Weekly-ish Wisdom from Jennifer Kem

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What Brand Archetypes Are and How They’re Important for Business

What Brand Archetypes Are and How They’re Important for Business

Do you know what your brand archetype is?

(and no, it’s not exactly like your horoscope)

The term archetype was actually coined by Carl Jung, a well-renowned Swiss social psychologist. In the business world, a brand archetype is typically defined as “a genre you assign to your brand, based upon symbolism” aka energy patterns that are universal guides on how we’re relating to our personal power, which basically means in the context of business, through the lens of your brands to the outside world. Each of the 12 archetypes comes with its own set of personalities (aka science-backed version of your horoscope) that help you understand how to build your brand — from the aesthetics to your brand voice — the way the pros do it.

While there are countless quizzes you can find online, I like to think my take is special because:

  • It’s built on my 18+ years experience in building brands
  • It was made in conjunction with the University of Santa Barbara

Knowing what your archetype is important because it shows you the two sides of the coin: the positive and the negative.

Since I’m a huge fan of Star Wars, I like to think of the positive as the “light side” of the Force with the negative being the “dark side.”

For example, the “light side” can help you develop the right kind of content as well as provide a bird’s eye view on how you can use your passions can be used in your biz. It also helps build that clarity and foundation for future marketing strategies and anything else you do in the future.

Sounds pretty neat, right?

The “dark side” part is pretty interesting, too, since it helps you understand what your weaknesses are and how to avoid costly, time-consuming mistakes when building your brand.

What Brand Archetypes Are and How They’re Important for Business.001

What are the 12 Archetypes?

They are Maverick, Ruler, Sage, Explorer, Ruler, Lover, Alchemist, Creator, Provocateur, Healer, Hero, Muse, and Advocate.

But it doesn’t stop there because person doesn’t only have just one, there are three archetypes: Dominant, Intrinsic, and Intuitive.

  • Your dominant archetype is crucial when it comes to visibility as well as your brand’s values.
  • Your intrinsic archetype, aka your secondary, helps by “filling in the blanks”, aka your brand identity.
  • Your intuitive archetype “backs you up” by helping you create informed decisions like a boss.

Believe it or not, but big-label companies like Coca Cola and Louis Vuitton mastered the use of brand archetypes to create those commercials you see on tv, loyal followers, and company culture. Heck, I make sure my employees know what their archetypes are for these very same reasons.

It’s as Lao Tzu says, “He who knows others is wise; he who knows himself is enlightened.”

Now, it’s time to get practical and start implementing archetypes into your brand.

Click here to take my Brand Archetype Quiz to learn what your brand’s dominant archetype is and how to use it to make your business stand out.

**Important note; this isn’t a vanity quiz. This is a in-depth, 20-minute quiz that based on factual psychology. Due to the nature of this quiz, it’s meant to be taken a single time. Make sure that you’re in a space without distraction before taking this quiz.

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