What is your brand’s personality? Have you put thought into it or hope people get it based on your website or product/service itself? One of the most important steps in creating an experiential marketing campaign is to decide what your brand’s personality is. Once you know that, you can spread your message to your audience.

A brand’s personality is how you want it to make people feel and how you want them to see your product or service. In turn, this shapes how people will connect with your brand, what you should promote in ads and social media posts, and how to draw attention online, at events, and during pop-ups. How do you find your brand’s personality?

Bringing your brand’s personality to life revolves around some key points. First, you need to understand what emotions and messages you want your brand to convey. Second, those ideas need to take shape in real life. Take notes, create a mood board if it helps you visualize how your brand makes you feel, and take that information to an expert who can turn those ideas into reality.

Master Archetypes and What They Mean to Your Brand Identity

There’s a book that many in the marketing world rely on for brand building. In 2001, Carol S. Pearson and Margaret Mark’s The Hero and the Outlaw: Building Extraordinary Brands Through the Power of Archetypes came out. The goal of the book is to help marketers figure out their brand’s identity by honing in on the key values of the brand. The book focuses on 12 master archetypes developed by Carl Jung in order to help marketers figure out what they want their customers to feel. The 12 archetypes that are:

• The Caregiver (Key value is to be nurturing.)
• The Creator (Key value is to be innovative.)
• The Explorer (Key value is to have an enriched, fulfilling life by being daring.)
• The Hero (Key value is changing the world.)
• The Innocent (Key values are bliss, nostalgia, and true happiness.)
• The Jester (Key value is to enjoy the moment and enjoy life.)
• The Lover (Key value is seduction or finding pleasure.)
• The Magician (Key value is to make dreams or wishes come true.)
• The Outlaw (Key value is to be a revolutionary and change what doesn’t work.)
• The Regular Guy/Girl (Key value is to fit in or belong.)
• The Ruler (Key value is to be the most successful and powerful.)
• The Sage (Key value is looking for the truth using analytical skills and/or intelligence.)

Brands don’t have to fit just one archetype. Some share features from a few different archetypes. Pick the primary goal for your brand, however, and try to build a brand identity that focuses on that.

For example, Apple is one of the largest companies in the world. Apple’s brand identity is strongly associated with the Outlaw as the company keeps changing products to improve them and be the best in the industry. Some will also say that Apple is the Regular Guy/Girl. Apple products make people feel as though they fit in or belong. While the second archetype is true, Apple heavily promotes the Outlaw brand personality with slogans like “Think Different.”

How Do You Determine Your Brand’s Archetype?

One of the places to start is your brand’s slogan if you have one. Take Dove chocolates for instance. The slogan the company uses is “Silky Smooth Promises.” The packaging has seductive ripples of melted chocolate on much of the bag and adds some wrapped and unwrapped chocolates. It’s a sinful treat designed to entice you into indulging in one or more of the decadent candies. They use the Lover archetype to create their brand. Look at your slogan and what you’re presenting as your key quality to consumers. That can help you determine your archetype.

If you don’t have a slogan, you’ll find a brainstorming session may help. Sit down with your team and brainstorm what you most want customers to feel when using your brand. If you own a bakery, nostalgia for that smell of a fresh-baked chocolate chip cookie like mom made might come to mind. If that’s true, the Innocent maybe your brand’s strongest archetype.

Try to think of the past, present, and future. How has your brand started, what is helping it grow, where do you see it in the future? To get to the future and draw consumers to your brand, what qualities or values do you feel are most important. That can help guide you into your brand’s main archetype.

Factory 360 understands what consumers want. We help you solidify your brand’s identity and make sure it’s clear during your experiential marketing campaign. If you’re still not sure what your brand’s true identity is, it’s okay. We’re experts in honing these finer points of brand activation and experiential marketing.