The Brand Archetypes
The definitive system for building and diagnosing brand character.
Find your brand’s character. Then see what it takes to make it matter.
Two minutes, ten questions. You get your character, your counterweight, and the brands that share your pairing, emailed to you.
Ruler.
Create order and stability. Read more
- In practice
- Rolex
- Mercedes-Benz
- American Express
Magician.
Make dreams real. Read more
- In practice
- Disney
- Tesla
- Polaroid
Jester.
Live with delight. Read more
- In practice
- Old Spice
- M&M’s
- Skittles
Lover.
Be in relation. Read more
- In practice
- Chanel
- Godiva
- Victoria’s Secret
Creator.
Make something of value. Read more
- In practice
- Apple
- Lego
- Adobe
Outlaw.
Break what isn’t working. Read more
- In practice
- Harley-Davidson
- Virgin
- Diesel
Innocent.
Return to simpler truth. Read more
- In practice
- Dove
- Coca-Cola
- Aveeno
Everyman.
Belong. Be one of us. Read more
- In practice
- IKEA
- Levi’s
- Budweiser
Explorer.
Go beyond. Read more
- In practice
- The North Face
- Jeep
- REI
Caregiver.
Protect and care. Read more
- In practice
- Johnson & Johnson
- Volvo
- Campbell’s
Hero.
Prove worth through courage. Read more
- In practice
- Nike
- Patagonia
- Duracell
Sage.
Find truth. Understand. Read more
- In practice
- The New York Times
- BBC
In the wild
Archetypes in the wild.
The clearest way to understand an archetype is to watch it work inside a business you already know.
How this works
Naming the character is the easy half.
An archetype is only real where a customer meets it. The work is turning the character into something people can actually hear, see, and be treated by.
Find the character
Two minutes, twelve archetypes. You get your character, the counterweight that keeps it human, and the brands that share your exact pairing. Free, and you can do it right now.
Take the quizBring it to life
Verbal identity, what you claim and how you say it. Visual identity, how it looks. Behaviour, what you actually do. Carried consistently, that is the character made real instead of written down.
See the methodA character named and never expressed is a document. A character expressed everywhere is a brand. The thinking behind this is worth ten minutes.
Why it matters
Why brand archetypes matter.
Markets are full of businesses offering similar products, making similar promises, in similar language. An archetype makes a brand coherent, distinctive, and recognizable, and gives the team one shared answer to six questions:
- The role the brand plays
- The emotional value it creates
- How it should behave
- How it should communicate
- What feels in character
- What the brand should refuse
The result is not a costume. It is a consistent character people recognize across the entire business.
The diagnostic
Your brand already expresses a character.
The only question is whether it is intentional. Visible across the offer, the website, sales, and the organization itself, or quietly suppressed, inconsistent, or distorted.