your nose at society’s ideas of what constitutes health
• Your product helps retain values that are threatened by prevailing ones or pioneers new and revolutionary attitudes
• Your product’s price is low to moderate
• Your organization is constantly questioning established ideas or protocols

The Magician may be a good identity for your brand if:

• The product or service is transformative
• Its implicit promise is to transform the customer
• It appeals to New Age consumers or cultural creatives
• It helps to expand or extend consciousness
• It is user-friendly technology
• It has a spiritual or psychological component
• It is a new and very contemporary product
• It is medium to high priced

The Everyman archetype provides a good identity for brand if:

• Whose use helps people belong or feel that they belong
• Whose function is something used commonly in everyday life
• With pricing that is moderate to low
• Produced or sold by a company with a down-home organizational culture
• Whose use, function or perception fosters equality or egalitarianism
• Differentiates against unnecessarily higher priced offerings by being as good or better for less
• Differentiates against imported or elite status badging products

The Lover is a promising identity for a brand if:

• Makes people feel sexy, beautiful, attractive
• Is associated with sensuality or richness (chocolates, flowers, exotic pets)
• Whose use helps people find love or friendship
• Whose function fosters beauty, communication or closeness between people or is associated with sexuality or romance
• With pricing that is moderate to high
• That needs to differentiate itself in a positive way from lower-priced brands

The Jester is a promising archetype to provide identity for your brand if:

• It helps people belong or feel that they belong
• Helps people live life happily or ‘in the moment’
• Whose function helps people have a good time
• Produced and/or sold by a company with a fun-loving organizational culture
• The need to be differentiated from a self-important, overconfident established brand

The Caregiver is a good identity for your brand if:

• Customer service (care) provides the competitive advantage
•  Provides support to families (from fast-food to minivans) or that are associated with nurturing (such as bake at home cookies, hand cream or baby food)
• For services in the health care, education and other caregiving fields, including politics
• That help people stay connected with and care about one another or their pets
• That help people care for themselves or their pets, plants or even possessions they’re passionate about (e.g., classic cars, furniture, coins and collectibles)
• For non-profit causes and charitable activities

A Creator identity may be right for your brand if:

• Your product’s function encourages self-expression, provides the customer with choices and options, helps foster innovation or is artistic in design
• It is in a creative field, like marketing, public relations, the arts, technological innovation (such as software development)
• When you are seeking to differentiate it from a brand that “does it all” for the customer, leaving little room for choice
• When a do-it-yourself element saves the customer money or creates unique experiences or products
• Your customers have enough discretionary time for creativity to flourish
• Your organization has a creative culture 

The Ruler identity might be right for your brand if you have:

• A high-status product used by powerful people to enhance or display their power
• A product that helps people be more organized, efficient or have more control
• A product or service that can offer a lifetime guarantee
• Services that offer technical assistance or information that helps maintain or enhance power or control
• An organization with a regulatory or protective function
• A product at the moderate to high price range
• A brand seeking to differentiate from a more populist (Everyman) archetype
• A category that is relatively stable or a product that promises safety and predictability in a chaotic world

EXAMPLE: ARCHETYPAL CHARACTER AND NARRATIVE LOCKUP 

Characters and Narratives: Character archetypes are the most powerful when they exist in simplistic Archetypal Narratives. David and Goliath is an example of a narrative that is often used to great effect in marketing.

Tito’s Vodka makes good use of both character and narrative archetypes. Tito’s character is the Everyman while the Narrative is that of David and Goliath (the underdog). Tito’s became the #1 selling spirit in the U.S. in 2019, knocking Smirnoff from a 10 year perch at the top. Tito’s consistent use of an underdog narrative anchors his ‘handmade’ and craft claims while his use of the Everyman archetype anchors them firmly to American ideals of meritocracy and egalitarianism. By 2001, the brand was no longer a micro-distillery, having surpassed the industry standard of 40,000 cases for a craft distillery as defined by the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States (DISCUS).

Figure 3. Tito’s Vodka Ad evoking David and Goliath narrative and Everyman archetype through the expert use of verbal and visual signifiers.

Heroes in a Heroic Narrative: Character Archetypes in an Archetypal Narrative. The idea of Britons standing shoulder to shoulder on the cliffs of Dover looking toward Europe and defying invasion is a narrative steeped in archetypal energy with England herself cast as the eternal Hero archetype. This idea has tremendous meaning in England where historically, her greatest heroes faced off against their mortal foes with the white cliffs of Dover as a backdrop. In this case, it’s England’s rugby team clothed in Nike, channeling their inner hero beneath menacing storm clouds. 

Figure 4. Visually displays the archetypal narrative of ‘Protect the father/motherland, displays the Hero archetype defending against invaders and uses powerful cultural symbology (e.g. images feature White Cliffs of Dover, ominous storm clouds, etc.)

ACTIVATION OF BRAND POTENTIAL THROUGH CHARACTER AND NARRATIVE

The application of Jungian positioning is a mix of art and science, and marketing organizations that are further ahead in their Jungian brand framework applications have ascended several important learning curves, including learning how to:

• provide a powerful catalyst for co-creation, stakeholder management, and alignment in an enterprise, avoiding internal “echo chamber” biases that are not truly reflective of the target consumers’ need states and motivations
• not overly focus on just a portion of the wider brand meaning (e.g., functional vs. emotional, intrinsic vs. extrinsic, situational context assumptions)establish a baseline mapping of current portfolio and competitive set Jungian brand associations and motivations
• recognize that while some Jungian attributes may initially appear to be an intuitive brand fit, in many cases such attributes may be more ascribed to the category in general and therefore represent “table stakes” rather than a truly differentiating platform for your brand
• manage brand meanings that often involve adherence to a primary Jungian archetype along with concurrent tonality reflections of a secondary archetype
• operate with an understanding that creatively, archetypes drive brand behavior, character, voice and tone and act as a guide for shared definition amongst brand stewards

The benefits of a proper Jungian positioning approach and ongoing meaning management process may involve a shift in internal brand team thinking, however, the rewards (higher brand differentiation, relevance, preference and valuation) are well worth the effort.