Mind the Product

With change comes uncertainty and as you know, change is the one certain thing we all face in life. I’ve been fortunate to experience many changes in my career that allowed me to meet people who have become my mentors and friends over the years. Most recently, I was given an opportunity to work with some brilliant people to define and build a brand. Imagine partnering with someone who looked at life through a very strategic lens and knew how to crystalize a vision instantly. Now pair this with being able to work with a founder of an organization who was very passionate about the company’s technology and people. You know, I have to tell you; it was one of the most exhilarating experiences for me.

Now back to the brand. We stared with surveying employees and customers to capture their perceptions of the brand as well as to potentially uncover any gaps. Well interestingly enough, the gaps were extremely minor. After collecting the feedback, we began evaluating which archetypes represented our offering. This was the first time I actually worked with defining an archetype.

So what is an archetype? Well if you think about it, companies take on qualities of people or characters that we’ve seen in literature, religion, folklore and mythology. Archetypes are used to help businesses develop visuals, messaging and experiences that provoke certain feelings for the customer. Here’s some examples:

• The Innocent: To be happy, strives to be good, is pure, young, optimistic, simple, moral, romantic, loyal
• The Regular Guy or Gal:To belong, or connect with others, down to earth, supportive, faithful, folksy, person next door, connects with others
• The Hero:Help to improve the world, courageous, bold, honorable, strong, confident, inspirational
• The Outlaw:Break the rules and fight authority, rebellious, iconoclastic, wild, paving the way for change
• The Explorer:Finds fulfillment through discovery and new experiences, restless, adventurous, ambitious, individualistic, independent, pioneering
• The Creator:Create something with meaning and enduring value, creative, imaginative, artistic, inventive, entrepreneur, non-conformist
• The Ruler:Control, create order from chaos, leader, responsible, organized, role model, administrator
• The Magician:Make dreams come true, create something special, Visionary, charismatic, imaginative, idealistic, spiritual
• The Lover:Create intimacy, inspire love, passionate, sensual, intimate, romantic, warm, committed, idealistic
• The Caregiver:To care for and protect others, caring, maternal, nurturing, selfless, generous, compassionate
• The Jester:To bring joy to the world, fun, sense of humor, light-hearted, mischievous, irreverent
• The Sage: To help the world gain wisdom and insight, knowledgeable, trusted source of information, wisdom and intelligence, thoughtful, analytical, mentor, guru, advisor

Now of course, this was a technology company that empowered businesses with actionable insights. So we help serve as a guide to customers with the information that can help them make wiser, smarter business decisions. Therefore, one of the archetypes for this company was a “Sage".

And we also defined the brand as a Hero because we armed organizations with powerful information that they didn’t otherwise have to become be more competitive. We helped them win internally with their company and externally in the market.

There are many different types of archetypes and here is good site I stumbled upon so check it out: http://www.archetypesinbranding.com/

There are many archetypes. I want to keep this brief and tell you more about the branding exercise in future blogs to build on this story. Once I have my portfolio up, I will also share the branding map I built too support the company’s brand strategy.

Check back for Part 2 of my branding experience.