Infuse Your Brand With Soul

Welcome to episode 3 of Market It! the podcast that inspires and guides authentic entrepreneurs to build the soulful brand of their dreams and lead a purpose-driven business.

Transforming brands from being transactional to becoming loved is a challenge that many business owners face. We have a transactional relationship with most brands: they give us something in exchange for our money. For some brands, we feel connection, loyalty and love.

Brands that succeed in winning consumers' hearts tend to have genuine missions that speak to their target demographics. Almost all of the brands that you have an emotional investment in have been constructed with careful alignment to an archetype, which has its roots in decades of psychological research and in Greek mythology.

 Today we're talking about archetypes, their influence and how they can help you build a business that lasts. Let's dive into it.

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At AHBC Group, we are passionate about helping entrepreneurs launch and grow a brand that is authentic to them, their purpose, and their audience. We enjoy working with entrepreneurs who have a strong purpose, a clear vision and who are animated by ethical, eco-conscious, and inclusive values, who like to challenge the status quo, and are not afraid to build a truly unique brand. If that sounds like you and you would like to discuss your project with us, apply here!

https://ahbc-group.com/

Transcript

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95% of our purchasing decisions are made in the subconscious minds people make decisions based on emotion and that emotion is conveyed through stories that build a deep and meaningful connection with their audience. You're listening to MarketIt! by AHBC Group. Hello, and welcome to MarketIt! the podcast that inspires and guides authentic entrepreneurs to build the soulful brand of their dreams and lead a purpose driven business, I am Anne-Héloïse Chavin, the host of this podcast and the founder and Brand Builder in chief at AHBC Group, a branding agency based in sunny Miami, Florida. In this episode, I want to talk about how to infuse your brand with purpose and communicate with authenticity to connect with your audience and reach your dream clients and customers. So basically, all brands are businesses, and we have a transactional relationship with them, at the very least. So they give you something a product or service, whatever, in exchange for money. But however, not all businesses are brands. So all brands are businesses, but not all businesses are brands, because they've chosen maybe not to work on their branding, or they're not actually putting in the effort and building the brand. For some brands, we will feel in some cases, connection, loyalty, and even love towards those brands. And so what we want to get into and really understand is why do we feel that for some brands and not others, because obviously, as you're building your brand, if you want it to be successful, that's what you're aiming towards, really in the whole branding process. So the most loved brands, really are able to connect with their audience on a deep level. It's those brands that usually have an authentic brand purpose, and that also are able to really communicate it in an authentic manner. Almost all of the brands that we feel a bond with, are built with a solid alignment to an archetype. And archetypes is super interesting. They're grounded in psychological research. And they actually have their roots in Greek mythology. It's the Swiss psychiatrist called Jung who built the archetypes framework in the context of psychology and personality. And he said that we all have a collective unconscious, that channels experiences and emotions. And that results in typical patterns of behavior. So basically, we do recognize through the behavior patterns, we will recognize and connect on an emotional level with people, and also in some instances with brands who are built based on those frameworks because they just feel familiar. So that's why we are able to connect with them. 95% of our purchasing decisions are made in the subconscious minds. So this means that brands with a strong archetypal personality, that connect on an emotional level with their audience have a massive advantage over their competition, because it's something that's almost subconscious. And usually we know that that's how we make decisions. So how do we actually do that and like infuse our brands with soul because that's basically what it's about. It's bringing actual personality into your brand through this framework. While that's the one that actually we use when working on our clients brand strategies. And we do that by carefully crafting the brand's personality through the brand's archetypes framework. So there are 12 archetypes and each one is based on basic human desires. So the 12 basic human desires are liberation, power, mastery, intimacy, enjoyment, belonging, service, control, innovation, safety, understanding, and freedom. So those are all of the basic human desires. And each one of the archetypes caters to one of those desires. So I just want to give you a quick outline. While not that quick, but like go over each of the archetypes, there's a ton to mention about each one of them. So it would be too long to really go through each one of them. But if you're interested in more, I think we'll probably do a blog post. And there will be an episode page where you can find a little summary and more in depth information about each archetype, so that you can go over it and feel which one relates more to your brand or use that for your clients or whatever. So the first one, the outlaw archetype, which relates to the basic need of liberation. The brand voice is disruptive, rebellious, combative. One of the brands that is typical of the outlaw archetype is Harley Davidson, for instance. So we can see that some brands really use this archetype and really embody the archetype. And we will have more examples in the blog article, so you can go over that. Then the second one that embodies the the second basic need, that is power is the magician, and the brand voice for this one is mystical, informed and reassuring. And one magician brand that is very well known is Disney. The third one is the hero and it answers to the basic need of mastery, and its brand voice is honest, candid and brave. So that's a lot of brands in the sports industry, such as Adidas, Nike, etc. Next one is the lover archetype. And it replies to the need of intimacy, and the brand voice will be sensual, empathetic and soothing. And for instance, that's the archetype that is used by brands such as Victoria's Secret or Chanel. The next one is the jester, or in some instances, they also call it The joker is based on the basic need of enjoyment or pleasure. The brand voice will be fun, loving, playful, optimistic, well known jester brand will be m&ms, or we also have one that I love. If you want to see examples of their work for case study and to really get that one is Dollar Shave Club. So it's really like fun, super playful, you can really see it in their in the video ad like the first one that they released is really typical, like the epitome of the brand personality, of that brand archetype. Then we have the everyman or I like to call that one also the girl next door, and that one's basic need is belonging. So the brand voice will be friendly, humble, authentic. Examples of these types of brands are IKEA or target. So that works really well for brands that are very accessible that are for everyday products. Then we have the caregiver archetype, which goes with the basic human need of service and the brand voice for that one will be caring, warm, reassuring. And we see that used in a lot of nonprofits, charities, brands such as WWF UNICEF, brands, that use the caregiver archetype do not have to be nonprofits, but they usually have a strong purpose or they are aiming to give back in some way and they make it known and it's an important part of their brand strategy and marketing. The next one that we have is the ruler archetype. And it goes with the basic need of control. The brand voice for these types of brands will be commanding, refined, and articulate. And some examples of ruler brands will be Louis Vuitton. It will be a lot of brands in the luxury industry, for instance, to really assert the power and status. The following one is the creator archetype with the need of innovation. The brand voice is inspirational, daring and provocative. So my favorite example for that one is Apple, a well known creator brand and funny thing about Apple is that they actually switched brand archetypes, because when they first launched, they were actually another archetype they were, I think the outlaw because they were really, really disruptive at that point. And since then, they've switched and evolved to the Creator. So that's something that's also doable to switch brand archetypes, if it makes sense within a brand strategy. But that's kind of a unique case, I think. The next one is the innocence. And the innocence is really based on the need of safety. The brand voice is optimistic, honest, and humble. And some examples of innocent brands will be the brand innocence, and for instance, Aveeno. So any brands that are based on natural products, and stuff that is really just very wholesome. That's usually the types of brands that will go with this archetype. So the next one is the sage based on the need of understanding, and the brand voice will be knowledgeable, assured and guiding. And some sage brands include Google, a lot of universities, brands in the education industry, media, stuff like that. The following is the Explore archetype, and it's based on the need of freedom. So the brand voice is exciting, fearless and daring. And some explore brands include the north face or jeep. That's it for the kind of the roundup on the archetypes. It's kind of quick, like there's a lot more to be said, since it's like a whole personality. But I really like to, I think one of the main ones is the brand voice that I actually use it for. And I love to also work with the motivations and obstacles and the fears within each archetype to really relate to that. And yeah, so then the brand archetype framework is about selecting one of these archetypes, so it can be one or two. But if you want to make it as obvious as possible, and really not risk messing it up. If you're not used to working within that framework, I would just go with one. So it's a lot more simple. Just as with design, if you're not used to designing just stick with like two fonts and two colors, and so you can't really mess it up. That's the same for this one. So I would just stick with one because you want it to be as obvious as possible so that people can instantly recognize it not like consciously but unconsciously connect with your brand because they recognize its traits. In order to select which one your brand will follow. It's not only about which one you like, if you're self employed and your brand like your your brand's target, or your brand's persona like you could be like the main target for your product that could work. But you really want to make sure that the brand archetype that you choose works well for your target, for your brand strategy, for your brand objectives and that everything works together seamlessly. You want to make sure that you go through the key brand foundation steps, before you select your brand personality, you have to work on those things. So you can actually can guide you to select the brand architect. So that being said, this framework is not just about selecting a few characteristics. So of course, I'm assuming that if you are listening to this, you understand the power of branding. And you don't want to be just another company competing on features. And that's why you're doing all that branding work. So if you're observant, you have noticed that leading brands and love brands do not compete on features or price. So for instance, some ads don't even show a product or only at the very end, because they will focus on storytelling through the ad. And that's because they know that people make decisions based on emotion and that emotion is conveyed through stories that build a deep and meaningful connection with their audience. So to achieve that, the idea is not to simply pick a couple of traits that you think that your audience will relate to, but to actually craft your brand around an archetype with a clear personality, through visual brand identity messaging, and a unique brand voice. So once you have selected strategically selected your brand archetype, then there's still work. And then that's when you want to work on everything else in the actual execution, with crafting your brand voice around that archetype.Crafting your messaging around that archetype, and also crafting your visual brand identity around that archetype. And it can also influence even which media you will be communicating on putting yourself in that archetypes shoes, and imagining what that person would would do like in real life, and would they be on this social media platform or not? Or how would they act on that social media platform, etc. So that's all super fun and interesting. And that's really how you're able to, I feel truly infuse your brand with soul. Because it's actually like, what makes your brand connect with its consumers and its target audience. And once again, I don't know if I'll be repeating that same thing in each episode. But it doesn't matter if you feel that this one archetype will not please these are these types of people. What matters is that it's strong, and it's really obvious, and it has like strong personality traits. And of course, it shouldn't be pleasing everyone. And that's the whole point of it. So don't worry about that at all. Get to work. I hope you can read the the article page if you want to go into more depth and check out more about each archetype, because that's kind of hard to convey in a 20 Something minute episode. But I hope that this gave you a really good overview of the brand archetypes framework so that you can build a brand that is soulful and communicate authentically to connect with your audience and get your dream clients and customers. Thank you for listening to MarketIt!. I am your host Anne and I hope this episode brought you a lot of value. If you enjoyed this episode, it would mean a lot if you could take a few minutes to rate and review the podcast. Follow along on Instagram at AHBC group so we can stay in touch and so you can let us know if there's a specific topic you'd like us to cover in future episodes. Talk Soon!