DAVE HARDY
Transformative Leadership / Brand Strategy / Creative Direction

Steal These Ideas

Being bold isn’t easy. If it were, we’d see the evidence of it among the many and not the few. As a student of brand and creative strategy, I see the product of the connection between our fears and our tendency to embrace mediocrity. With 25 years building brands and teams in the agency space, I want to explore ways to see challenges as opportunities and to discover how to harness what holds us back.

Improve Brand Storytelling Using Archetypes

Storytelling is a powerful way to connect your brand with your audience, and having a story that evokes emotion is imperative in any brand strategy. But how do you create an emotional story? Just like any movie or book, a story has structure, characters, and relationships. By using archetypes, you can be intentional about creating that for your brand.

Carl Jung first used the idea of archetypes in literature. He determined that there was a deep understanding of storytelling using core characters throughout human history. We are a species that has told the same stories over and over again, no matter the culture or time.

The Hero's Journey
An example would be the hero and the magician. The hero is faced with a challenge; their world changes, and they need to master a new skill to overcome that challenge. The magician, a very powerful character, has the ability to create a vision of the future and has the tools to help you get there. When you combine these two characters, you can see how the relationship would create success. Harry Potter, facing the vengeance of Lord Voldemort, learns the power of magic, taught by Dumbledore. Luke Skywalker, facing the evil of Darth Vader, learns the power of the Force, taught by Obi-Wan Kenobi.

This narrative is called the hero's journey, and you can apply it to your brand. Your customer (the hero in the journey) has a challenge, and they need something of value (this is where you come in) to help them achieve success or avoid failure.

The Characters
There are 64 characters that can be used; however, 12 of them are used more than most. Each character has one of four fundamental desires. For example, the Ruler, Creator, and Caregiver are motivated by control and stability. The Sage, Innocent, and Explorer are driven to create their own perfect world. The Magician, Hero, and Outlaw are motivated by risk and mastery, and finally, the Jester, Regular Guy, and Lover want to create belonging.

Each character will achieve their fundamental desire using their own strategy, and this is where you can ask: What does your customer need from you, and how do you deliver it? Nike customers are everyday heroes who want to be motivated to get outside even when they don’t want to, to push for their personal bests. So, Nike’s language is motivating and positive; “Just Do It” is their famous tagline.

By understanding your customers' emotional journey and what their needs are, you can shape your own character in their narrative. You can create language that you know is going to motivate behavior and provide a solution to their challenges. 

The emotional aspect of a brand is often overlooked in business because it is an uncomfortable subject for many leadership teams. But using the framework of archetypes, you can better understand and harness emotion to create an intentional connection with your customers.

Brand StrategyDave HardyArchetypes, Storytelling