Want to do brand marketing without a prototype? Stop kidding!

As a brand, if you want to enter the hearts of users, you need to have a unique and distinctive image. Looking back at history, successful brands all have vivid personalities. If you want to shape a personality, you must first find the prototype. So, how can you find a brand archetype that suits you? This article will analyze from three aspects, I hope it will be helpful to you.

If you are a copywriter, are you overwhelmed with friendly, funny, and Generation Z briefs? If you are a new media editor, are you tired of the recent memes about arrogance, show-offs, and flattery? If you are a strategist or brand manager, you must be tired of hearing the clichés about national trends, cross-border businesses, and brand IPs, right? When marketers’ daily work becomes a few uniform pieces of work. Most Internet brands have grown into gourd babies on a vine.

What went wrong?

To figure this out, we must first travel back to the "classical era" of brands and see how those brands with clear images and unified styles did it.

Let's do a little test. From the following three car advertising copies, can you tell which one is Volvo, Aston Martin and Beetle?

Not too hard to tell, right? They are like three people with distinct personalities, different accents and different opinions. Volvo, which advocates safety, is like your dad, Porsche makes you blush and your heart beats fast, and the Beetle is the most special, making you think small. After all, small is better!

This is a brand with vitality. Take off the logo and remove the picture, and you can still recognize who it is.

How can we have a vivid brand personality? From product copywriting to new media interaction, how can we let brand image dominate all marketing methods? The answer can be found in the source of psychology.

Carl Jung once proposed the concept of archetype: "There are as many archetypes as there are typical situations in life. These experiences are deeply engraved in our psychological structure due to constant repetition. It represents a certain type of perception and behavior."

For example, when we mention wise old men, we will think of Jiang Ziya in The Investiture of the Gods, Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, etc. Throughout the ages, when the image of the wise old man appears repeatedly, it becomes a super archetype that builds consensus.

Almost all popular movies and novels have prototypes. For example, the popular Chinese animated films Nezha and Wukong in recent years use the prototype of the rebel; Forrest Gump is the prototype of the wise and foolish naive; and the Marvel Avengers series is the prototype of the hero who saves the world.

If a brand can be associated with a super archetype, it can spread quickly and have long-lasting vitality.

Based on Jung's archetype theory, marketing experts Margaret Mark and Carol S. Pearson summarized and refined a set of systematic brand archetype tools, which subdivided 12 personalities according to four major motivations:

Brand Archetype Tool = 4 Motivation Systems + 12 Personality Systems

In simple terms, human motivations can be divided into two sets of conflicts.

Belonging identity vs self-actualization:

We all want to be liked and belong to a group. At the same time, we hope to be independent individuals and walk our own path. Both of these desires are deep human motivations, but they pull in opposite directions.

Stability Control vs. Adventure Conquering:

We desire a sense of security, but from time to time we are driven by ambition and the desire to conquer, and we are eager to step out of our comfort zone.

Life is about constantly finding a balance between these four conflicts, which has given rise to 12 brand archetypes.

• Belonging and Identity: The Everyman, the Lover, and the Clown Archetypes
• Self-actualization: The Innocent, Explorer, and Sage Archetypes
• Stable Control: The Caregiver, Creator, and Ruler Archetypes
• Adventure and Conquest: Hero, Outlaw, and Wizard Archetypes

1. Create a sense of belonging and identity

1. Ordinary People Archetype

On the third day after Lei Jun delivered his tenth anniversary speech, Xiaomi’s stock price soared 15%. What did he do right?

From a marketing perspective, he used at least two prototype weapons.

A popular comment on Zhihu said: I don’t know why, but Lei Jun’s speech seemed particularly sincere and made people want to listen. Especially sincere, honest and trustworthy - this is the brand archetype of ordinary people.

Ordinary people’s brands often have no slogans and are far from being high-end. Just like Lei Jun’s speech, he used details such as a bowl of millet porridge, a regretful bet, etc. to allow the public to empathize with the story.

Second, Lei Jun adopted the classic story structure of the hero's journey. The "Hero's Journey" is also based on Jung's archetype theory, which was first proposed by Joseph Campbell and then condensed into 12 stages by Christopher Vogler, becoming an essential story structure for Hollywood blockbusters.

To sum up Xiaomi’s heroic journey over the past decade in one sentence, it is about how ordinary people burst out with extraordinary strength and ushered in nirvana when faced with challenges, setbacks and hardships. The transformation from the starting point to the end point is called the "story arc". The bigger the arc, the more exciting the story.

The entire speech made Xiaomi’s brand personality almost like a Buddha in the flesh, releasing explosive brand energy. The most direct manifestation of this energy in terms of capital and market is the surge in stock prices.

If your brand is positioned as an ordinary person, then Lei Jun has provided you with a model brand copywriting tone:

• Keep your true colors and remove unnecessary decorations
• The story is in the details
• Experience and actions define who I am as a brand
• Helping people feel a sense of belonging

2. Lover Archetype

Often charming, romantic, and sensual. For example, this personality is widely used in categories such as perfume, cosmetics, jewelry, clothing, and chocolate.

Man is the sum of social relations. Therefore, when a brand wants to humanize and add social relationships such as couples and friends, it will make the entire image more full.

This Chinese Valentine's Day, Tmall Kaola (formerly NetEase Kaola) and NetEase Yanxuan set a perfect example for us. While other brands are showing off their affection, Koala and Yanxuan are doing the opposite. They are joining hands to celebrate the first anniversary of their breakup and even launching a joint breakup gift box for the Chinese Valentine's Day. This anti-routine operation not only establishes the personalities of this couple, but also conveys the brand proposition that one must live a good life alone. This cross-border move is remarkable.

3. Clown Prototype

I have a great sense of humor, believe that sharing happiness is worse than enjoying it alone, and I am willing to bring interesting things to the world. Typical brands include Mentos, Snickers, M&M beans, etc. A common clown prototype in Thai advertisements.

Some time ago, netizens joked that Ning Jing looked like M&M Green Beans. M&M Green Beans immediately picked up the original joke and signed Ning Jing as its spokesperson, bringing this wave of joy to its climax.

in the country, it is difficult to find the right sense of humor. But if your brand has any of the following characteristics, you can consider the clown archetype positioning:

• Helps people feel a sense of belonging
• Helping people have a good time
• A business with a playful and free spirit
• Want to differentiate from overconfident and arrogant brands

2. Explore yourself and break boundaries

2020 can be called the first year of middle-aged women. From Riding the Wind and Waves to Nothing But Thirty, a series of phenomenal topics have emerged. Why is the topic of middle-aged women suddenly attracting so much attention?

Let me first tell you my opinion. The past 40 years have been a period of great changes. For this generation of independent women, the various difficulties and problems they face today cannot be solved by traditional culture, and the previous generation cannot serve as a reference role model. For independent women over 30, all values ​​are waiting to be explored and redefined. All explorations that break the original boundaries will inevitably spark widespread discussion and attention.

Three archetypes emerged from the exploratory motivation.

1. The Naive Archetype

The creed of the naive is that happiness can be simple and it is beautiful to live in the present moment. Typical characters include Liziqi, Audrey Hepburn, etc. Typical brands include Coca-Cola, McDonald's, etc. Most fast-moving consumer goods fit this archetype.

2. Explorer Archetype

Dissatisfaction and insecurity torment them, making them constantly explore and pursue better things. Typically, brands that sell outdoor sports equipment and off-road vehicles are mostly explorers. Typical brands include timberland, jeep, etc. Marco Polo, Bear Grylls, Elon Musk and others are all typical figures.

3. The Wise Archetype

A wise man seeks to gain wisdom and deep insights. If your brand encourages people to think, or can bring some kind of expertise or new knowledge, it can be classified as the wise man archetype. Typical brands include The Economist magazine, Eslite Bookstore, and Get, etc.

The three female protagonists in "Nothing But Thirty" correspond to three archetypes respectively.

• The naive person - Zhong Xiaoqin, represents the majority of people and believes that life is beautiful when it is simple.
• Explorer - Wang Manni, represents an insatiable ambitious person who keeps pursuing things and is prone to causing controversy.
• The wise man - Gu Jia, an ideal image of a new woman with both wisdom and charm.

You can identify with them or diss them, you can criticize them or hate them, but once the archetype box is opened, you just can’t ignore them.

3. Conquest/Adventure VS Stability/Control

After talking about the opposing motivations of exploring oneself and seeking belonging, let’s take a look at another motivation axis. Likewise, they also form a pairwise opposition. One end seeks security and stability and maintains the existing pattern and order, while the other end seeks to challenge breakthroughs and create a new pattern.

• Rulers vs Outlaws/Rebels
• Caregivers vs Heroes
• Creator vs Magician

1. Ruler Archetype vs. Rebel Archetype

Traditional marketing views hold that there is only one leader in a category. But there can be two types of leaders in one category.

One is the market leader, which is the dominant brand with the largest share. The other type is the thought leader, the most popular and eye-catching rebel brand.

For example, Nestlé is the market leader in instant coffee, while Sandunban has introduced fashion and taste into the industry, becoming a thought leader;

Quaker is the market leader in instant oatmeal, while Wang Bao Bao is leading the trend of high-value slimming food;

Uni-President is the market leader in instant food products, while up-and-coming brands such as Ramen Say have created healthy and exquisite styles.

There are many more examples like this, but the story would not be complete without Apple. Now the market leader, Apple was once the most creative rebel, bar none. In 1984, when Apple defined IBM as the big brother that ruled the world and smashed a symbolic hammer in a TV commercial to break the oligopoly, it established its brand image as a rebel. A few years later, when Jobs returned to Apple, he immediately hired the advertising company that produced 1984 to help Apple, which had fallen to the bottom, reshape its brand image and return to the throne of thought leader.

Many years later, when Jobs recalled the proposal, he said: "He sat in my office and showed me those ideas, and I couldn't help crying. Every time I think of this, I still can't help crying." The full text of the copy that made Jobs cry is handwritten below. If your brand is the archetype of the rebel, here are some copywriting examples worth writing a hundred times.

History has a way of repeating itself. When former giants such as IBM and Microsoft fell, the dragon-slaying boy finally became the dragon. The one that defeats Apple will not be the next Apple, but the one that defeats the market leader is often the next thought leader.

2. Caregiver Archetype vs. Hero Archetype

A caregiver, as the name suggests, is someone who takes care of and protects others, often with a certain maternal quality. Typical brands include healthcare brands, Johnson & Johnson, Procter & Gamble, etc.

Caregivers may seem low-key and warm, but when you find their shining moments, they will burst out with very moving power. For example, during the fight against the epidemic, whether it is public servants such as doctors, nurses, and police, or ordinary caregivers such as truck drivers and community guards, they can heal and move the whole world.

Compared to the caregiver archetype, the hero archetype also wants to improve the world, but they choose to fight and prove their own value through bravery. Typical brands include NASA, Nike, etc., which have a strong, confident and fearless tone.

3. Creator Archetype vs. Magician Archetype

In the last group, there is only a fine line between creators and magicians. Creators aim to create value through innovative and artistic methods. Typical brands include airbnb, Lego, IKEA, etc.

If your brand has any of these characteristics, consider the creator archetype:

• Encourage self-expression and provide users with a variety of choices
• DIY
• Belonging to creative fields such as art, public relations, marketing, technological innovation, etc.

In contrast, the Magician brand emphasizes the magical moment of changing reality and believes more in the power of dreams coming true. Typical brands include Disney, toiletries that promise to make people feel refreshed, and travel destinations.

If your brand has any of these characteristics, consider the Wizard archetype:

• Bringing change to people
• It is humanized technology.
• Contains spiritual or mental ingredients
• Very novel

IV. Conclusion

The text is very long. Congratulations to those who have read this far, because you have completed another high-density thinking and mastered an underlying concept of marketing: brand archetype.

If we regard marketing as archaeology, it is easy to discover that every world-class brand chose its own brand archetype at the beginning of its rise. For example, Nike chose the Hero archetype, Coca-Cola chose the Innocent archetype, and Apple is the Rebel archetype.

But having a prototype is only the first step for a brand. Just like Nuwa creating human beings, molding the human form out of mud was only the first step, and the breath of fairy air blown into it gave it real life. How to use marketing techniques to make the brand come alive in the minds of users? We will continue this discussion in the next article.

Before that, let’s open our minds. If there was a coffee brand—or you could say a Chinese restaurant or a tourist attraction—using this prototyping tool, what kind of brand personality would you give it? Why?

Come, let’s imagine it together!

Author: Panda Copywriter

Source: Panda Copywriter (ID: creatwriter)