THE INNOCENT - Leadership & Brand Archetypes
Vanessa Couto, MA, PCC
Life Purpose Coach - I work with creatives and mystics who want to find joy, fulfillment and reconnect their sense of purpose to their work and livelihood.
In this series of articles, I’ll discuss how each of the 12 common Brand Archetypes can lead the way in these uncertain times.
It’s undeniable that we are globally undergoing a significant threshold and paradigm shift. As the cracks of our way of life become ever more evident, we also have the opportunity to shine our creativity and leadership. Much like each person is having to do this in their own lives, so are brands.
Working with Brand Archetypes is helpful not only in terms of creating a cohesive mission, voice, and visual elements. It also helps clarify a brand’s leadership style and how they can improve their clients navigate uncertain times.
There are 12 core archetypes used in branding, with various subdivisions that allow for a more nuanced exploration of your Brand Archetype. But for the sake of simplicity, we will focus on the main ones, starting with The INNOCENT.
The motivation of THE INNOCENT is to live in a world where you are free to be yourself and live out your best life in alignment with your values.
The goal is to be happy in a paradise of one’s own.? Businesses that embody this archetype help their clients connect to their desire to find their paradise to create ways and means to live out a life that aligns with their values.
Other archetypes related to THE INNOCENT are:??
* Dreamer??
* Romantic??
* Puer/Puella (Young one/Inner Child)??
* Utopian??
Services and products created by THE INNOCENT are focused on helping clients create and maintain their sanctuary in a world that often feels mad and uncertain. In times such as this, INNOCENT brands are poised to be extremely helpful, as the collective stressors lead individuals to find ways to claim some normalcy in their every day lives.
The challenges of the INNOCENT Brand Archetype can reflect both what you suffer as a business (business owner) or what you could be helping your clients face. ??
Some of the challenges of THE INNOCENT are related to:
* Fear of not doing things right??
* Avoidance of punishment??
* Escape to fantasy??
* Denial of problems??
Perhaps what has drawn your business to embody THE INNOCENT archetype is that you have struggled with these very challenges. Maybe you desired to escape into a fantasy that has led you to create a product that does just that. Understanding your challenges becomes the wisdom you are now poised to help others.
In times of significant stressors such as now, it’s part of our psychological defense mechanism to want to deny the problems that face us and escape into a fantasy. At times, the escape into fantasy is how we regroup and heal before we can come back and meet the issues at hand. Escape isn’t necessarily a weakness unless it becomes an avoidant behavior.
Through your products and services, you could help your clients release the need for self-flagellation that they aren’t doing enough, and help then connect to healing and nourishing fantasy escapes that help them face the problems at hand from a more creative and aligned perspective.
You can do this by using your strengthens as your leadership lodestar.
The strengths of the INNOCENT archetype reflect what you could be helping your clients achieve, but also what you and your business bring to the table. This is part of your brand magnetism and your opportunity to step into leadership in these uncertain times. ??
The strengths of THE INNOCENT archetype are:
* Sense of wonder??
* Faith & Optimism??
* Spontaneity??
* Honesty??
* Trust ??
As THE INNOCENT, your leadership comes from bringing a sense of wonder, faith, and optimism to the lives of your clients. Check your messaging and be sure to highlight not just how your product or service can help, but more importantly, your authentic experience in seeing the possibilities and faith in this global crisis.
Showing up authentically will fulfill the collective hunger for trust and honesty, as we are all tired of feeling uncertain about the information we are receiving by our leaders.
Even if clients aren’t ready to spend right now, they will remember your brand as one that treated them with true honesty and gave them a sense of optimism and possibility in the future.
In a world that is abundant in jaded and discordant communication, a business that embodies THE INNOCENT archetype will be perceived as a balm of human leadership.
Curious to learn more about how Brand Archetypes can help your business? Download our eBook on “Brand Archetypes & You” here.