Ego quadrant · Leave a Legacy
The Hero.
Solve the hard problem in the open, and give people what they need to overcome their own.
- Nike
- Patagonia
- Duracell
Order quadrant · Seek Meaning
The Innocent.
Build trust by holding, and voicing, the values the customer already shares.
- Dove
- Coca-Cola
- Aveeno
Side by side, dimension by dimension.
| Dimension | HeroEgo · Leave a Legacy | InnocentOrder · Seek Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Drive | Mastery, growth, prowess, determination, command. | Bliss, goodness, simplicity, honesty, optimism. |
| Fear | Weakness, failure, incompetence, wasted effort, being unable to act. | Distress, vice, complexity, deceit, negativity. |
| Strategy | Solve the hard problem in the open, and give people what they need to overcome their own. | Build trust by holding, and voicing, the values the customer already shares. |
| Counterweight | Usually Outlaw, Sage, or Caregiver. The secondary decides what the fight is for. | Usually Caregiver, Sage, or Creator. The secondary keeps optimism from turning naive. |
| Shadow form | Aggression. The hero who can’t stop fighting after the war. | Naivety. Denial. The cheerful smile in front of difficult news. |
| Brand risk | Exhausting. The constant call to action wears the customer out. | Sentimental. The optimism reads as evasion of what’s actually true. |
| Best when | There’s a real obstacle; the brand helps the customer face it. | There’s a real complication; the brand helps the customer simplify. |
| Often confused with | The Innocent. Both refuse cynicism. | The Hero. Both can read as “positive” brands. |
| Famous example | Nike: Just Do It, 1988. | Coca-Cola: Hilltop, 1971. |
Where they’re alike
Both refuse the cynical position.
Hero and Innocent both insist that things can be better than they are now. Both have customer bases that will not tolerate ironic distance. Both have a moral position the brand is unwilling to abandon when it would be commercially convenient.
Where they diverge
The Hero overcomes the difficulty. The Innocent decides it isn’t the whole truth.
A Hero brand stares at the obstacle and runs at it. An Innocent brand stares at the obstacle and then turns its attention to the children playing in the next field. Both responses are honest. They are not the same response, and a brand can only really hold one of them at a time.
A note on diagnosis
If your brand is reading as both, ask what the customer feels when they leave.
After a Hero touchpoint, the customer feels stronger and slightly tired. After an Innocent touchpoint, the customer feels lighter and slightly relieved. Different emotional aftertaste, different operating model. The customer interview tells you which one your brand is actually producing.
Read in full
The Hero.
Three case studies, three commercials, the diagnostic signals.
Read in full
The Innocent.
Three case studies, three commercials, the diagnostic signals.
The instrument
The Brand Diagnostic.
Read your own brand and see whether the archetype is coming through Expressed, Suppressed, or Distorted.